UPDATED NOVEMBER 2024 BY CHARLOTTE
Premises with an address in one of these two street are frequently referred to being in one or the other street alternately. They run into each other and the boundary was obviously more fluid than today. Occasional mentions are to Spittal Street by the name of St Thomas Street, referring to the medieval hospital that gave it's name to the area. Buildings in Chapel Street furthest from the town may be referred to as being in Chapel End, or less often Town End. Those at the junction of the two roads were technically in Spittal Square, previously known as the Common Slough. Confused yet? If the premises you are interested in isn't here, it will most likely have its own post eg The Greyhound, and two White Hart pubs . For a full list of old licensed premises, take a look at this long list on the blog here
Other pub content can be found under the Pub Related menu option in the top drop down menu.
BLACK HORSE, Chapel Street
Given as Spittal Street nearly half the time. Also a common lodging house in both incarnations. Note: there was also a Black Horse in Little Marlow.
1833 - William Higgins
In second incarnation:
1881 --1. Henry Rowe (See also Bricklayer's Arms and The Bear, below) 2.George White. Age 31, wife Annie
1882- George White 2. ( James?) David Cox
1883 - James Plumridge?
1886 - James D. Cox.
1891 - James David Cox
1892 - James David Cox. In this year he refused to take some chickens for payment of beer after rightly suspecting that they were stolen.
1893 - James David Cox to William George Yates
1897 - W G Yates to A H Wright (holdover)
1898 -A H Wright to Mr Gurney (hold-over again). 2. Alfred Sarney (see also the Carrier's Arms)
1899 - 1. Alfred Sarney 2. James Burton Shaw. In this year the Marlow Urban District Council says based on recommendation of medical officer, part of the premises should be registered as a common lodging house for men only. Certain alterations would be necessary to bring it to the required standards, and the owner of the premises says it would be willing to do this. It was indeed so registered.
1900 -1. James Burton Shaw. 2. George Lewis. In this year the Horse gets mains water for the first time. It had previously relied on a well which was considered to leave something to be desired. 
Above, the Black Horse occupied the premises that house Chic Hair in this image.
1902 - The councils sanitary inspector says the condition of the premises "much improved"
1903 2. George Lewis. 2. Thomas Lewis? proposed transfer to Joseph Ball.
1915 - Mrs Thomas Blewitt
1920 - Thomas Blewitt
1928 - Mr Blewitt, last landlord.
1929 - Closed, as licence renewal refused under powers to limit number of licensed premises in an area.
RISING SUN (Be aware of the Sun / Old Sun in Lane End too, some of the same surnames for publicans appear at both because they are local names). Had stabling.
1833 - Thomas Stroud "Rising Sun Public house" Common Slough (Spittal Square). Later references to the Rising Sun invariably refer to it's location as Chapel Street. Maybe not therefore have remained continuously in same spot.
1842 - Henry Stroud. Fined this year for selling beer before 1pm on Sunday - pubs were supposed to be closed to encourage people to go to divine service instead. Fined 40s plus 10s costs, a large amount. Henry's brother Thomas thought that the Rising Sun was a "disorderly house" causing a local nuisance and came to the trial to make a complaint about his brother's conduct. But the magistrates refused to hear a complaint made in this spontaneous way. Thomas would have to make a complaint via a proper process they said. I have found no record that he did so. Henry was "dobbed in" about the sale of alcohol during prohibited Sunday hours by William Crouch Snr. William lived in Spittal Street and had been a publican himself in the past. The buyer of the offending quarter pint - a little girl! It was not her age that made the act illegal, she was one of many children sent out to fetch alcohol for their parents every day.
1843 - Henry Stroud "The Sun beer shop" Henry Stroud, beer seller is listed Dean Street 1844 so he looks to have soon moved.
1852 - Charles Haines? [Certainly a Charles Haines is at the nearby The Bear in 1851]
1859- George Haines "The Sun" ? See Lane End listings.
1871 - Elizabeth Haines ?
1872 - "the Old Sun" Elizabeth Haines
1881 - John Soley. Wife Mary. See also Travellers Rest below.
1889 - John Soley. 2. William Lunnon
1890 - 1. William Lunnon. 2. Thomas Plumridge (one source says George Plumridge)
1891 - Thomas Plumridge (also bricklayer)
1892 - Thomas Plumridge
1893 - Thomas Plumridge leaves. Alfred Higgins gets holdover for premises then Thomas (?, possibly William) Willis.
1895 - Willis leaves. David (Davis?) Collins applies for hold -over licence, but is refused permanent one. Then Edward Gould / Gold gets granted holdover but it's Arthur Bright who lands the licence transfer. Edward says the premises doesn't meet his requirements anyway and he wants to leave to "better himself".
1896 - Arthur Bright transfers premises to Joseph Mallett
1897 - Joseph Mallett gives way to William Lyons Furlong but proposal for this hold over to be permanent is refused permission. In the end John Baxter is granted the licence.
1898 - John Baxter. John is told in December that he needs to register the premises as a common lodging house.
1899 - John Baxter transfers premises to William A Grant. Premises up for sale, after 2 years of wrangling in chancery to settle who should inherit the property, after its former owner Miss Rebecca Pim of Amersham had died. It was put up for sale, and purchased for £625 by Mr George Weller.
THE CARPENTERS ARMS
Usual address was given as Spittal Street, and recently renamed The Butcher's Tap after a stint as O'Donoghues.
Pub existed on this site 1830. Formerly bore a sign suggesting it had been established 1758 - which may well be correct.
1841- 1843 - James Cooper, also a carpenter. Age 50 on 1841 census.
1843- William Bavin - came from The Two Brewers (see), taking over from James Cooper. Previously a chair maker. Temporary name change that year to The Traveler's Rest when outgoing landlord James Cooper took the Carpenters sign with him and William Bavin thought that Cooper meant to use it as the name for the pub he was moving to (next door!). As it happened James stuck with the existing name, the Prince Albert, for his new premises leaving James free to use the Carpenter's Arms name after all.
1869 - John Larkin. Also a carpenter. Wife Eliza. Carpenters tended to take on this beer house as it was equipped with a large workshop and saw pit to the rear thanks to its long association with this occupation. It also had the usual stabling there.
1871 - 1. John Larkin (went to Fox and Pheasant, Dean Street). 2. Thomas Billingshurst.
1872 - Thomas Billingshurst fined for keeping premises open on a Sunday. Had his licence endorsed. Tried to claim the served beer found by a constable was him and his wife's lunchtime tipples and not beer to be drunk by their lodger Joe Martin or the other man found in the bar. Later that year license transferred to Joseph Rose.
1877 - Joseph Rose
1881 - Joseph Rose. Born circa 1827. Wife Charlotte born circa 1827.
1883 - Joseph Rose deceased, to his widow Charlotte.
1886 - starts their Slate Club.
1891 - Charlotte Rose, as above. Son William is a barman here. Note it looks like this pub perhaps briefly changed its name to the Prince Albert in the 1880s, the name of a (by then gone) former next door licensed premises. See below.
1901- Mrs Charlotte Rose
1903 - Mrs Charlotte Rose
1906 - 1. Mrs Rose 2. Thomas Probert (grandson of Charlotte Rose He was also a carpenter and son of the former landlord of the White Lion in West Street, Mary Probert). Thomas was already assisting in the pub and living with his grandma before this.
1908 - Authorities trying to thin the total number of pubs in Marlow try to close the pub but the brewery and tenant manage to save it. There is then, it is reported, no sleeping accommodation for travellers at the pub but they are served bread and cheese if they need it.
1915 - Thomas Arthur Probert
1916 - T A Probert. Thomas was killed in action in the first world war.
1939 - Mrs Kate Ethel Probert (widow of Thomas above)
THE BEAR
The earliest pub to carry the name of The Bear was in the High Street on the West side but this pub is not recorded after the 1700s. By 1830 Chapel Street was the location for a new Bear. The second Bear was also a common lodging house. Landlords for this second Bear are given below.
1833 - Thomas Livings (also lodging house).
1839 - Thomas Livings (also boot and shoe maker).
1845- Joseph Pepper. He had lived in Chapel Street since at least 1833. His wife Sarah AKA Sally fined for assaulting another woman this year. See the grave of Joseph and Sally here.
1846 - Mr Pepper - described as a "Tom and Jerry Shop" e.g small beer shop. Paid some money and a pot of beer for a stolen bundle of wooden laths that year. There was suspicion he knew them to be stolen.
1847 - Joseph Pepper. Fined £2 including costs for allowing cards to be played on the premises. Though Joseph and Sally Pepper left the Bear they still lived in Chapple Street later.
1849 - Charles Haines
1851 - Charles Haines. Fined 10s plus costs for allowing card playing in The Bear in June that year. However it was noted that Charles and the two others convicted of the same offence were all supporters of the opposite political party to the arresting constables and the stings may have been unfairly focused on them.
1853 - George Finch. Fined £1 for having his beer house open after proper hours.
1855- Mr Neighbour
1861 - Henry Neighbour (also a cordwainer) Was a publican in "St Peter's Street" 1851. This was the Waterman's Arms on the river front. See a detailed post on Henry and wife Catherine nee Sparkes here
1864 - had a "dancing room"
1867 - up for sale.
1871 - Charles Hoare (also lodging house, probably it's principle role by then). See also The Three Horseshoes and Travellers Friend.
1872 - Charlotte Hoar. (Hoare) Charlotte's grave can be viewed here
1874 - Charlotte Hoare. 2 Henry Rowe. That year (during Charlotte's tenancy) saw the death in a fight in the bar of one of her lodgers George Frewing. A post about this is here.
1881 - Henry Rowe. Wife Sarah died there in February age 68. Continues as The Black Horse thereafter.
THE BRICKLAYERS ARMS, Chapel Street
1844 - James Smith [also a bricklayer]. In the same premises 1841 but not obviously a beer seller then. The name of this pub may come from him. In 1843 fined for selling short measures- premises not named but this also indicates that he was already operating a pub there.
1851 - Diana Smith was a beer seller in Chapel Street, premises not stated. Property records however show that she was in the same premises as James above. She was his widow. Sometimes rendered Dina / Dinah.
1861 - Diana Smith
1864 - Dina Smith
1869 - Henry Rowe (see also The Black Horse). Wife Sarah.
1871 - Henry Rowe
1872 - Henry Rowe
1874 - Henry Rowe moved to The Bear
1874 - To be Let, Fuller and co. Henry C Bartlett took over from Henry Rowe
1875 - Mr Bartlett transferred to John Fenner. Bartlett goes to The Green Man, Flackwell Heath.
1876 - John Fenner transferred to William Lloyd
1877 - Henry Rowe again (Moves to The Black Horse by 1881)
1881 - William Lloyd 2. Francis Enever (holdover)
1882 - Frederick James Walker
1883 - 1. Frederick J Walker transferred licence to John Windsor. Frederick then went to the Three Tuns, West Street.
1886 - In this year, the Bricklayers nearly looses it's right to be a licensed premises because it falls below the minimum rateable value then applying. It is decided to make a neighbouring cottage part of the premises to raise it's value. But this cottage is in use by Mr Savage the baker and the authorities naturally feel sceptical that it is now part of the pub. However, the owner of the property says that the cottage has been illegally sub let to Savage and they will make him leave. So the licence is renewed at last.
1891 - John Windsor transferred pub to John White
1896 - John White. Benjamin Barnes was fined 5s for "pulling about" and swearing at John White's daughter Emma who was serving at the bar that year. John came from the back and threw beer in the face of Mr Barnes, then went for the police.
1897 - John White. Fined 20 shillings this year for selling beer during prohibited hours, but offence is minor and licence not endorsed. Nearly didn't get licence renewed due to this but after "much discussion" White did get it. Building was at that time recently purchased by Messrs Weller of Amersham. They promised to stop up back way into Marlow Field to prevent illicit visits after hours.
1906 E F Harvey transferred to James Plumridge
1907 - James Plumridge. Serial con woman Maisy Light who lived in a caravan here and there about Marlow stole £1 from him.
1909 Albert Ernest Holden 2. Edward James Carter.
1911-21 - Charles Lloyd (and greengrocer and grocer in the property next door. He was still running the shop in 1927).
1928 - RJT Mast - last landlord.
1929 - Closure proposed under powers to limit number of licensed premises in an area. Believed to have actually closed 1936. Premises still stand. Charles Lloyd and his family returned to live on their former premises. His former grocer's shop has been taken over by someone else after 1927.
PRINCE ALBERT (Spittal Street but also given as Chapel Street given the perpetual historic confusion between the two) There was also a Prince Albert at Moors End, Lane End.
1838 Prince Albert Beerhouse, "Chapel Street" existed. The future Queen Victoria has not yet become engaged to Prince Albert so this is a curiosity if correct.
1841 - Robert Rockall. Has a stable which is used for very budget accomodation by those passing through.
1843 - James Cooper. He had come from the Carpenters Arms in its first incarnation. This was next door in part of the same building!Wife was Sarah. Fined for using short measures this year.
1846 James Cooper. Fined for having unjust measures on the premises.
1851 - James Cooper.
1852 - James Cooper
1858- William Reeves. Fined for keeping illegal hours. He was also a carpenter. Wife Sarah. He was the son of Richard and Jane Reeves masters of the workhouse and later landlords of the Ship, West Street.
1861 - William and Sarah Reeves. Seems then to have been a lodging house. Sarah moved as a widow to the Ship, West Street, taking over from William's widowed mother. See here.
The Prince Albert is not included in the 1872 pub list created by local authorities. So presumably below is a new incarnation. Research ongoing!
1887 - Mrs Rose (See Carpenters Arms above). Records scarce for this "beershop"... could it be a name change for the Carpenters Arms inspired by the Jubilee, and the former neighbouring pub, a name which didn't stick? Seems likely. Son William, servant Ellen Line.
TRAVELLER'S REST
See also Traveller's Friend, Dean Street. The similarity of name and relatively close location between the two premises has sometimes caused an accidental switching of names. They however existed at the same time, with different land lords and different associated breweries. They were different businesses. This was more of a small beershop which also took in some lodgers. The Traveller's Friend on the other hand was more of common lodging house which also had alcohol licence.
To confuse matters further the Carpenters Arms in Spittal Street was briefly known as the Traveler's Rest too, see above.
1845 - Charles Finch. Wife Ann. In this year Ann is assaulted by a drinker there, Thomas Windsor. He is fined 20s including costs.
1846 - Joseph East - fined for allowing extensive card playing on premises, and keeping his beer house open after 11pm. Plead guilty, 40s fine.
1851- William Chilton
1853 - William Chilton (and marine store dealer).
1861 - William Chilton. Census enumerator calls his pub the Travellers Friend, confusing it with the Dean Street one.
1869 - William Chilton (and marine store dealer)
1872 - William Chilton
1874 - William transfers premises to John Soley. NB Newspaper report of this calls the premises Travellers Friend, which is incorrect. The Travellers Friend was the Dean Street premised ran by the Price family at this time [Bucks Herald 10 January 1874].
A John Soley is at The Rising Sun in 1881.
RESEARCHED BY CHARLOTTE DAY AND KATHRYN DAY.
We mainly focus on pre WW1 listings but sometimes list later names if it ties in with research we are helping with.
For similar posts see Pub Related on the menu. For every mention of someone on this blog see the Person Index.
SOURCES INCLUDED:
1833 Parochial Assessment. Original working notebooks held by my family. Transcribed by Charlotte.
1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory
Pigots Directory 1844
Kelly's Post Office Directory -
1869,1877,1883, 1903, 1915
Census - 1861,1871,1881,1891 . Transcription by Charlotte Day.
Robson's Directory 1839
* Windsor and Eton Express, Apr 10 1875, held at British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA.
Bucks Herald 23 September 1869, 10 Jan, 15 August 1874, 26 December 1874, 18 June 1887, 23 May 1896, 13 June 1928 as above.
South Bucks Standard July 2 1897
Also
Reading Mercury 25 July, 19 Sept 1874.
Berkshire Chronicle, 21 February 1846, 09 Jan 1847 as above.
Bicester Herald - 18 February 1881.
1872 list of pubs and the breweries that owned them, held at Buckinghamshire County Council Archives.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to quote from or use this research for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link back here.
