Long Reach Tavern Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/long-reach-tavern/ Wild spaces & solitude on the edges of London Mon, 04 May 2020 12:46:25 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://www.remotelondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Greater-London-outline-favicon.png Long Reach Tavern Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/long-reach-tavern/ 32 32 179982959 The ghost of Joyce Green Airfield, an ill-fated WW1 aerodrome on the Dartford Marshes https://www.remotelondon.com/joyce-green-airfield-dartford-marshes/ Thu, 28 Nov 2019 18:20:28 +0000 http://www.remotelondon.com/?p=494 Joyce Green airfield was one of the earliest Royal Flying Corps (RFC) airfields. Based on Dartford Marshes during WW1, this was…

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]]> Joyce Green airfield was one of the earliest Royal Flying Corps (RFC) airfields. Based on Dartford Marshes during WW1, this was an ill-fated aerodrome with high fatality rates.

Looking across the Dartford Marshes towards the QE11 Bridge. These fields were once part of Joyce Green airfield.

The airfield’s buildings and hangers were located close to the Long Reach Tavern. The nearby fields were used as runways, their drainage ditches covered over with wooden boards.

The Parade Square at Joyce Green, behind the Long Reach Tavern
The Parade Square at Joyce Green, behind the Long Reach Tavern

This quote from Air Vice Marshal Arthur Gould Lee, taken from his book ‘Open Cockpit’ (1969), sums up not just the danger of Joyce Green, but also the industrial nature of the area at the time.

“To use this waterlogged field for testing every now and then was reasonable and to take advantage of it as an emergency landing ground for Home Defence forces was credible, but to employ it as a flying training station was folly and as a Camel training station was lunacy.

A pupil taking off with a choked or failing engine had to choose, according to wind direction, between drowning in the Thames (half a mile wide at this point), or crashing into the Vickers TNT works, or hitting one of their several high chimney stacks, or sinking into a vast sewage farm, or killing himself and numerous patients in a large isolation hospital, or being electrocuted in an electrical substation with acres of pylons and cables; or trying to turn and get back to the aerodrome. Unfortunately, many pupils confronted with disaster tried the last course and span to their deaths.”

Records back up the Vice Marshal’s opinion, with many young pilots spinning out, before crashing to the earth, or into the Thames or Darent. Several mid-air collisions were also recorded, as pilots practiced for combat.

Nothing remains of the airfield, not even a plaque to the men who died here.

The RFC abandoned the site in 1917, moving to a much more suitable location at Biggin Hill, later made famous as an important fighter base during the Battle of Britain.

Air crew of 63 Squadron relax by the Thames at Joyce Green airfield in 1917.
Air crew of 63 Squadron relax by the Thames at Joyce Green airfield in 1917.
Joyce Green airfield had six hangers, close to the Long Reach Tavern. Image via Royal Air Force Museum.
Joyce Green airfield had six hangers, close to the Long Reach Tavern. Image via Royal Air Force Museum.

Joyce Green Airfield – useful links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Joyce_Green

https://airbornerambler.wordpress.com/2018/07/29/joyce-green-a-passing-shadow/

https://www.crayfordhistory.org.uk/projects/wilfred-salmon/wilfred-salmon-online-exhibition/history-joyce-green-airfield

A scout plane at Joyce Green Airfield in 1915. From Dartford Library.
A scout plane at Joyce Green Airfield in 1915. From Dartford Library.
An aircraft repair shop at Joyce Green Airfield on the Dartford Marshes
An aircraft repair shop at Joyce Green Airfield on the Dartford Marshes

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]]> 494 The Long Reach Tavern – the lost pub of the Dartford Marshes https://www.remotelondon.com/long-reach-tavern-dartford-marshes/ Wed, 27 Nov 2019 20:42:34 +0000 http://www.remotelondon.com/?p=509 The Long Reach Tavern is one of the many ghosts of the Dartford Marshes, a fading memory of past lives and…

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The Long Reach Tavern is one of the many ghosts of the Dartford Marshes, a fading memory of past lives and lost souls.

The Dartford Marshes feel remote and lonely, but over the years this empty landscape has hosted hospitals, an airfield, and even a pub. The Long Reach Tavern stood at the farthest tip of the Marshes, where the River Darent joins the Thames. It would have been the most northerly pub in Kent.

Records date the pub back to at least 1841, when the census lists the publican as Charles Down. The Tavern had its own jetty, serving local bargees and tugboat crews. The pub was also renowned for bare knuckle boxing matches, with boats heading down from London, laden with spectators. A ferry service also ran across the Thames to Purfleet.

The Long Reach Tavern in 1929, with Royal Flying Corps hangers in background.
The Long Reach Tavern in 1929, with the roofs of the Royal Flying Corps hangers in the background. Image source Dave Piggott, author unknown, via Wikimedia

Between 1883 and 1904, three hospital ships were moored nearby. Highly contagious smallpox patients were treated on these ships, until the construction of Joyce Green Hospital and its annexes, nearby on the Marshes.

The Long Reach Tavern and WW1

During the run-up to the WW1, one of the earliest Royal Flying Corps (RFC) airfields, Joyce Green Airfield, was also based close to the Tavern. In 1915 the RFC requisitioned the Long Reach Tavern for use as a canteen and sleeping quarters. The RFC departed in 1917 to a more suitable location at Biggin Hill, and with their departure the tavern returned to public use.

The Parade Square at Joyce Green, behind the Long Reach Tavern
The Parade Square at Joyce Green airfield, behind the Long Reach Tavern. No trace of the airfield remains today. Image source Kent County Council Dartford Library

Flooding, closure, and demolition

The Long Reach Tavern was severely damaged in the North Sea Flood of 1953 and was demolished in the late 1950s, after closure and fire. Almost all trace of the pub has been lost to the new flood defences. However, two tall navigational posts once stood before the tavern, navigational mile markers for Thames shipping. These posts still stand, or at least their replacements do, marking the location of the lost tavern.

The Long Reach Tavern seen from Joyce Lane, Dartford Marshes, in 1939
The Long Reach Tavern seen from Joyce Lane, Dartford Marshes, in 1939

The Dartford Creek Barrier, which came into service in November 1982, stands close to the site of the Long Reach Tavern.

The Thames Path passes the location of the lost Long Reach Tavern, and it can also be reached by walking out along Joyce Green Lane, passing other ghosts of the Dartford Marshes, the Wells Fireworks Factory and The Orchard isolation hospital.

Mile posts facing the River Thames on Dartford Marshes mark location of lost Long Reach Tavern
Two navigational mile posts by the Thames mark the location of the lost Long Reach Tavern

The Long Reach Tavern – useful links

https://pubwiki.co.uk/KentPubs/Dartford/LongReach.shtml

https://www.closedpubs.co.uk/kent/dartford_longreachtavern.html

https://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/images/online_articles/salmon.pdf

dover-kent (dot) com/2014-project-a/Long-Reach-Tavern-Dartford.html – an insecure but informative website 

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