Pratts Bottom
“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is an oft quoted piece of Shakespeare but in this example Pratts Bottom just wouldn’t be the same! The name inspires a certain fondness because it is so unusual and perhaps could be considered a little “risqué” similar to the double entendres in the carry on films of the past! Let us not delve into the village name just yet. At first and indeed subsequent glances the village is as pretty as a picture. The views of the surrounding countryside cover a whole swathe of the Garden of England.
The village itself is part of the London Borough of Bromley bordering the Kent countryside. Set in the Greenbelt on a slope of the North Downs it is as charming as one would expect of a place with such a long history, and because of this charm it has become an exclusive enclave for wealthy city workers keen to escape the city seeking rural bliss and yet within close proximity to the metropolis.
The villages of England as we know them on the whole are a creation that began long ago during the Anglo Saxon era, some are indeed older but these small communities developed from three distinct patterns. The first group develop around a village green/ church, the second group developed along a street and the third group is entirely haphazard. Pratts Bottom falls into the second category of a village that has developed along a single road which was the main highway into London.
The wealth of today’s inhabitants is in complete contrast with the residents of the past. The village was a stop off point for travellers on the stage coaches into London. So many of the inhabitants were employed in the equivalent of today’s service industry and a few managed to eke a meagre living from the land. There was also a third source of income that was fairly lucrative yet little spoken of and has become the “skeleton in the closet” for Pratts Bottom. The choice occupation for a few of the residents was that of a highway man, some also dabbled in a little smuggling on the side! The only problem with smuggling was that you were more likely to be caught by the “Revenue”, tax evasion then as it is today was very much frowned upon by the Government. Highway robbery was a more “honest” crime as the victims had already paid taxes on the money that was appropriated by the highway men.
It is believed that Dick Turpin one of the trade’s most notorious members was a regular at the Bull’s Head Inn. He was also reputed to have rested his saddle weary body in Pear Tree Cottage, which also had a separate means of escape for its visitors wishing to make a quick exit – a tunnel that is now bricked up. Most of the stories that are told about Dick Turpin are in reality myths that have originated from novels written long after his death. He was in reality a thief who dabbled in a little thuggery as well as murder. He was definitely not a “gentleman of the road”. He was born in Essex in 1705 and spent his youth butchering deer poached by a local gang. Being fairly enterprising he soon graduated into burglary and generally terrorising any unfortunate who managed to cross his path. It was probably because he bled his local area dry that he moved into highway robbery or rather one of its baser forms “highway mugging”! There are no records of Dick actually managing to hold up a stage coach which would have been a fairly daring fete. He concentrated on robbing lone travellers and the odd passing cart until he was caught stealing horses in 1739 and hung for his troubles.
Catching criminals in those days was an inefficient business that could at times result in some unfortunate wretch being wrongly accused. Punishments were harsh and involved transportation if the felon was lucky but the more commonplace punishment was death. The average life expectancy for a highway man was 28, most were hung and their bodies left on gibbets placed strategically at cross roads as a warning to other law breakers who wanted to get rich quick! It is believed that the gibbet for Pratts Bottom was situated at World’s End which would have stood on the hill overlooking the tollgate. The threat of being robbed continued into the 19th century with the year 1831 seeing the last recorded mounted robbery
The village name was originally recorded as Spratts Bottom but was eventually changed to its present day name of Pratts Bottom.
The name Pratt comes from Old English “praett” which is a nickname that means a clever trickster, tricky or cunning and bottom was used instead of valley. I am sure that the Pratt family from whom the name is possibly derived and who had lived in the area since the 14th century were honest upstanding citizens, it does make you wonder though, whether the village came by the name in innocence or because of its reputation as a haunt of villains.
The name is certainly unusual but with such a notorious past an ordinary name just wouldn’t suit, so be proud not only is the village a wonderful place to live it also has an unusual history!
copyright© Wendy Stevenson 2011
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