This is an edited and updated version of an article published in the Bucks Free Press on 11 November 2022.
If we approach Lane End from Wycombe the first pub we would have found was on Park Lane, near where Pusey Way is now. The Prince Albert was a beerhouse (meaning wine and spirits could not be sold) dating from at least 1854, owned by Richard Lucas’ Frogmoor brewery. It closed in 1951 by which time Simonds of Reading were the owners.
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| The Prince Albert (courtesy of James Bowley and the Old Lane End & Surrounds Facebook Group) |
Carrying on towards the centre of the village we reach The Row and the Chairmakers’ Arms, fully licensed from 1870 and probably a beerhouse from just before that. The Row is a collection of smart Grade II listed cottages dating from about the time the pub opened. Unusually for this period, the building appears to be a purpose-built public house whereas all other Lane End pubs had other uses before becoming licensed premises. Some even had dual uses throughout their lives. The pub brokerage firm of Horley’s in Maidenhead just before World War I were advertising the Chairmakers’ the let: it consisted of a yard, stables, shed, garden, three bedrooms, clubroom, taproom, parlour, kitchen, scullery and cellar. After closing in 1998 the pub was converted into the private house, Chairmakers Cottage.
The Chairmakers’ was leased by Samuel Sears (The Row’s probable builder) to Wheeler’s brewery. Samuel was quite a businessman. The local press said of him after his death in 1887 that he ‘carried on an extensive business as chair manufacturer, builder, farmer, etc. In fact, it can safely be said that the late Samuel Sears was the making of Lane End as he employed several hundred hands.’ We will come across him again.
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Chairmakers' Arms c1910 (courtesy of James Bowley and the Old Lane End & Surrounds Facebook Group) |
At the pond, in the centre of the village, we turn left towards Marlow to the Grouse & Ale, formerly the Clayton Arms, the only surviving pub in the village. The building is Grade II listed and was built in the 17th century as a manor house for the Clayton family. They leased it to Wheeler’s in 1859 having been a fully licensed house opened some time between 1829 and 1838. Wheeler’s were still leasing the pub until 1933 when it was sold at auction to Brandon’s of Putney for £2550. Later, Mann’s (who were Brandon’s parent company) were the operators until the Clayton Arms became a Watney’s pub in 1958 after merger with Mann’s.
The excellent Marlow Ancestors blog tells us that Sir William Clayton was still using the pub in the 1860s and 70s to exercise his manorial rights by holding court leets – an archaic feudal court.
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| The Clayton Arms c1930. Image is from a visiting card that proclaims the pub to be a 17th century inn, though there's no evidence for that claim (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Crossing the road and heading a little further towards Marlow takes us to the charming, rambling, early-17th century, Grade II-listed Bottom House. The first record of this beerhouse is in 1848. It was the last house in the Victorian village, hence the name. Owned by Wethered’s of Marlow, it was threatened with closure by the magistrates in 1909 on the basis that Lane End had too many pubs and was too congested. Wethered’s gave up the licence voluntarily in 1915.
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| The Bottom House c1910 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press) |
We now turn back towards Stokenchurch and the Osborne Arms, a beerhouse possibly licenced in 1830, or shortly afterwards. It was also called the Earl Grey and was certainly known by that name in 1871 when the landlord was Abraham Gray. It was not uncommon for pubs to carry alternative names at the same time, such as the White Blackbird in Loudwater that was also known as the Oxford Arms.
The Grays lived at the pub with the Oxlades, of whom Richard was the first licensee. The second Earl Grey (of tea fame) was a British Prime Minister who saw through the Great Reform Act of 1832, so the Oxlades and Grays may have been making a political point. The Osborne connection is unclear; in later life the pub carried a coat of arms. There is, however, another political clue. Ralph Bernal had become MP for Wycombe in 1841. He was a liberal, like Earl Grey, though the modern Liberal party was not formed until 1859. Bernal married Catherine Osborne in 1844 and, unusually, took her last name becoming Ralph Bernal Osborne. He remained a Wycombe MP until 1847.
The pub took the full licence of the Brickmakers’ Arms in 1954 and closed in 2017 to become a restaurant.
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| The Osbourne Arms in 2017 (courtesy of James Bowley and the Old Lane End & Surrounds Facebook Group) |
Further up the High Street was the New Inn beerhouse. Active in the 1860s it was run by Henry Hawes until it became the Old Arm Chair in the 1870s. The licensee who probably changed the name was lacemaker Eliza Cutler. Like Abraham Gray and Richard Oxlade a few doors away she may have been playing on names. Lane End was a chairmaking village and Eliza Cook’s sentimental lyrics made The Old Arm Chair a very popular song in mid-Victorian Britain.
In 1909, the magistrates refused to renew the Old Arm Chair’s licence. They heard that it did little trade, having just a taproom attached to a general shop in poor condition. The owning brewery, Weller’s of Amersham, did not argue the case but the tenant, Mr Earis, certainly did: he had built up the trade, he said, and wanted double the compensation of £35 on offer for the loss of his licence. He did not persuade the magistrates. The following year the de-licensed property was sold at auction for £235 with Mr Earis still a tenant. The property was where 5 High Street is today.
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| The Old Arm Chair probably just before closure in 1909 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press) |
On the site of the present-day Harris Garden stood a group of cottages, two of which had been converted into another New Inn by 1860. This was a beerhouse run by Edmund Hawes (father of Henry at the other New Inn) who was convicted, in 1860, of being the ‘genius’ behind a riotous mob that included his son. The following year the pub was auctioned. Samuel Sears may have bought it because in 1864 he leased it to Thomas Parsons’ Lion Brewery of Princes Risborough. Edmund had left to become the landlord of the Bull in High Wycombe. It’s surprising that he was able to get a licence after his conviction as the magistrates were almost certain to refuse an application if the police objected.
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| The New Inn c1910, next to the Temperance Hotel. It's not clear whether the pub occupied both cottages, but the one nearest to the hotel boasts a remarkable chimney (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press) |
The obvious pinch point the group of buildings containing the New Inn created was a problem for the Wycombe licensing magistrates in 1909. They were concerned about congestion in the High Street, though they renewed the New Inn’s licence. However, in 1921 the leasing brewer (Wheeler’s by this time) offered to give up the licence without seeking compensation and the pub closed.
Why were there two New Inns within yards of each other? It was quite common for Victorian beerhouses not to carry a sign or have a formal name. It was also common for places to have two pubs with the same name. Competition normally led to pubs having opposing names. Were Henry and Edmund joking with the locals? Or had the riot in 1860 caused a rift in the family?
On Church Road towards Frieth was the Old Sun, probably the oldest pub in Lane End, dating to at least 1753, when licensing records were first kept. It had been owned by Wethered’s since at least 1801. This was also known as the Sun and Rising Sun during its life. The pub closed in 2010 to be converted to housing.
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The Old Sun hosting a parade in the early 20th century (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press) and, below, in 1971
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Off Church Road in Ditchfield was the Jolly Blacksmith beerhouse, open by 1862, run by the Meakes family throughout its life and owned by Thomas Williams’ Royal Stag Brewery of Wooburn until they sold out to Wethered’s in 1927. It was common for beerhouse keepers to have a by-occupation that might be indicated in the beerhouse’s name, and the addition of Jolly before the trade name, or Arms after the trade name, became something of a stylistic tic in nineteenth century pub names.
Although the Jolly Blacksmith closed in 1997 the Meakes business is very much alive while the pub is a private house once again.
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| The Jolly Blacksmith and associated buildings in 1992, showing the Meakes' business premises (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
If we take the track leading to Moor Farm, and follow that beyond Diamond Cottages, we would have found the Black Boy. This beerhouse may have had a licence from as early as 1830 and may also have been a farm or smallholding.
Why Black Boy? One possibility is that it is a reference to Charles II, who was given the black boy nickname by his mother Henrietta Maria on account of his dark complexion. Or it may be another play on words reflecting the location at Moorend Common and the generalised, archaic term for north Africans as Moors.
At the 1909 licence renewal sessions, the magistrates identified the Black Boy as one of three Lane End beer houses to be closed – the others being the Old Arm Chair and New Inns discussed above. The owning brewery, Wheeler’s, did not object.
In 1910, the house was sold at auction. The particulars describe it as ‘old-fashioned and very picturesque’, which means in need of improvement in today’s language. The Black Boy is probably the house now known as Kings Corner.
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| Kings Corner in 2023. Probably the former Black Boy (photo by the author) |
Back on Church Road, at Moorend Common, was the Brickmakers’ Arms beerhouse, also known as the Kiln, or Old Kiln. Said to date from 1834 it was owned by Samuel Sears who also owned the brickworks, a pot kiln and land in the area. In 1880 Sears liquidated his businesses, land and other properties (including 14 dwellings) by putting them up for auction. The pub was sold to Wheeler’s Brewery.
In 1952, licensee Fred Smith applied for and got a full publican’s licence to sell wine and spirits as well as beer. Then, in 1954, Simonds of Reading (who acquired Wheeler’s in 1930) applied to the magistrates for a publican’s licence for the Osborne Arms. The magistrates agreed, so long as Fred Smith’s licence was surrendered. The Brickmakers’ Arms closed, becoming a private house, The Old Kiln.
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| The Brickmakers' Arms c1920 (courtesy of James Bowley and the Old Lane End & Surrounds Facebook Group) |
SWOP (Sharing Wycombe’s Old Photographs)
South Bucks Standard and other local news papers sourced through The British Newspaper Archive
Buckinghamshire Archives for property records
Old Lane End & Surrounds Facebook Group
