I remember the Potters Heron before the 1966 fire, and another event prior to that date, probably in the late 1950s…
The original line of the main road there was much closer to the Potters Heron than now, due to a particularly nasty accident that took place then.
A group of actors or celebrities of the day were travelling on what was then the A31, in a couple of fast (for then) cars. The original line of the road can be seen by the present day footpath in front of the Potters Heron, and if you look carefully at the large trees, you can see some old damage to one tree.
That is where one of these people’s cars hit the tree, through going too fast around what was then a tighter curve.
The car hit the tree and exploded into flames, all occupants sadly not surviving the resultant fire.
The second car of the party saw the fire but did not know it was their friends.
It was not very long afterwards that plans were agreed to re-align the road, to its present day alignment, and I remember cycling up there to watch the bulldozers dig out the new road from what had been woodland.
Another Potters Heron story, but a much sadder one than this latest fire.
(Editor’s note: This article is based on a comment left on this post Another Turn of the Potters Wheel.)
Those were the Days: the Potters Heron Hotel in the 50s and 60s
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I knew the Hewlett family who ran the Potters Heron and one early morning in November 1966 I was driving past in my brand new Triumph Spitfire (Mark 1 cost £550!) on my way to Dover to catch the ferry to France and was devastated to see that the Potters Heron was a smouldering pile of thatch.
I also recall that it was a fatal car crash that caused the A31 there to be re-aligned but I have always thought that the fatality was a Labour MP called Eric Neate.
I also recall standing there on a cold November evening in 1947 to see Princess Elizabeth drive past with her new husband on their way to Broadlands for their honeymoon.