St. Mary's Gate Area

Pubs
St. Mary's Gate Area & Lordsmill Street

This thread is about some pubs around the St. Mary's Gate / Lordsmill Street area of town.

I haven't gone into depth but have tried – where possible – to show pictures/photos., & give a little bit of information about them; as well as maps. A lot of information about the buildings – what they looked like - can be gathered from sales, so I've tried to give sales' details.

1 White Swan aka Avenue aka Pig & Pump

2 Hare and Greyhound aka The Saints aka The Spire by Stephensons

3 Crooked Spire aka Slug & Fiddle aka The Rectory

4 Plough

5 Phoenix Vaults aka Spa Lane Vaults

6 Scarsdale Vaults aka Dunnells Vaults

7 Anchor aka Chandler's Bar

8 Old Ship Inn aka Ship Inn aka Galleon

9 Crown Hotel

10 Feathers aka Old Feathers

11 Black Bull

I'll begin with general information before more specific information to the pubs.

1849 map of the area

To the right, & following, are various maps of the area, showing the places of the pubs: You'll see how the area changes over time & buildings are pulled down, re-built or built.

Streets were made wider for the new motor traffic; & unsafe – or not good for purpose - buildings were either changed or rebuilt.

Below are the 1878, 1918, 1962-64 & 2014. With photos from 2016 showing where the pubs are / were.

1 White Swan aka Avenue aka Pig & Pump

Below are photos from 2016

The White Swan from the other side ................ a close up of the stonework & windows.

Below & centre 2 'White Swan' signs: On the right, below, the 'Pig & Pump' sign - the latest to take over the building.

This article, on the right, is the earliest I found.

"For Sale" & "To Let" advertisements & articles are important for gaining information of what the 'property' entails etc

..... "disreputable and immoral characters" .....

The 'back story' to the previous article from the Derbyshire Times:

“Mr Waller ….. would remind the Bench that the license was not granted last year in consequence of an assertion that there were a number of prostitutes allowed to assemble in his house.” [Paul Brailsford, the White Swan].

“This was not so, as they resided in the same yard, and he would not allow them to be in his house. The Rev. George Garrett, the late notorious curate, asserted last Brewster sessions, “that very bad characters were in the habit of frequenting the house. The people would stand against his house, and sometimes their conversation was of so disgusting a nature that his wife had to leave the room”.

“Mr Waller explained that Mr Brailsford, the landlord, refused them drink, and when they passed the door of the Rev. gentleman they were on their way to the Cross Keys.”

Paul Brailsford ran it until he died, on the 3rd February 1883 aged 76, then it was up for sale again. Paul had been born in 1807 in Ashover. At his death his personal estate was £116 10s 2d.

Mr. Sipson of the Bull's Head bought it in 1883.......... but & was for sale again in 1890

At the Brewster Session of December 1899 the White Swan came in for more complaints, this time from people who lived in the neighbourhood, who didn't want the Swan to have its license renewed. A petition was presented & read out:

“The undersigned inhabitants of St. Mary's Gate and neighbourhood desire earnestly & respectfully to draw your attention to the number of licensed houses in our midst, and more especially to the “White Swan”, a house which is and has been for years a nuisance to the neighbourhood, and which is not provided with decent accommodation. As you have full and absolute discretion as to granting a renewal, we trust that in the interest of the public you will, as regards the “White Swan”, refuse a renewal, and allow the license to lapse.”

83 names were attached.

The chairman of the Bench said the magistrates would accept the memorial as an expression of opinion.

As there were no convictions recorded against any house that year all the licences would be renewed.

Due to the compensation act renovating or re-building public houses was viewed with caution by the authorities.

Derbyshire Times, 31 August 1901

To Improve the Tone of St. Mary's Gate.

Mr. J. Middleton applied on behalf of G.H. Wigley, the tenant of the White Swan Inn, St. Mary's Gate, for a provisional license of a new inn, proposed to be erected on the site of the present house & on land adjoining.

There seemed to be some misapprehension, Mr. Middleton said, with regard to the question of alteration of the licensed premises. There was no provision in any of the licensing acts requiring a license holder, who by reason of altered circumstances, or by reason of sanitary requirements, to come before that, or any other bench for the purpose of getting the sanction of the bench to the proposed alterations. A license holder might enlarge and improve his premises at his own discretion, but there had grown up a practice............that before a licensed victualler made any alteration to his premises he should become before the Bench and state what he proposed to do. It also enabled the Bench to make any suggestions they thought well in the carrying out of the alterations, suggestions which, as far as he knew, were always readily and cheerfully carried out.

The Swan Inn was a very old house, built when the sanitary requirements were not as thorough as they were today, and adjoining it was a lot of old property which had recently been condemned, and had to come down. The question was whether or not this was not a favourable opportunity for altering the Swan, and making it into a better class house altogether. He agreed with the rev. gentleman when he said there ought not to be granted and additional drinking facilities; and that was not being done in this case, but he contended that advantages should be taken of the opportunity now presented, of converting a low class house, with small rooms and unhealthy surroundings, into one of a more modern description.

The proposed new house was to be built on the site of the two old cottages which had been demolished, and partly on the site of the present inn. A shop would be erected near the inn, with the result that a lot of low class property would be done away with. He hoped the gentlemen, who were objecting, would see that in this case that the proposal was not to turn the place into a drinking shop, but simply to raise the character of the house.

Mr. W.C. Jackson, the architect, explained the plans to the Bench, and said the drinking facilities of the house were not increased by the plans. Accommodation had been provided for the landlord and his family, which was absent in the present building. The plans had received the sanction of the Highway Committee.

Mr. Beresford: Might I ask Mr. Jackson whether the new Swan Inn will not be of more value in the market than the old Swan? You know well enough that the question of compensation from public-houses is a things that stands in the way of an alteration of the licensing business. If the new inn is to be worth twice the value of the old place, that will increase the amount of compensation demanded by the owners when the time comes for the renewal of a lot of these places, and it will be a hindrance to temperance reform.

Mr. Jackson said he did not think the re-building of the place would make it more valuable than the old place.

Mr. Berresford thought it would fetch more if put on the market.

Mr. Middleton: According to that we would never have any improvements, because I am afraid the member for Spital ….... will come up with the question of compensation and the buying up of public houses. (Laughter)

Mr. Berresford: It is intended practically, to sell more drinks there, that is the point, and that means more money in the brewery's pocket, or whoever owns the public house.

After a short consultation in private, the Mayor and the Bench were satisfied the proposed alterations would raise the tone of the neighbourhood, and they had, therefore, resolved to accede to the application.

At the suggestion of the Bench, Mr. Middleton gave an undertaking that drink should not be sold or consumed in the rooms provided as the private apartments of the tenant and his family.

John Smith's brewery re-built the White Swan in 1902 & it had a central bar, lounge & tap room. A final order re. the permanent license was made in March 1903; after the Bench had been advised all conditions as to the re-building had been made.

In its heyday the White Swan hosted live music nights. In 1988 it had major refurbishment & became open plan; this was when it changed its name to the Avenue. In 2004 it opened as a chinese restaurant & lasted 8 years until it closed. Major refurbishment occurred again in March 2012 to turn it back to a public house - & the name was changed back to the White Swan: On 17th July 2012, the White Swan opened as a real ale pub; & besides other beers has its own RAW brewing company. It's now changed hands again & is called the 'Pig & Pump'.

2 The Hare & Greyhound aka The Saints aka The Spire by Stephensons

The Hare & Greyhound from above 1928

c/o http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk

In February 1923 the Chesterfield Bench agreed to the plans submitted for alterations to the Hare & Greyhound; & adverts were sent out for tenders to do the work, by architects Wilcockson & Cutts.

A sale by auction took place by J. M. Warwick & Co.,

on instructions from

John Smith's Tadcaster Brewery Ltd.,

at The Terminus Hotel,

Chatsworth Road, Chesterfield,

on Monday, 7th March 1977 at 2.30p.m.

A later sale took place by W.D. Botham & Sons, on instructions from Mr. D.C.E. & Mrs. A.M. Lineker, [who were retiring from the licensed trade]: Unless it was sold privately beforehand, the sale would be at The Chesterfield Hotel, Corporation Street, Chesterfield, on Thursday 19th April, 1984, at 3 p.m. Prompt.

It was bought by the Parish Church & was converted into a cafe & named 'The Saints', & is now 'The Spire by Stephensons', coffee shop.

3 The Crooked Spire aka Slug & Fiddle aka The Rectory

The earliest things I've found about the Spire pub are these two adverts. Frederick Mason ran the pub for over 20yrs.

Derbyshire Courier, Saturday 12th September 1863

Frederick Mason applied for a license for the Crooked Spire, Church Lane. The Spire & a neighbouring beer house called the “Omar Facha” both belonged to the same proprietor, & if the Bench granted a license to the Spire, then they would close the Omar Facha & make additions to the Crooked Spire re accommodation for carts, etc at the rear of the house, which would relieve the crowded streets on market days.

A full license was granted on Saturday 3rd September 1864 - after being denied the previous year for deficient stable accommodation. Frederick Mason had since added stabling.

To celebrate Mason held a tea party of 100 people in October 1864.

Derbyshire Times, Saturday 15th October 1864

THE CROOKED SPIRE INN TEA PARTY.- This house, which is most ample and commodious, has recently been licensed as a victualing house by the magistrates; and to celebrate the event, a tea party was held on Tuesday, when about 100 persons attended. There was an abundant supply of provisions, and the repast gave general satisfaction. After tea the tables were cleared for dancing, which was kept up in a very spirited manner throughout the evening. Mr. Mason, the host, may congratulate himself upon the esteem in which he is held by his neighbours, as almost all the inhabitants in the neighbourhood might have been found amongst the company.

Mason kept it until around April 1882 when the Spire was advertised 'To Let' again. Frederick Mason drowned in the river Rother the end of May the following year.

Sheffield Independent Tuesday 8th February 1927

The license for the pub was contested for grounds of 'inadequate trade': There had been 52 houses & 6 shops pulled down in the neighbourhood; & there were also 16 ale houses in the vicinity.

The reasons to grant a license were that Samuel Biggin, the one-armed landlord, had kept it in excellent condition; & the Brampton Brewery stated, [via Mr. Middleton], that when people visited the Crooked Spire Church they often called for refreshment in the Spire pub; & also that the license of another of their houses, the 'Ring o' Bells', in Church Lane, had already been taken. The license was granted.

Derbyshire Times Saturday 4th January 1930

The town planning sub-committee had recommended the plans for a new Crooked Spire public house be approved.

The plans included the moving of the Spire Inn to fit in with the new road leading from Burlington Street to St. Mary's Gate. The new road also made an impact on the cottages on Church Way & the Alpine Gardens.

The postcard above is dated 1939; & the one by its side was taken in 2016 of the same area.

There are railings now instead of a wall on this side of the church; and the Chesterfield

Tourist Centre is the building on the left of the 2016 photo.

The - somewhat worn - sign of the Crooked Spire; the Slug & Fiddle; & The Rectory sign.

4 The Plough

The Plough had a chequered history & reputation. Sometimes it had a license & was run as an Inn & Boarding house;

when it lost it's license it was run as a boarding house.

Someone reminiscing..... ..... & a robbery......

The end of the Plough....

The Plough had been let to the Chesterfield Brewery Co. in 1902 but by 1906 the Scarsdale Brewery Co. were the lessees.

Derbyshire Times, Saturday 16th June 1906 (excerpts)

The Plough Inn, St. Mary's Gate.

The Plough beerhouse, St. Mary's Gate, Chesterfield, was reported by the local justices to the authority for extinction and compensation.....

Mr. T. E. Ellison..... asked for the renewal of the license on behalf of the lessees, the Scarsdale Brewery Company; also for the owners, Mrs. Goodwin and Mrs. Rhodes, and for Mr. Henry Mitchell, the tenant.

The renewal was objected to on the grounds of (1) difficulty of police supervision (2) the fact that it was in connection with a common lodging house, (3) the premises were structurally inadequate, and (4) redundancy.

The premises are several centuries old, there being a date, 1639, over one doorway. There are three back doors leading into a yard.....

Chief Constable Kilpatrick was called and gave particulars of the inhabitants and the licensed houses in the vicinity, stating there were 26 within a distance of 200 yards, including 15 full licensed.....

The constable also said there was too much accommodation in the district; & considerably too many houses. He said the ceilings were too low & the place was a poor structure altogether. He didn't know any worse house for supervision either & the house was a common lodging house licensed for 25 persons. That license was from the Chesterfield Borough authorities, but it wasn't anything to do with the licensing magistrates.

Mr. William Henry Allsop, cashier of the Scarsdale Brewery Co. stated the rent was £120. It was tied for draft beer only. The amount of trade in draft beer alone was £450 a year: The average takings of the tenant would be £700 - £800.

The registered owners of the house was the Chesterfield Brewery Co., even though they had sold it to the Scarsdale Brewery 3 years past; & the tenant Mr Henry Mitchell had been missing since the previous Wednesday.

The license was not granted & the house was recommended for compensation.

The license expired on 20th December 1906 & compensation of £1475 was paid.

The owners, Mrs. Rhodes & Mrs. Goodwin, received £309 & £441 respectively.

It was later pulled down & a new Employment Exchange was built on the site in the 1930's. The building has since been used as a County Court.

5 Phoenix Vaults aka Spa Lane Vaults

A photo c1905 below left, &, below right, from approximately the same place 2016:

Looking across St. Mary's Gate, down Spa Lane.

The Plough is on the left hand facing & the Phoenix, The site of the Plough is on the left, having been re-built on;

aka Spa Lane, Vaults is on the right hand side facing. & the re-built Spa Lane Vaults (1924) is on the right.

Derbyshire Courier 14th March 1857

BY MESSRS. MASON AND SONS.

C H E S T E R F I E L D.

VALUABLE FREEHOLD ESTATE NEAR THE RAILWAY STATION.

MESSRS. G. W. W. MASON and SONS will SELL by AUCTION, at the Angel Inn, Chesterfield, on SATURDAY, March 28th, 1857, at Three o'clock, in one or more lots, the Valuable FREEHOLD PROPERTY eligibly (sic) situate in St, Mary's-gate, the SPA-LANE BREWERY, with spacious Stores, Yard, Stabling, and Outbuildings; Roomy and Commodious FAMILY RESIDENCE, with Flower Garden, Hot House, and Kitchen Garden; also, adjoining the Residence, the Handsome and Substantial WINE and SPIRIT VAULTS, with extensive arched Cellars and spacious Bottling Store; and, in the rear of the Brewery, a plot of very Eligible BUILDING GROUND, possessing a total frontage of nearly 800 feet.

The PLANT and UTENSILS will be sold with the Premises, and include a ten-horse steam engine, two boilers, safety chimney shaft, ten quarter mashtub, 43 barrel steam pan, six stone working squares, and every requisite for conducting an extensive and profitable business.

The Buildings and Plant are the whole property, being nearly an acre and a half in extent, nearly all new, an outlay of upwards of £5,000 having been expended on the property within three years.

The Good-will of the profitable wholesale & retail trade on Beer, Wine, and Spirits, will be included in the purchase.

May be viewed 14 days prior to the Sale, and particulars obtained on the Premises, at the Angel Inn, Chesterfield, at the Royal Hotel, Sheffield, of Messrs. DIMMOCK and BURBEY, Suffolk-lane, Cannon-street, of Messrs. POWNALL, SON, and CRASS, 9 Staples Inn, of P. S. BRISELEY, Esq., 4, Pancreas-lane, and of the AUCTIONEERS, 61, King William-street, London Bridge.

Derbyshire Courier, Saturday 30th July 1859

Spa Lane Vaults was to be let. It had, “been greatly improved the last six years under the management of the late Mr. Charles Doe, proprietor”

Charles Doe had come to the Vaults from the Mallet &

Tool in February 1854, on retirement of John Hodgkinson,

& died Thursday 14th July 1859 aged 38yrs. The Vaults were taken over by Dawson & Turner.

The Vaults for sale again...

Derbyshire Times, Saturday 4th June 1864 excerpt

MATTHEW DOBBS is favoured with instructions from W. Webster Esq. (unless previously disposed of by Private Contract, of which sufficient notice will be given), to SELL BY AUCTION, at the Commercial Hotel, on Tuesday, the 21st June, 1864, at Six o'clock in the Evening, subject to conditions to be then and there produced:-

LOT 1

All that Commodious and Substantially-built BRICK PREMISES in St. Mary's Gate and Spa Lane, in the occupation of Mr. James Martin Veterinary Surgeon; also, those Old-established and Well-accustomed VAULTS in the occupation of Mr. Dawson, Wholesale and Retail Spirit Merchant, and TWO COTTAGES adjoining the Vaults Spa Lane.

The Houses have a first-class frontages in St. Mary's Gate; Mr. Martin's house has very suitable drawing room, parlour, surgery, two large kitchens, lodging rooms, and cellaring; also a large open space of ground at the back of the said premises, used as an infirmary for a Veterinary Surgeon, including loose boxes, stalls, dog kennels, coach house, saddle room, and other conveniences.

The Vaults, adjoining the said house, contain good tap-room, and other conveniences, and extensive arched cellaring used for the wholesale business of spirit merchant, together with chambers over the vaults.

The two above-named cottages have a very good arched cellaring.

The whole producing an annual rental of more than one hundred pounds per anum. The whole is enclosed with a boundary wall, and forms nearly a square of eligible land, containing by admeasurement, 1205 superficial yards or thereabouts.

The above-named property is most eligibly (sic) situated for being converted into a commodious hotel, having sufficient stabling and yard for that purpose.

The premises occupied by Mr. Martin affords a fine opening for an enterprising young man commencing business as a Veterinary Surgeon.

The situation is most eligible being a few minutes walk of the railway station.

If not the whole of the premises was sold, or leased, then portions of it were

As with other pubs it had its troubles.....

Derbyshire Courier 7th December 1901 Summary

THEFTS FROM A PUBLIC HOUSE

George Bilsom alias Wheeldon & William Henry Mack were charged, & found guilty, of stealing from the Phoenix Inn, on 28th November 1901. Bilsom had pleaded guilty but Mack not guilty – but added he was sorry & had never been in trouble before.

Mr. William Coates, landlord of the Hour Glass Inn, Spa Lane, was helping Mr. Booth, landlord of the Phoenix Inn on that evening. Bilsom & Mack visited the Inn at 7.30 p.m. & when they left, a bottle of special whisky, two bottles of claret & a decanter of ginger brandy was missing.

John Bower, of Darch & Wilkinson's lodging house witnessed seeing Bilsom drink out of a bottle the back yard. Sergeant Evans visited the lodging house & saw the 2 men sitting together on a bed; & he noticed Mack putting something under the bed. Upon looking he found a bottle of whisky: The decanter was later found in the churchyard & a claret bottle was found in the back yard – the other bottle was found under a seat in the Phoenix.

Both were sent to prison for a months hard labour.

Derbyshire Courier 4th June 1921 Summary

STIFF PRICES FOR POOR WHISKY

The Board of Trade had many complaints against the over-charging of whisky so hoped that bringing landlords to court would deter the custom.

Inspector B. Smith of the Board of Trade visited the Phoenix on the 10th May & stated he entered the public bar, & bought ¼ gill of whisky for 8d; & Inspector W. M. Radford then entered the bar & was charged 4s 7d for ½ pint of whisky at 35 under proof. The whisky was analysed as being 40 under proof so the price should've been 4s 2d.

The Landlord, John Fellow's, defense was that the room he served the two men in was called the 'vaults' & was not a public bar & there wasn't a notice saying it was a public bar; he had been there for six years & had never used it as a public bar. As to the proof of the whisky – he'd broken it down six weeks ago, & at that time it was 35 under proof. He could only think that – as the bottle had already been opened & was not new – someone had taken out some whisky & added water to it. He denied not having control over the bar.

He was fined & paid costs to the total of £9 17s.

The Vaults were re-built in 1924 although alterations were still going on in 1930.

It was 1924 when Billy Green took over as landlord.

Like other buildings in town it was on the [provisional] list of buildings which could be used as an air raid shelter for the public: 89 people in the day & night. Only to be used by the public if they were in the area !

(Derbyshire Times 15.9.1939.)

Sale of 1998, The Phoenix.

7 Anchor aka Chandlers

The same perspective as the above, taken 2016.

Chandlers

Back to the Anchor...

Like other public houses the Anchor was used for inquests; & the inquest of George Mugliston who was a wine & spirit merchant from up the road at 40 & 42 St. Mary's Gate, [later the Scarsdale Brewery Co.], was held there on Friday 2nd February 1844.

In 1857 it got into the news for the coincidence of having 5 elderly men of the neighbourhood as customers at the same time.....

I'm not making a list of landlords but will mention a few. John Henson was landlord & a proprietor of Hady Colliery, when he died on 14th June 1856, aged 49yrs. John Henson's nephew, William Morley, later had it in 1859.

The Anchor was for sale in 1864, when William Dodson took it over in April of that year, & redecorated: the previous tenant being William Morley.

William Dodson was born in 1819 in Kirkby in Ashfield,

Ntts. His '2nd' occupation was a woodman & he'd owned several acres.

William held an 'Opening Dinner' on Wednesday 25th May at 4 p.m.; tickets were 3s. 6d. Which got a rave review

Unfortunately, like a lot of business people, he went bankrupt. His bankruptcy was declared on 7th March 1868 & his wife then died on 27th May 1868. In the September ¼ of 1869 he married Alice Settles; but it only lasted a few years before William himself died, intestate, on 16th August 1872; effects under £100. Notices went out to creditors to contact solicitors & to advertise the selling up of household goods & effects by administrators.

Straight to the 1920's....

Derbyshire Times, Saturday 14th February 1920 Summary

The licensing sessions held on the previous Monday looked at, for one, the Anchor Inn, alehouse of St. Mary's Gate, to discuss it being sent for compensation on the grounds of redundancy. The licensee was Herbert Winfield & owners Messrs. Wm. Stones Ltd., Sheffield.

The Chief Constable stated that the Anchor was one of 7 houses within a radius of 1 hundred yards: within 2 hundred yards there were 20 houses. The weekly consumption was from 6 to 8 hogsheads; & the rateable value was £83 4s.

In its defense it was stated the Anchor was an old house & had been licensed in the early part of 1700. It had for many years been popular & many people preferred the old-fashioned, homely, houses. At the outbreak of the war the barrelage was 12 36s; when the embargo was on it averaged 8, & now it gone back to 12. The compensation for such a house could not be less than between £4,000 & £5,000.

The Mayor asked whether any alterations had been contemplated to which Mr Moore, in defense of the Anchor, said if the Bench required alterations then they would be done: They owned the adjoining shop & he suggested taking in the adjoining shop to make a better corner.

If alterations were made the Chief Constable would withdraw his opposition to the Anchor; & the Mayor said the license would be renewed on the understanding that plans for improvement were prepared.

Plans were passed to re-build the Anchor on Monday 11th April 1921. The license of the Anchor Inn, belonging too Messrs. Stones, Cannon Brewery, Sheffield, had been denied at the last session in 1920, but was renewed subject to the re-building of the premises. It was hoped the alteration of the corner of Hollis Lane would make it safer for traffic.

A landlord in trouble..... not the first or the last.

The improvement of the Hollis Lane & Vicar Lane / St. Mary's Gate junction was made by October 1923; & the Anchor re-built by February 1924.

Public houses, Inns or hotels didn't just offer a venue to clubs or social groups: W. H. Blackbourn offered a 'healing' service which was advertised in the Derbyshire Times from around 1936 to around 1945. He, or his practice, was situated at Sheffield.

8 Old Ship Inn aka Ship Inn aka The Galleon

There have been 3 'Ship Inn's in St. Mary's Gate, as far as I know. Looking up St. Mary's Gate towards the Church, on the left hand side, between Beetwell Street & Vicar Lane was the first (that I know of). The second was built upon the same site in 1886; & the third was built on the opposite side of the road, on the corner of St. Mary's Gate & Hollis Lane.

Below, maps from 1878 & 1962-64.

The Inn had been bought in a sale in 1880 by the Brampton Brewery Company; & it was they who re-built it – twice.

Adverts had been put in the paper for tenders to pull down & re-build the Inn in September 1885; the architect was George Roper.

The article, below, is someone reminiscing about the Old Ship Inn & telling of the re-building of the new Ship Inn, on the same site in 1886.

There had been plans of road widening since 1913 / 1914

when plans were drawn up; but weren't carried out.

These were looked at again.

Derbyshire Courier, Saturday 12th March 1921

A Corporation Improvement

Application was made By Mr. Hopkins on behalf of Mrs. Mary Alia Williamson for the transfer of the licence of the Ship Inn, St. Mary's Gate, to proposed new premises to be built at the junction of Hollis Lane and St. Mary's Gate.

A Provisional agreement had been made said Mr. Hopkins, between the Corporation and the Brampton Brewery Company, owners of the Ship Inn, by which the Company would give the Corporation the site of the Inn, and the structure itself, in exchange for a piece of land on the opposite side of the road.

Mr. Vincent Smith, borough surveyor, said that under their Act of 1910 the Corporation had power to widen Vicar Lane from 22 feet to 40 feet. Vicar Lane was used as the exit for the 'buses, and as the traffic had much developed during the past six years,the corner leading to St. Mary's Gate was one of the most dangerous corners, if not the most dangerous corner in the town. Minor accidents were a matter of weekly occurrence. By the agreement referred to, the Corporation would give the Company 1,500 square yards of land at the junction of Hollis Lane and St. Mary's Gate in exchange for 285 square yards of land, including the Ship Inn building. It would make one of the best and cheapest improvements that the Corporation had carried out in recent time.The Brewery Company would be put to the expense of £7,500 in building a new inn, and the Corporation would spend £2,250, less the value of the building, which was put up in 1886. It was proposed to round off the corner, and there then would be a view of the approach of traffic up Hollis Lane and St. Mary's Gate.

Plans of the proposed new building had been approved by the Highways Committee. The Housing Committee, owing to the urgency of the matter had placed no ban on the proposed building.

The application was granted.

In April 1921 the licence was transferred to the new [third] Ship Inn.

The third Ship Inn under construction.

9 The Crown

The 1878 map is before the re-build The 1962-1964 shows the premises & the 2014 shows the site of the the Crown after the re-build of the Crown. Crown.

It can be rough being a landlord...

Derbyshire Courier 12th March 1904 summary: Licensing session

The Chairman stated it had been a licensed house for 40 years; & Mr. Green was the seventeenth tenant. There was a discussion as to whether the average amount of time of a tenant was good or bad in that neighbourhood.

The arguments against the Crown having a license included:

“The floors of the house were below the level of the street. It was very difficult of police supervision, or by the tenant. The smoke-room ceiling was only six feet in height. There was a passage 22 feet long and only 19 inches wide at one part. The ceilings were so low that in one room it was necessary to bring the gas up from the floor, through a table.”

“The applicant was convicted in December and fined 20s. and costs for permitting drunkenness. A woman was found drunk on the premises, and the landlord complained that he was not aware she was in the house.”

The landlord, Joseph Green, had told the Chairman that the premises was entirely impossible to supervise properly: He had been the tenant from 1899 & said it was structurally unsuitable & inconvenient.

The bed rooms were discussed re the letting to travelers:

There were 4 bed rooms & the tenant, his wife, 8 children, & a servant lived there. The tenant stated there were 6 beds in the largest room, one of which 2 of his sons could sleep in; which left 5 beds for travelers to use: The rest of the household slept in the other 3 rooms. The tenant said he accepted workmen or any respectable person as lodgers. The Chairman wasn't impressed with the layout.

Mr. Smith on behalf of the brewery said that the house met a public want & he was prepared to give an undertaking that plans for re-constructing the premises would be carried out, if the application was granted.

Mr. W. H. Wagstaffe, architect, Chesterfield, produced the plan for the reconstruction. The new rooms would be 10 ft. high on the ground floor, & the taproom would be 20ft long by 18ft wide. The bed rooms would be 8ft 6in high. The expenditure was estimated at £1,000. At that time there was a fried fish shop between the stables & house which the Brewery proposed to take in.

Mr. George Boldrey, secretary of the Brampton Brewery Company, said the house did a fairly good trade; & the average yearly payment to the company by the tenant was £488, & the turnover must be at least £600 per year.

The license was refused.

The Brampton Brewery's plans for the re-build.

Tenders were advertised for the re-erection of the Crown & it was rebuilt in 1906; the architect being W. H. Wagstaff, Saltergate, Chesterfield.

Not for the queezy..... !

Derbyshire Courier 29th March 1913

“Stabbing Affray at Chesterfield.

Savage Attack on a woman.

-----------------

ASSAILANT'S ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

-----------------

Sanguinary Scene in Crowded Tap-Room.

-----------------

* A sensation was caused in Chesterfield on Saturday night by the information that a man had seriously stabbed a woman and had afterwards made a desperate attempt at suicide.

* The parties met at the Crown Hotel, Lordsmill Street, shortly after half-past seven, and before any of the customers were aware of the man's intention he had committed the acts.

* The police were quickly on the spot, and when the wounds had been attended to by the police surgeon, the man and woman were removed to the Chesterfield Union Infirmary.

* The latest intimation is that both parties are recovering from the wounds inflicted, the man's injuries having been of a more grave character than those of the woman.

All the possibilities of a deeply-nursed and dire double tragedy were present (writes a “Courier” representative) in the mad use of the knife at the Crown Hotel, Lordsmill Street, Chesterfield, on Saturday night.

Indeed, exaggerated accounts of the stabbing, implying actual tragedy, spread abroad with such rapidity that within a few minutes of the deed the old and narrow thoroughfare in the vicinity of the hotel was crowded with curious and morbid fact-seekers. The story, as gathered, was as simple and sordid as its enactment was swift and terrible, and the end only appears to have missed being fatal by the sheer ferocity of the attack.

About half-past seven a man named Oliver Farrant, 47 years of age, who is regarded as belonging to Sheffield, entered the tap-room, (which is used also as a singing room), of the premises, with a hawker's basket of mussels and whelks. There was a good company in the room at the time, and Farrant, following his calling, offered his wares to one and then another. One young fellow asked him for, “a penn'orth of mussels,” and the man proceeded to open the shellfish with a knife – keen-edged, strong-bladed, and shaped by repeated sharpenings in the nature of a dagger.

Whilst so engaged other customers entered the room, among these being a woman named Ruth Fletcher, about 26 years of age, with whom Farrant had a special acquaintance. The man watched her come in, and, without uttering a word of caution or warning, he stopped the task in which he was engaged and turned savagely on the woman with the knife. Receiving the first stab, which penetrated the neck behind the ear,

Fletcher screamed out “Mother!”

and raised her left hand for protection, but Farrant struck again, and gashed the woman's ear and inflicted an ugly cut on the left hand. With blood welling from the neck wound and pouring down the left side of the body, the woman collapsed on to one of the seats, and her assailant stood off a second. The unexpectedness of the man's action and the fears which it aroused led to some cries and slight commotion, and whilst attention was diverted to the victim. Farrant, no doubt thinking he had inflicted a death-blow, turned the knife on himself and began hacking at his throat in a horrible manner. He was seized and prevented from further use of the weapon, and in little time P.c. Clay and P.c. Savage, who were nearest to hand when police assistance was sought, entered the premises. They were followed shortly afterwards by Inspector Lee and Chief-Constable Kilpatrick, and the man and his victim were at once given first aid.

In the meantime Dr. W. J. Symes, police surgeon, had been telephoned for, and, pending his arrival, part of the hotel – the taproom side – was closed to the public. The woman was laid on the piano platform, and it is a curious fact that whilst both the injured retained consciousness and speech, the man to whom the mussels were being served fainted away. On the arrival of Dr. Symes the man was found to be in the more critical condition, the nature of his self inflicted wounds and the loss of blood which had followed making it doubtful whether he might recover.

The woman had apparently reason to fear the man's presence, as she stated that three weeks before, when she met the man in Hipper Street, he

Threatened to take her life,

but she managed to get away from him. After the wounds had been bandaged, Farrant and his victim were removed on police ambulances to the Union Infirmary – the knowledge of which led to the man turning nasty, and declaring he was not going to be taken into any “workhouse.” Before removal, however, he had shown that he had not acted on the impulse of the moment – a remark in the presence of the police, that he had come over to Chesterfield for the purpose of putting the woman “out of the way,” and that he meant to “do her in” wherever he came across her, evidencing a wrath he had, apparently, been nursing.

On being attended to at the infirmary it was found that the woman's chief wound was not so dangerous as had been at first thought, and she has continued to make progress since admission. Farrant's wounds also have greatly improved under treatment, and the doctor was soon able to pronounce him out of real danger. In the infirmary, however, he ceased his confessions and lapsed into a state of sullen moroseness, which enforced the police making enquiries in other quarters. His body is

Tatooed practically all over

- a large picture of Queen Victoria having been printed across his breast – and it is assumed from the markings that the man has at one time or another worked on the sea. The landlady of a lodging-house in Westbar Green, Sheffield, where Farrant has been lodging off and on since last October, supports this view, although she is unable to say whether he has been in the navy or merchant service. She states that when he first came to lodge there he had come straight from sea, and that he has talked about going back to the life again. She describes him as a quiet, steady-going man, who kept regular hours, paid in advance, and was never the worse for drink. He was known as “Scottie” at the lodgings, for no particular reason, and the knowledge of his act came as a great surprise, as “Scottie” had not been know to mix up with any women.

“ He was the last man in the world I should have thought would have done such a thing,” the landlady declares. It is believed, however, that

Jealousy and Resentment

are the actuating causes of the crime.

The young woman, Fletcher, is a native of Ripley, Derbyshire, but she has been known in the Chesterfield neighbourhood for some time. One story is that the pair went to Sheffield, and that whilst there the woman left Farrant and returned to Chesterfield. She has been living at one of the common lodging houses since, and the landlady of the Crown, Mrs Bennett, stated that while the man was a complete stranger to the house – she does not remember him being on the premises before Saturday – Fletcher had made occasional calls during the previous fortnight and had given cause for, on one occasion, being refused.

“She called again, however, a day or two ago,” said Mrs Bennett, “and asked if she could have a drink. She was then quite sober and orderly, and she was allowed to have a drink on condition that she did not remain on the premises. She went away after that, and we did not see her any more until the Saturday night – when this happened.”

The Sheffield landlady's knowledge that Farrant made a practice of hawking mussels, however, does away with the allegation that the man had followed the woman from Sheffield for the purpose of expressing his feelings, and that he had used the mussel basket merely as a a cover under which to prosecute his search in the public houses of Chesterfield.”

The Crown was greatly altered in the early 1950's.

FIRST FLOOR CELLAR

The Crown was closed in December 1966.

10 Old Feathers

The 1918 map shows where the original Old Feathers stood.

The 1962 - 1964 map shows where it was re-built, to the North & set back - on the site of 3 cottages.

The 2014 shows where the site of the Feathers was......... & a picture of the roundabout with the Feathers on the left.

'Dominoes' is where the 'Old Feathers' was.

The pub was bought & sold over the years; the first year of license transfer on the police books was 1845. It wasn't until the early 1900's that re-erecting became essential. The council wanted to carry out road improvements to make Lordsmill Street wider & safer for traffic; & the Home Brewery had to struggle to keep a license because of the run-down state the Feathers was in.

Derbyshire Courier, Saturday 10th February 1912

Mr. Jno. Middleton, representing the Home Brewery Co., Notts. took up the cudgels on behalf of the Old Feathers Inn, Lordsmill Street, objected to by the Chief Constable on the ground of redundancy.

The Chief Constable, in support of his report, said the house, a fully licensed one, was a very old structure; the ground floor was two steps below street level, the ceilings were very low, and almost opposite was another fully licensed house, the Crown Hotel. A little lower down was a second fully licensed house, the Black Bull Inn.

After detailing the indoor arrangements, the Chief Constable asserted that the out-houses were all badly dilapidated, and added that within a radius of 200 yards there were 14 licensed houses – eight ale houses, three beer houses, one beer and wine on, & one beer and wine off.

The rateable value of the house was £37 10s.

The licensee was doing 3 ½ to 4 barrels a week, in addition to bottled stuff and spirits.......

The Chief Constable also challenged the statement that Mrs. Maddocks, the licensee had the best class of customers & best trade in the street. Mr. Maddocks had been a tenant there since 1904 & when he'd died his widow ran it.

The bench reported the house to Derby for compensation.

The Feathers' license was objected to again in February 1913 for reason of redundancy: The previous reasons were again provided, & according to the Chief Constable, “I don't think it is a house where proper alterations could be made short of re-building”.

At the same time that the re-building of the Feathers was discussed there was the discussion of the road widening schemes for which plans had been made 1913 /1914.

The red asterisk is the Old Feathers.

Derbyshire Courier, Tuesday 20th July 1915

"Corporation to Erect Inn

There is now some prospect of the widening scheme in Lordsmill Street being proceeded with in the near future. Negotiations have been in progress between the Corporation and the Home Brewery Company with reference to the Old Feathers Inn; which is on the existing line of property to be removed. The Brewery Co, intimated that if the Corporation would erect new premises on a site fronting the new thoroughfare the Company would take a lease for the term of ten years at the same rent as is now paid in respect of the present inn. A plan of the proposed inn and two shops adjoining has been presented to the Estates and Development Committee, and on their recommendation, the Town Council, on Tuesday, decided to erect the licensed premises at a cost of £1,600. The question of the two shops was deferred."

Sheffield Evening Telegraph 6th March 1916

“At the adjourned Licensing Sessions for Chesterfield Borough today, Mrs. Harriet Maddocks, licensee of the Old Feathers Inn, Lordsmill Street, applied for a provisional grant authorising the removal of the license to premises to be constructed on land adjoining.

The premises are owned by the Home Brewery Company, [Notts.], and Mr. W. E. Wakerley, who supported the application, explained that Lordsmill Street was being widened at this point, and the public house in question would be re-erected after the allowance had been made for the improvement of the thoroughfare, and the neighbourhood.

The magistrates – the Mayor (Alderman F. Shentall), Mr. Theo. Pearson, and Mr W. Jacques – sanctioned the proposed removal of the license.”

The Feathers was re-erected, set back & to the north of the old building; on the site of 3 cottages – please see the maps above.

It hadn't been re-built long before it was for sale.

It was also used as a venue for army recruitment....

...or as a shelter....

As with other public houses, the Feathers was in the list of buildings which could be used as an air raid shelter for the public: 87 people in the day & night. People should only use it if they were in the area.

(Provisional list from the Derbyshire Times 15.9.1939)

The University of Manchester Archaeological Unit was commissioned by Bolsterstone (Barlborough) Ltd. to carry out an archaeological excavation at the site of the Old Feathers public House, Lordsmill Street, prior to the proposed retail development.

The work was carried out from 25th September to 10th October 2003, as a condition of planning by Chesterfield Borough Council.

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch -1352-/dissemination/pdf/Derbyshire/GL2222_HERdoc756_The_Old_ Feathers_Public_House.pdf

There were 3 trenches; 1 & 2 were incorporated within the large area.

Facing North Facing South

Excerpts of the findings - Please see the link for all the details.

“Two flint blades were recovered during excavations within Area 1” which “may well belong to the Mesolithic period.”

“From the evidence uncovered during excavations at the Old Feathers, the vicus associated with the Roman fort at Chesterfield extended further to the south than was previously known.”

“The excavations within the confines of The Old Feathers car park have enabled a greater understanding of the southern extent of the Chesterfield vicus.

“It would appear that the vicinity of The Old Feathers was dominated by grassland and waste ground habitats during the middle-late medieval period. It is probable that this represents informal rear gardens/plots where domestic duties were carried out. Evidence for food preparation and disposal on site suggests that the domestic occupation was situated close by. Fruits and cereals dominated the plant remains........... and these probably formed a large part of the diet for local inhabitants”

“In terms of Roman archaeology, therefore, on present evidence The Old Feathers site lies within a grey area. To the north is the broad town centre area in which excavations since the 1970's have encountered Roman archaeology associated with the fort and its peripheral settlement. To the south is the Ibis Hotel site which, from the excavation of 1999, would seem to be located beyond the area of settlement.”

Derbyshire Times, 6th November 2003

"Shops are waiting in the wings

A former pub has been flattened to make way for new shops and an office development in Chesterfield town centre.

The Old Feathers, on Lordsmill Street, will be replaced with three shop units, an office development and off-street parking.

Construction work is yet to start this month and the development is due to be completed by Easter.

The regeneration scheme has been designed by the site's new owners, and Chesterfield-based development and investment company Bolsterstone PLC.

Peter Swallow, managing director said, “As a Chesterfield company we are delighted to be delivering a scheme that will provide high quality shops and offices on what is a prominent site to the town centre.”

11 Black Bull

I don't have a lot of information about this pub at all; & any of the pictures I have can only give a very vague idea of what it looked like. I'm posting about the events in the pub; & it may give an idea of the people who frequented it.

It was owned by the Chesterfield Brewery from at least 1880 although I can find The Chesterfield Brewery Co. was taken over by the Mansfield Brewery Co. at the end of 1934; so also was the Black Bull.

I can show you where it was; & where it would be today. Maps are 1878, 1918, 1962-64, & 2014.

The only pictures I have are vague rooftops....

A death in the yard... & a benefit concert....

Licenses were transferred all the time for different reasons......

Derbyshire Courier, Saturday 10th February 1912

A permanent transfer of license of the Black Bull Inn, Lordsmill Street, from William B. Mitchell to his wife Florence Mitchell. The reason given was that Mr. Mitchell was a mechanic & proposed going to Australia to find a job there. He said his wife had held the license before she was married & conducted the house very well.

A pigeon auction...... Fur Fanciers..... & a drunken lodger....

The Chesterfield Brewery Co. was taken over by the Mansfield Brewery Co. in 1934.

In 1959 the Mansfield Brewery Co. Ltd. negotiated to be given a building lease for 99 years of a plot of land about ¾ of an acre in area situated at the junction of Dunston Lane & Kirkstone Road, where they would build a licensed house, [Dunston Inn]. Part of the terms would be for the brewery to sell to the Corporation the site of the Black Bull Hotel, Lordsmill Street, as a delicensed property, together with adjoining premises; & the Railway Inn, as a delicensed property & adjoining property on Felkin Street & Tapton Lane.

As seen on the pictures above, the roundabout now covers the site of the Black Bull.

End

PubsSt. Mary's Gate Area & Lordsmill Street

Number, Street, City, State, Postcode

Pubs
St. Mary's Gate Area & Lordsmill Street