Sun in the Sands

The Sun in the Sands is a public house between Blackheath and Shooter's Hill in London. The pub gives its name to the adjacent road junction, where the A2 between central London and Kent meets the A102, which provides access to the Blackwall Tunnel. Several Transport for London (TfL) bus routes pass close to the junction.There has been a meeting point at this location since the Middle Ages. It was allegedly a stopping point of King Henry VIII when riding from Greenwich to Shooter's Hill with his Queen and several Lords. The present pub dates from around 1745 and its name comes from the sight of the setting sun amidst dust, kicked up by sheep herded by drovers from Kent travelling towards London. It was originally an isolated inn on heathland, frequented by highwaymen known as "the Trojans", who regularly engaged in pickpocketing. William Hazlitt was known to visit the inn.The junction was built in stages, due to various 20th-century projects to bypass the old Roman Road between Blackheath and Dartford. The A2 to the south was constructed as part of the "Shooters Hill By-Pass" which took most of the 1920s to complete. The modern roundabout interchange dates from the late 1960s.