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Home >
Bedfordshire > Lower Caldecote >
Kings Head
Kings Head
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The Kings Head was situated on the
Great North
Road. This pub was present by 1812 and closed in 1985. It has now been
demolished. |
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From Bedfordshire Heritage: |
The King's Head public house stood on the
west side of the Great North Road a few yards south of the Wellington Tap.
The first mention of the public house in any document held by Bedfordshire &
Luton Archives & Records Service is in 1812 when adjoining land was sold at
auction. The building itself was older than this. A date stone carried the
date 1789 though 1650 was a date inscribed on the front of the property,
albeit in modern letters. Without deeds it is impossible to say just how old
the building might have been.
The public house was owned by Samuel Wells in 1834 when it was conveyed to
Frederick Hogg and William Lindsell, partners in the firm of Wells & Company
(a brewery located in Biggleswade and in no way related to the Charles Wells
brewery of Bedford). In 1899 Wells & Company became Wells & Winch when
bought out by Kent businessman George Winch for his son Edward Bluett Winch.
The conveyance of the various licensed premises describes the King's Head as
containing a coach house, stable, barn, outbuildings, yard and garden and a
close of pasture of 8 acres nearby with a right of herbage upon and from a
drift way leading from the orchard of the public house into the close; it
also had a close of pasture called Watts Close formerly part of Bryant’s
Field [Bryant had owned the Wellington Tap until his death in 1844] of 3a 0r
10p on west side of Great North Road. The premises also included two plots
in Lower Caldecote of 0a 1r 31p and 0a 3r 1op bounded east by the Great
North Road and divided from one another by a lane or drift way, they were
formerly part of Brown's Field and were in separate occupation to the public
house.
The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of
land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The
parish of Northill was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting the King’s
Head In 1927, the valuer found the building contained an old kitchen, living
room, tap room, private bar, club room; cellar; four bedrooms and an earth
closet. The business had a "good draw up" and sold one barrel of mild, one
dozen bottles of beer and half a gallon of whiskey per week; as to takings
the licensee "cannot say". The valuer further noted: "house is in good
decorative repair, small local trade, travellers do not stop between
Biggleswade & Sandy; 1 barrel mild costs £3.14.0 - sold 5d. pint; 1 barrel
bitter costs £6.12.0, sold 7d. pint"
The public house is later recorded in a telephone directory held by
Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service in 1984, by 1986 it was no
longer listed and so, presumably, had closed. The Bedfordshire Historic
Environment Record contains information on the county’s historic buildings
and landscapes and summaries of each entry can now be found online as part
of the Heritage Gateway website. The entry for the King’s Head notes that it
had been demolished but describes it in some detail: the building had three
sections:
Left hand: two storeys, colour washed brick with rendering at the rear; a
gabled roof with slates. A date stone on the building read 1789. The front
elevation had four windows, two at each floor level. They were sash windows
slightly recessed with glazing bars and gauged brick heads. A third blocked
window stood at the first floor level.
Middle: had a colourwashed brick skin over a timber frame and comprised a
ground floor and attic. There was an old clay tile roof. With a central
chimney stack. The front elevation had one window with glazing bars and the
ground floor had one sash window to the left of the main door.
Right hand: again a colourwashed brick skin over a timber frame. This part
of the building comprised one storey and attics. The roof was pantiled.
There were two casement windows on the ground floor and two gabled dormers
each with casements. Modern letters read “1650 AD”. The door was up one
step. |
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| Name |
Dates |
Comments |
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Mike Bygraves |
1970s/1980s |
Was a regular customer in the days
when it was run by Charlie & Violet through to Dave and Val. |
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