The One Bell

A Memory of Dartford.

Hi to all. The public house in the centre of town, where the policeman stood directing traffic was The One Bell. Next door was a shop called the Maypole and next to that was The Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel. Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) was a british engineer from Cornwall; a pioneer and inventor of the high pressure steam engine in 1799, he died in bed in the Bull Hotel. It later became The Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel. He was lodging at the Bull when he died of pneumonia while working at Halls. His work colleagues raised the money for his funeral and paid for a watchman to look after the unmarked grave, too deter grave robbers and body snatchers, which was common at that time.

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