The Nelson Inn
Step back in time and see New Road filled with Georgian horses and carts, and Victorian steamboat passengers on route to London.
Choose the Instagram or Facebook button below to open the AR experience.
Use your rear camera to look down Windmill Street and New Road and see people from the past populate the space.
This experience will open your camera feed. Turn your sound on to enjoy the full experience.
History
Did you know that this was an important transport hub in the early 19th century? Standing here in 1528 you’d see a pub called the ‘Three Fleur De Luces’. Around 1775 it became the ‘Marquis of Granby’ and in 1806 it was renamed the ‘Lord Nelson Hotel’ or the ‘Nelson Inn’. The ‘Nelson’ was a coaching inn with stables in the middle opening out onto New Road. Every day an omnibus ran from the Nelson to Meopham, Wrotham and Ightam. From 1815 when the first steamboats began transporting passengers from Gravesend to London, a coach arrived from Maidstone every morning in time for passengers to catch the 08:00 steamboat and would wait there, ready to take them home in the evening. The original building was demolished in 1876 and rebuilt as the Nelson Hotel which remained open until 1983. See photos of the different buildings here
