The flower arranger for this display had a hard task to represent the numerous buildings that came under the title of Drinking Houses in Bardwell but succeeded by using props to collectively represent  any form of pub or beer house and a few specific items.

Courtesy of Tony Stokes

Pubs, Inns and Beer Houses

In the 19th century the Six Bells and Green Man were licensed inns and the Dun Cow a licensed beer house. There were other beer houses or retailers, the exact whereabouts of these businesses we are not so sure about.

The publican usually had some other form of occupation as well as his beer house or inn which is not surprising; with so many places selling beer he would be unlikely to be able to make a living from that alone.

Somewhere in Knox Lane, James Bullock was a beer house keeper from the 1840’s to the 1860’s. He was also somewhat appropriately a cooper who made the casks or barrels for beer.

In 1885, Henry Bacon who four years previously been an innkeeper in Hopton, was a shop and beer retailer in Bardwell. By 1891 he is still living in the same area but age 71 he was on Parish Relief. There was of course no state pension or benefit system at that time so you worked until you died or until you had to give up because of ill health. If when you could no longer work, you had no family to look after you and you had only ever earned enough to live on, the Parish Relief was enough to stop you starving. 

The 1891 census shows Wallace Gaught son of the innkeeper at the Six Bells as a grocer and woodman living in Spring Road whilst the 1901 census describes him just as a woodman living in Up Street. However the Kelly’s Directories of 1900 to 1916 describe him as a shop keeper and a beer retailer. By 1922 Wallace was the sexton and parish clerk and Alfred Copsey was an innkeeper so perhaps he took over the business but where was this business?

Shepherd and Dog, Quaker Lane

The 1851 census describes part of district 7a as “Bardwell Green and all the houses as far as Shepherd and Dog inclusive.” The Shepherd and Dog was in Quaker Lane where the cul-de-sac opposite Sunnyside is. John Palfry was a shoemaker and innkeeper in Quaker lane in 1851 and in 1855 is described as a beer house keeper. It is possible he was the landlord of the Shepherd and Dog. By 1861 he was the innkeeper at the Green Man but the Shepherd and Dog was reportedly still a beer house at the end of the 19th century. The late Mrs Nora Morris nee Crosby was brought up, together with 6 siblings by her young widowed mother in the cottage that had previously been the Shepherd and Dog.  The cottage was no longer inhabited in the late 1960’s and eventually demolished in the early 1970’s.  

The Green Man

[+] click the image to enlarge

The Green Man in Low Street is now known as The Old Green Man, it  is Grade II Listed and was built in the 16th C and later.  Timber framed and rendered with two mullioned windows it was thatched until converted to a private dwelling house,

History

The Green Man was licensed between 1792 and 1810 but its earlier history is not known. It was possibly a farm house and later a beer house.

Owners or Occupiers

William Fuller

The 1839 Tithe map shows that the owner was a Benjamin Green and the innkeeper and occupier was William Fuller who was also a master carpenter or joiner, sometimes employing 2 men. William was born in 1795 in Ixworth Thorpe and his wife Mary was born in Bardwell. In 1841 and 1851, also living in the Green Man were his two son-in laws, William Pett a draper and John Pett a saddler. William retired as an innkeeper and moved to Low Street with his wife sometime between 1855 and 1861. He appeared to continue his trade as a carpenter almost up to his death in 1872. He had outlived his successor at the Green man who was a much younger man.

The Palfrys and William Mayhew

John Palfry was previously a shoemaker and beer house keeper in Quaker Lane but was innkeeper at the Green Man by 1861. He died in 1864 and his widow Charlotte continued on her own until she married William Mayhew. William was born in Bardwell in 1818 and was a widowed agricultural labourer, when he married Charlotte sometime before 1871; he became the innkeeper and later a farmer and victualler. When he died in1883 his step daughter Miss Eleatha Palfry became the innkeeper and farmer.

Harry Carpenter and Horace Simper

Edward Walter Greene of Greene King purchased the Green Man in 1887 and the new innkeeper was Harry Carpenter. He was only there for a few years until he was replaced in  about 1892 by Horace Simper who stayed as innkeeper until somewhere between 1901 and 1904.

The Ruddocks

In 1901 Thomas Ruddock was a farm bailiff in Bardwell. By 1904 he and his family were living at the Green Man and he was the innkeeper although he died in his forties and by 1908 his widow Eletha was the innkeeper. In 1922 an interesting marriage was reported in the Bury Free Press when “Miss. Constance Markham eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Markham of the Dun Cow married Alfred Ruddock youngest son of the late Mr. Thomas Ruddock and Mrs. Ruddock of the Green Man.” Somewhere between 1926 and 1929 Walter James Ruddock became the landlord, he was 15 years older than his brother Alfred. The family were still tenants of Greene King when the Green Man was closed in 1966. The building was eventually converted into a private house in the early 1970’s and the last member of the Ruddock family who had lived in the Green Man moved into the modern house next door.

The Six Bells Inn

Located on The Green at the beginning of Davey’s Lane The Six Bells is Grade II listed, timber framed building built in the 17th Century with a mid 19th C exterior. Also known as The Bells, The Bell Inn and The Six Bells at various times during its history. The truncated lane on which it stands was called Bell Lane on a map of 1779.

Between 1839 (maybe even earlier) and the mid 1970’s only three families were landlords at the Six Bells. Unlike the Dun Cow and Green Man which were owned by Greene King, The Six Bells was owned by the Bullards Brewery in the 1950’s however we do not know when they purchased the property.

The Nobles 

In 1839 the owner was John Walter Tyrell and the occupier of the Six Bells together with 9 acres was Elizabeth Noble. Her son Charles was the innkeeper by 1841 and remained so for many years retiring about 1876/8. The Parish Magazine of February 1892 paid him the following tribute after his death,    “The late Mr Charles Noble was a native of Bardwell. He was born at the Six Bells Inn in the year 1811, died in 1892 and was therefore 81 years old when he died. With the exception of four years from 1880 to 1884, when he lived in Hepworth, the whole of his long life was spent in this village. During nearly 50 years he was Parish Clerk, and for the greater part of that long period he followed the occupation of a small farmer in addition to the business of the old fashioned Inn in which he had been born, and in which he dwelt for so many years. None who knew him can entertain other than kindly feelings for him. He was undoubtedly a gentleman.”

The Gaughts

After the Nobles, the Gaught family became the innkeepers for many years. George Gaught was born in Euston and before moving to Bardwell was a woodsman living in Sapiston. He was about 45 when moved to the Six Bells where he was described as an innkeeper and hurdlemaker. Later on farmer was added to the description and in 1885 pork butcher. George continued as innkeeper until well into his 70’s when Arthur Gaught became the innkeeper and farmer. Arthur was possibly a grandson, son of Wallace mentioned earlier. It is interesting that not once from 1839 to 1937 are these tenants called beer house keepers, they are innkeepers, victuallers or publicans.

The Daveys  

The Davey family ran the Six Bells for many years and Bert Davey was the last of the family to run the pub, he was the landlord when episodes of “Dad’s Army” were filmed at the “Bells” and on the green in the early1970’s. T

The Dunn Cow

Location in Up Street , the Dun Cow is Grade II Listed. It has an early to mid 16th century core, is timber-framed and is plastered with later 19th and 20th C extensions.

History

During the early 19C this building was a bake house and a beer house.

Owners/Occupiers.

James Nunn, John Addison, Thomas and Edward Watson
According to the Tithe Map of 1839 James Nunn was the owner but not the occupier of this building. He also owned the pasture, the 2 cottages that are now Dun Cow Cottage, the cottages opposite and the windmill. The windmill was occupied by John Addison. Thomas Watson was a beer house keeper and tenant of James Nunn so was probably running the Dun Cow he was also possibly a brother of Edward or Edmund Watson who was a baker.

In 1847 the Dun Cow was sold by auction, as part of an estate which included the windmill and six cottages. The sale description of the beer house went as follows:
"A substantial dwelling house for many years occupied as a beer house, and wherein is also a baking office doing a good business. In the tenure of Mr Watson and Mr Addison, and containing a tap room, parlour, pantry, cellars, brew house, four bedrooms, spacious meal chamber, etc. Together with a stable, detached offices, large garden, and Yard, and also about three quarters of an acre of superior pasture land lying at the back of the said messuage."

Edward or Edmund Watson

In 1841 and in 1851 Edward or Edmund Watson age 30 was a baker living in The Street presumably at the Dun Cow, however by 1861 and age 50 he was a labourer living in Mill Lane.

John Addison

As a miller John Addison was living in Mill Lane in 1841 but in 1847 also shared the tenancy of the Dun Cow inn and bake house with Edward Watson. In 1851 he was still living in Mill Lane but was innkeeper, miller and a farmer of 14 acres who employed 2 labourers but was probably still a tenant and not the owner of either the windmill or the Dun Cow.

Thomas Seaman and Henry Markham

In 1861 Thomas Seaman age 38 was a beer house keeper living in the street with his wife and daughter. Living with his parents in the next door household (possibly in one of the cottages which made up what is now Dun Cow Cottage or in half of the Dun Cow) was Henry Markham age 33 and a baker. Thomas died in about 1864 and his widow Charlotte married Henry Markham who became the beer house keeper as well as the baker. In 1871 their household consisted of two of Thomas’s children, one of theirs and a servant.Henry Markham continued to be a beer house keeper and baker for many years. His son William continued the business from about 1892 and by 1904 had diversified so that his business interests were beer retailer, traps for hire, baker and public baker. In 1925 Percy Markham is the last Markham to be listed as a beer retailer; in 1929 he was back to being a baker. It was during his tenancy in 1921 that the Ixworth Fire Brigade was called to a fire at the inn, a bill for £10 5s 6d was sent to Greene King.

Edward Reach.     

Edward Reach became the landlord of the Dun Cow between 1925 and 1929. The last record of Edward is in 1937 but he possibly continued for many years with Percy Markham still baking as his father and grandfather had before him.