|
|
A Brief History of the Pubs of Crib Street
A local saying is that every old house in Ware had at one time or another been a public house. Being recognised as probably Ware's oldest thoroughfare, Crib Street plays its part in Ware's rich heritage of licensed houses. Records give a total of 10 pub names in Crib Street.
Now there is only one pub still open for trade; The Albion. It was run by Ron Herse, his wife Bella and her sister Stella until 1987 and by John and Christine Broughton till 1998.
The Red Cow, The White Horse and The Jolly Maltster buildings still exist, whilst The Cabin and The Prince of Wales, were open until the 60's before they were demolished.
Mr Don Andrews, was born in The Cabin, and his father was the longest serving 'Macs' (Mc Mullens Brewery) landlord with 44 years service there.
The Records Office gave me further names of Crib Street pubs: The Green Dragon, The Shovel, The Bugle Horn and The Jolly Malt Maker. Then there was The Cannon Brewery, later owned by Mc Mullens before they moved to their present premises in Hertford.
Nobody seems to have ever heard of The Shovel, The Bugle Horn or The Jolly Malt Maker. Exactly where were they?
The 1855 Herts Directory records Willmott James and Richard Wing, both beer retailers in Crib Street. and the 1870 Post Office Directory adds two more beer retailers: Mrs Hannah Green and John Messer; and Thomas Smith, brewer and beer retailer.
Furthermore, there are two other possibilities of pubs. 'The Coffee House' near the Churchyard is mentioned (1702-1760) and 'Le Bourne' (1708), part of a messuage called Copt Hall, now Collett Hall, still standing at the top of Crib Street, where the road used to pass through and on into the countryside at one time.
The Red Cow seems to be oldest recorded, with deeds to The Red Cow Maltings (1770-1860). The Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions give Mary Shadbolt and Edward Hale in 1806 and Thomas Novell (1817-28). In 1839 it was owned by William Anderson and in 1851 by Peter Chisty and Robert Hunt & Co [ Brewers? ] and occupied by Joseph Charvill [ is this the current garage owners' name? ] and Charles and Nathaniel Page.It is recorded as the 'Old Red Cow' in 1870; landlord, James Adams.
Nobody remembers The Red Cow being open, but it is listed, along with the Green Dragon, as licensed in 1912.
Mr and Mrs Wiggall, Crib Street residents, remember 4 pubs as still being open in the early 50's - The Albion, The Cabin, The White Horse and The Prince of Wales. They describe The Prince of Wales as a beer house, which did not sell spirits. It had five steps going up to a single bar and three up to a jug and bottle window and a hallway displaying the landlord's bowler hat, belonging to Capt. Hart, who was also chief of the Ware Fire Brigade. They used to regularly take a jug to fill up with ale for Sunday lunch.
In 1851 the site of the Prince of Wales was owned by William Cater and occupied by James Wells - house, buildings and yard. The Ordnance Survey Map does not say whether it was a public house.
On the death of Mrs Hart, Capt. Hart had the Prince of Wales de-licensed and it was acquired by Mr Tibor Takats, gunsmith and a Hungarian. He used the workshop at the rear of the pub for repair and manufacture of guns. The local authorities purchased the whole property for demolition and Mr Takats moved to premises in the High Street. Apparently he still possesses etched windows from the pub inscribed, "Jug and Bottle Department."
The Cabin boasted having the longest serving 'Macs' (Mc Mullen and Sons Ltd, Brewers) landlord with 44 years of service and is fondly remembered as a character pub. As the Andrewses bore the Ware family nickname of 'Nargers' (exact spelling unknown), the pub was always known by this name by the locals. It was known as 'Pig Stickers' too. The landlord also had a farm on the meads and hence there was always fresh farm produce on sale, kept in boxes under the benches - particularly when the war was on and rationing was the order of the day. Four sons were born and one, Don, recalls their delivery horse often surprising customers when it thrust its head through a window to demand its draught of ale!
One mystery is solved in 'Hertfordshire Inns' by W. Branch Johnson, which tells us that The Cabin was in existence in 1832 but known as The Bugle Horn. It was still The Bugle Horn in 1853 when it was sold. George Welch was the licensee in 1864, the year it was acquired by Mc Mullens. The 1853 sale describes it as: 'A capital freehold beer-house known as the "Bugle Horn", with grocers shop, brick-built and tiled, containing a good tap-room, shop, parlour, three bedrooms, wash-house, cellar and yard, desirably situated in Crib Street, Ware, in the occupation of Mr Miles. Also two convenient roomy cottages adjoining'. The Cabin was demolished in 1962.
At the same sale was: 'All that newly-erected brick-built and slated Freehold Brewery, known as the 'Cannon Brewery' situated in Princess Street, Ware, with first-rate liquor and store vaults, storehouses, lately in the occupation of Messrs Blake and Co with other property, the rent of this lot having been considered as £50 per annum. N.B.- The purchaser of this lot is to take the Brewing Plant, which is six-quarter Mash, Fixtures, Casks, Stock & etc'.
Also sold at the same time was the nearby Union Jack (now The Rifle Volunteer) in The Bourne.
The Cannon Brewery was probably built by Samuel Adams about 1844. Thomas Cox owned it between 1858 and 1862; he also owned The Union Jack. It was later taken over by McMullens who subsequently moved away from Ware to Hertford. The 1888 Ordnance Survey Map shows its continued existence, but it does not appear after and the 1900 Ordnance Survey Map shows houses in its place. Today, rats are said to inhabit its old vaults and ventilation pipes mark its site.
The Albion had a skittle alley in 1867 at the time when it was supplied by Phillips, the brewers of Royston. Later it was Flowers before the Whitbread take over. In 1845 it was acquired by Robert Welford Page, brewer of Ware. He built a malting on adjoining property. The earliest sign was recorded as depicting the White Cliffs of Dover; not the current ones or their predecessors, which show the HMS Albion.
The 1911 Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Hertfordshire describes the following: 'The Albion Inn, is a two storeyed house built late in the C16 or early C17, of timber and plaster, but partly rebuilt with modern brick; the roof is tiled. The plan is L-shaped; on the street front the ground storey is of modern brick; the upper storey is set with heavy studs and has angle-braces at the corners. The back is roughly plastered. Condition - good; partly rebuilt'.
Locals recall sawdust being spread on the floors of both The Albion and The Cabin.
Also the Inventory states, 'The Red Cow Inn is a small house of timber and plaster, with an over hanging upper storey; the roof is tiled. It is probably of early C17 date and the chimney stacks are original. Condition - poor; much altered'.
It then describes The Green Dragon, which was definitely situated, on the Southeast corner of Crib Street. 'The Green Dragon Inn, is a small house, with an over hanging upper storey; the walls are of plastered timber; the roof is slated. It was built probably early in the C17 but much altered in the C18, repaired and replastered in the C19. The plan is rectangular and at the back is an original chimney stack. Condition - fairly good; much altered'. Another reference says it had a brewhouse, yards and stables behind. It was bordered on the west by Crib Street, east by premises formerly of J. Brown and now of Henry Johnson and others, and on the north by a P.H. (The Albion?), formerly of Charles Page and now of Messrs Phillips Ltd. on the south side by the cottage and partly by the Old Burial Ground (The Old Independent Chapel, 1744), the cottage on the east by the Burial Ground and from the south by a Public House known as 'The Cabin'. Holt and Co of the Marine Brewery, Ratcliffe in the county of London - purchasers in 1899. Bought from James Bullen, Stevenage, farmer (Redcoats), Augustus Hawks, solicitor (Hertford) and Emma Wright.
The White Horse building survives. It was brick-built in the last century and is slate roofed. This should not be confused with a much earlier Inn in the High Street of the same name. In 1944 it was owned by Mary Potter, occupied by Francis Story. In 1855 it passed to John Francis who built 5 large maltings on land behind. The road at the side now bears his name, being formerly, White Horse Road.
VE Day was celebrated by a street party, but the bonfire outside the White Horse got out of control, became so hot that the window panes cracked and the fire brigade was called out. Locals can remember buying jugs of Flowers beer at 5 am in the morning for the malt workers.
The present owner, Michael Evans, still has the etched windows from the pub entrance in the cellar. The main entrance used to give directly onto Crib Street but this was bricked up. Its site can clearly be discerned from outside.
Dr. Brock in his booklet, 'Crib Street in Ware', tells us that the only beerhouse traceable on the West Side of the street was the Jolly Maltmakers at No 25. In 1871 it was the Maltmaker, occupied by thirty-three year old Charles Newland and his nineteen year old wife. In 1873 it had become the Maltmakers Arms. A deed of 1855: '...between John Overhill the younger, maltster, and Robert Hawks of Three Crown Square, Southwark for The Jolly Malt Maker, beerhouse in Crib Street, with garden and formerly in occupation by Martin Prickett and Thomas Cot'. The position is not mentioned. In 1844, a description gives: 'A house, buildings, yard and gardens near the top of Crib Street (West Side). Owner - John Overhill Senior, occupied by William Lambert'.
The existing building is now named 'The Old smoke House'. There is a story that hops were grown in the Milton Road and that they were dried in these premises.
The Shovel, is also documented but, details and its site is not given.
Crib Streeters who over-indulged could well have made involuntary stays at the Parish Cage which was at the bottom of Crib Street, alongside the Churchyard and owned quaintly by the Commissioners for Lighting and Watching. This was behind an old shop who were coal and parafin merchants, once owned by a John Worpell and occupied by Michael Cluss and William Dale in 1851. Was this Worpell connected with William Worpell, carpenter and cabinet maker in 1826, Water Row, Ware? The New Rose and Crown, of Watton Road, was renamed last year, 'The Worpell', after its nineteenth-century builder.
A further Crib Street anecdote follows: Thomas Philpott, bricklayer, resident at 51 Crib Street, mentioned in the 1682 deed of this property, must be the one and the same Thomas Philpott, who appeared in the Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions 1684. Together with Nicholas Field, fisherman, in 1684 made a charge against John Searle, alias Saville, at the Sessions Court Hertford, 'for several abuses and ill language which he did in their hearing speak' against Sir T. Byde, Kt., and Skinner Byde Esq. at the house of Joseph Benson, at the White Hart, Ware, on the 31st March, about eight or nine o'clock in the evening', according to.
And, where were the 'Old October', alias 'Angels' food', 'Merry-go-down', 'Dragon's milk' or 'the balm of barleycorn', known by James Smith at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, brewed?
An advertising jingle of 1904 by McMullens, which must have been well known to Crib Street drinkers, was:
'The little Japs have driven back the Russians with great slaughter
It's wonderful how brave they are on short rations and cold water,
But goodness knows what they would do on Mc Mullen's Ales and porter!'
By Hugh Andrews
|
|
