The historic pubs of West Wycombe 1356 words
This week we welcome back guest contributor Andrew Mullis, who has kindly
provided another article in his series about the pubs in the Wycombe area.
Andrew writes:
West Wycombe parish had three alehouse keepers and an inn holder recorded in
1577. We don’t know the names of these houses but there’s a good chance they
were all situated on the medieval highway from London to Oxford, Worcester and
mid-Wales through West Wycombe village. The licensees were: Thomas Challenor
(inn holder), George Hunte, James Hawle and Margaret Neighbore (alehouse
keepers).
Over 100 years later, in 1689, a tax assessment has Georg Russell of the Unicorn
paying two shillings and four pence, Tho [mas] Ryman of the Black Boy 10 pence
and Mr Wells of the Geog [sic] two shillings and 10 pence.
The 18th century
The road through West Wycombe became part of the Beaconsfield and Stokenchurch
Turnpike Trust in 1719. West Wycombe Road was realigned and surfaced between
1748 and 1752 using chalk dug from the hill behind the village. The Dashwood’s
West Wycombe Park was laid out from the 1750s to 1770s. All of this work led to
West Wycombe village becoming an estate village and the West Wycombe Road a part
of a modern coaching road.
The first licensing records in Buckinghamshire are from 1753. The White Hart is
not mentioned by name in 1753 but is likely to have been licensed in that year,
and earlier, as the building is 16th century. Francis Green was the landlord
from 1754 until 1767 when he moved to the newly opened Lord Le Despencers Arms
on Downley Common and the White Hart was closed. The building later became
Weller’s grocer’s shop, then the Apple Orchard guest house, a cafe and is now a
homeware and gift shop with a cafe attached.
The Coach & Horses name appears just once in the 1766 records with Thomas Barnes
as licensee. Barnes had been at the Plough until 1765 and it’s probable that the
Coach & Horses was the same premises. The location was the old sweetshop next to
the Church Loft. Neither Barnes nor the Coach & Horses appear again in licensing
records, but, as we shall see, the Plough returns.
The Lion appears in the 1753 list of licences issued as the Red Lion. It was
opposite the Church Loft and had gone by 1768. The Wheel was on the Oxford side
of the Lion and is also licensed in 1753 but disappears after 1770. The Chequers
is recorded between 1753 and 1767. It was where the Village Hall is today.
We saw that a Unicorn and a separate Black Boy appeared in a 1689 tax
assessment. In 1753 both a Black Boy and a Black Boy & Unicorn appear in
licensing records. The Black Boy disappeared after 1761 while the Black Boy &
Unicorn remained, becoming simply the Black Boy in 1812. Looking again at the
1689 tax assessment tells us that the George and the Unicorn must have been of
similar size and value, while the Black Boy was much smaller, so it’s unlikely
the Black Boy competed with its near namesake for custom.
The Swan and the George are pubs we know today; both were licensed in 1753 and
probably earlier. We’ll return to them shortly.
The 19th century
By 1829 West Wycombe village had a Swan, a Black Boy and a George, which was to
become the George & Dragon around 1853. Each of these pubs was leased from the
Dashwood estate by Wheeler’s brewery of Wycombe. The coming of the railway
between London and Oxford in 1844 put paid, almost overnight, to the coaching
trade. Only the George and the Black Boy & Unicorn had the facilities to service
long-distance coaches, meaning that there is little evidence that they were much
affected by the demise of the stagecoach.
The Beerhouse Act of 1830 enabled ratepayers to brew and sell beer on their
premises once they bought an annual licence from the Excise for two guineas
(£2.10). This act gave West Wycombe High Street two more pubs. The Plough, first
licensed in 1830, is in a building dating from 1727 opposite the George &
Dragon. The Nag’s Head, next door to the Plough, licensed in 1842, was in a much
more modern-looking building out of keeping with others on the High Street.
The West Wycombe Road gained the Friend at Hand beerhouse in 1845. The Wycombe
Railway’s extension from High Wycombe to Oxford and Aylesbury arrived at West
Wycombe in 1862 where a station was built adjoining the Friend at Hand. A full
licence was granted to licensee Thomas Bowler the following year.
The 20th century to the present
The railway through West Wycombe was brought up to main line standards between
1900 and 1906 by the Great Western & Great Central Joint Railway. Trains then
began to steam through from Marylebone to Manchester, joined by trains from
Paddington to Birkenhead in 1910. A new station now incorporated the Friend at
Hand pub, which the Great Western railway owned and leased to Wheeler’s Wycombe
Breweries. Part of the building became the booking office and there was a
dedicated public right of way through the pub from the road up to the platforms.
The Nag’s Head, run by the Harman family for 36 years, was considered by the
licensing magistrates to be redundant in 1909, closing at the end of that year.
Harry Harman received £37 10s for the loss of his licence.
West Wycombe village was in a poor state of repair by the late-1920s. Sir John
Dashwood, short of money to carry out repairs, put the village up for auction in
1929. The intention was to divide the village into 63 lots and give tenants the
opportunity to buy before the auction was held. At short notice the auction was
cancelled. The Royal Society of Arts had offered to buy the whole village to
preserve and maintain it. The Dashwood’s agreed.
The three oldest pubs in the village, particularly the Swan and the mid-16th
century Black Boy, were in a poor state in 1931. The licensing magistrates
approved plans to rebuild the Swan and close the Black Boy, which was in a very
bad state of repair. Compensation of £250 was paid to licensee Thomas Martin for
the loss of his licence and another £1350 to the Royal Society of Arts. The
Black Boy closed on 31 December 1931 later becoming the village hall and was an
antique shop by 1970. Today it houses Brocklehurst Architects.
The Swan was sensitively extended and refitted in 1932, retaining much of its
old character. One oddity is that the bar was refitted so that beer could be
drawn up from the cellar. Hand- pull pumps were never used and beer is still
drawn straight from the barrels on the stillage
behind the bar. In the same family since 1910, the pub is three-star rated by
the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for its important historic interior, and is
Grade II listed.
Perhaps the oldest of all the pubs in the High Street is the George & Dragon.
It’s thought to date back to the mid-16th century and was refaced in 1720. The
sign is thought to date to that time. There was great excitement in May 1963
when new licensee Peter Maddock tested his theories about hidden rooms, a bag of
gold, a blocked-up cellar and the inevitable ghost. Sadly, he found nothing but
empty space behind the facade that dated back to the construction of the
Georgian brick facing. The grand unveiling of the hidden room took place in
front of TV cameras; at least the publicity must have been worth the effort.
West Wycombe station had closed in 1958 together with the right of way from the
West Wycombe Road through the Friend at Hand pub to the platforms. The pub
closed in 1998 being converted to housing.
The National Trust acquired the village from the Royal Society of Arts in 1934.
The Trust leases the three pubs that remain today, the Plough, the Swan and the
George & Dragon to their tenants.
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