The Duke's Head is Grade II listed building, sited in the oldest part of the village around an attractive green. Until the railway arrived in 1847, Wallington was no more than a hamlet and didn't even have its own church until 1867.
The Duke's Head was originally called Bowling Green House and is first mentioned in 1726. Between 1726 and 1773, it appears to have acted as a humble lodging house for travelers, becoming the Duke's Head sometime between 1740 and 1806.
The present building is mid-Victorian and was bought by Young & Bainbridge in 1857, although it had been supplied with Young's beers since before 1832.
A note in the 1857 property valuation reads: "This is a pleasant and commodious rural public house doing a remunerative business. It is let at £70 per year".
During the Second World War it was badly damaged by bombs but a notice in the old stable wall still reads "Duke's Head Livery and Bait Stables". (Bait was a term for the feeding of horses).
*Picture - With kind permission of The Friends of Honeywood Museum
