account we heard of "Gyp" was that he was taken down to Shropshire and
that the poor bird died. Mr. W. Puttick, to whom we are indebted for
some curious pieces of information, says, "One of the notabilities at
the Red House beside the Raven whose bites I have often experienced was
a half-witted man who went by the name of 'Billy' the nutman. He used
to carry a bag of nuts and a dial, people paid a penny and turned a
hand and had nuts for their money. I have often seen this man stand in
the water and let the pigeon shooters shoot at him for a few pence, his
gesticulations and grotesque movements at the same time exciting from
the spectators shouts and roars of laughter."
Mr. Wright took the house of Mr. Swaine, but after Mr. Wright left, the
house was taken by a man of the name of Ireland.
James Rock, a respectable ferryman and lighterman, whose house was hard
by, was accidentally drowned in the river Thames, August, 1874. His
son, George Rock, is now Pier-master at Battersea Park Railway Pier.
The "Red House" was famed for aquatic sports. Adjoining the premises
were grounds for pigeon and sparrow-shooting, and the performance of
athletic feats. Pigeons were there sold to be shot at, at 15s. per
dozen; starlings at 4s., and sparrows at 2s. The place attained a
notoriety not surpassed by the number of excursionists who in summer
visit Rye House. Subsequently the Red House with its shooting ground
and adjacent premises was purchased by the Government for £10,000.
"The Old House at Home" was a small thatched hut, kept by Farmer
Hall, where beer was sold direct from the cask, to be drunken on
the premises. It answered the six-fold purpose of shop, dormitory,
fowl-house, pig-sty, stable and cow-shed. Within this hovel were
gathered pigs, fowls, cats, dogs, singing-birds, ducks, cows, horses
and donkeys, which, together with the landlord and his customers who
regaled themselves here, constituted a "happy family!" This was a
famous place for "egg flip," which consisted of new-laid eggs taken
from the hens' nests, beat up in hot ale or porter, sweetened with
sugar, and sold to persons who preferred roaming about at mid-night or
in the small hours of the morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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