A brief look at pubs, inns hostelries and alehouses
Glance at the 25 inch map of Bury, dated about 1848, and you'll find numerous pubs or inns - the unlicenced beerhouses aren't marked, so we can only guess at how many there could have been.
Pubs or inns were buildings of note and good standing. Local magistrates granted them licences to sell beer, wines and spirits. In an age of functional illiteracy, this meant the licensees particulars were painted on a board above the main door - no rooting about in a drawer for the right paper certificate! This ancient practice is still enforced in the present age.
Anyone could sell beer, hence a beer house was often quite literally someone's front room.
Pubs or inns were buildings of note and good standing. Local magistrates granted them licences to sell beer, wines and spirits. In an age of functional illiteracy, this meant the licensees particulars were painted on a board above the main door - no rooting about in a drawer for the right paper certificate! This ancient practice is still enforced in the present age.
Anyone could sell beer, hence a beer house was often quite literally someone's front room.
You can find some interesting images of the old pubs from James Clock Shaw's works, all available here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/shaw-james-clock-18361915
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/shaw-james-clock-18361915
On this map extract from about 1848 the corner of Market Street and the old Market Place has been cleared in preparation for the building of the new Town hall, Derby Hotel and Athenaeum. However the street line on this map still follows the old street line. After 1850 the street junctions in this area were widened and curved back and Market Street was widened.
Compare the street layout with the extract from Flash Earth, below.
You can spot some good inn names including one inn that had disappeared even by the 1840s, namely the Cross Keys.
The size of the Old Boars Head Inn suggests to me an entertainments pub, maybe even a 'hotel' pub. There is also an odd rectangular building in its back yard, adjacent to the open ground - bigger by far than a privy, wrong location for stables - and I'm suggesting this is a dog/rat/ cock fighting pit.
Compare the street layout with the extract from Flash Earth, below.
You can spot some good inn names including one inn that had disappeared even by the 1840s, namely the Cross Keys.
The size of the Old Boars Head Inn suggests to me an entertainments pub, maybe even a 'hotel' pub. There is also an odd rectangular building in its back yard, adjacent to the open ground - bigger by far than a privy, wrong location for stables - and I'm suggesting this is a dog/rat/ cock fighting pit.
After the 1850s, Bury's pubs displayed ever more sumptious architecture and interiors.
I feel as a history group we need to study these closely, using fieldwork as our major means of research..... Take the interior of The Old White Lion on Bolton Street (right) as an example. |
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