Written by Kathryn Day. Researched by Charlotte Day and Kathryn Day.
Updated October 2023
The Three Horseshoes pub most familiar to us now is located at Borroughs Grove just outside Marlow on the road to Handy Cross and High Wycombe. The old spelling of this place was frequently Burrow's Grove. Marlow however also had a Three Horseshoes pub / beer shop in Gun Lane (now Trinity Road). In fact the two were for a period operating at the same time.
THREE HORSESHOES -
BURROUGHS GROVE
Location is sometimes given as Wycombe Road.
*Note, there was more than one beer seller at Burroughs Grove. Sometimes confusion has been caused by a presumption that anyone listed as a beer seller there was trading from the Three Horseshoes, the only pub a modern person would know of at that location. All those listed below are certainly specifically at the Three Horshoes. Often informally called just "The Horseshoes".
1826 - John Green.
1833- John Green. Wife Elizabeth.. They were originally of Purley Berkshire. In 1828 their son John was sentenced to 14 years transportation for stealing a flitch of bacon. He was removed to the local penitentiary instead on the grounds that he was truly sorry for what he had done. His parents and 75 other locals signed a petition for him to be released even from that prison on account of his being led astray, being young, and being a newly married man with an infant child. The fact that John junior does not appear at home on the 1841 census suggests the appeal failed but he is back by the 1851 census so did not serve a long a sentence as he might have done.
1835 - Mrs Green had a narrow escape when a fully laden hay cart runs into the front of the premises, smashing into the tap room. One of the horses was killed instantly. The front horse had came out of the traces as it descended the hill at a pace, causing the other to career out of control with no braking possible. This horse had then failed to take the corner and had ran directly into the pub. The family heard the commotion while sitting down for breakfast, and were thankfully able to run clear. The carters also survived.
1848 - J Green "Burrow's Grove"
1851 - John Green
1852 - John Green who died this year. In his will he left all he had to his daughter Sarah Silver wife of Joseph Silver and daughter in law Ann, wife of his son John. The couple lived with the widowed John already. Ann was nee Keen.
1854 - J. Green. This was John son of above.
1859 - John Green
1861 - William Leach (see also Hare and Hounds)
1863 - William Leach "Wycombe Road"
1871 - William Leach. Wife Caroline.
1876 - William Leach
1877 - 1. Sidney Young ? 2. John Northcote/Norcott
1878 - John Northcote/Norcott transferred premises to William Plumridge
1883 - William Plumridge "Wycombe Rd" 2. James Saunders
1886 - Licence transferred from James Saunders to Henry Tilbury
1890 - William Harraway (born Wilts) In this year William's daughter Emily Maud Mary age 17 died suddenly at the inn. She was taken ill at Miss Barton's down in Marlow where she was employed as a servant. This was put down to catching a chill after sleeping with damp hair. She took 5-6 of Beecham's pills to relieve her illness but this was above the recommended dose. After she was sick repeatedly, Dr Dunbar Dickson was called. He told her she had taken too many pills but she said she had done so repeatedly before without problems. He advised her to rest and so her sister Elisabeth Christine fetched her home in a fly. Emily then complained of pains in her body and indigestion but sadly her condition was more serious than anyone realised and Emily took a sudden turn for the worse. The post mortem put the cause of death as an inflammation of the stomach and a small rupture there. It was considered that the pills had aggravated an existing inflammation. There does not seem to have been any investigation into why Emily had this pre-existing inflammation No was it answered why she took Beecham's Pills for a suspected chill or why she apparently took multiples of these pills on a regular basis. Beecham's pills were a laxative and remedy for billiousness or nervous disorders (which were often thought to spring from poor digestion).
1897 - William Harraway. In 1897 William gave evidence relating to "very bad language" to be heard about Burroughs Grove, thanks to the expressive Charles Boddy who received a 5s fine for this offence.
1903 - William Harraway
1906 - Tom Stroud. Samuel Peppall took over on September 26th that year. He had been a publican elsewhere for 23 years previously. Also rendered as Pepple.
1907 - Samuel Peppall . Fined for allowing drunkenness on his premises.
1911 - Samuel Peppall
1912. Samuel Peppall
1920 - Samuel Pepall qv
1923 - Arthur Thompkins
1932 - Arthur Thompkins
1933 - Fred Brett
1939 - Frederick Brett, then Leslie Atkins.
THREE HORSESHOES, GUN LANE (Address given as The Garrison according to 1833 Parish assessment but it was not one of 5 premises that made up the subdivided Garrison itself. It was instead in the cottages nearby, abutting Holy Trinity Church when that was built. A post outlining history of Gun Lane can be found here)
1823 - William Hoare. .
1833 - William Hoare. Charles Hoare his son was assisting and took over fully in the next year. William's wife Hannah (nee Tilbury) died 1834. William died 1838 as "late the landlord of the Horseshoes Inn", aged 65. Died at Ramsgate.
1841 - Charles Hoare (Wife Charlotte nee Tilleard - the grave of Charlotte can be viewed, along with the sad story of her death here, and a post about life for the widowed Charlotte at The Bear is here )
1843 - Charles Hoare. In this year Charles attends Marlow Races only to have his hat pinched!
1850 - Charles Hoare. Fined this year for having his beer house open on a Sunday during prohibited hours (before the morning divine service). Fine £2 10s plus 8s costs.
1852 - Charles Hoare
According to the daughter of Charles, the Three Horseshoes here closed when the church was erected in 1852.
By 1861 Charles is at The Travellers Friend, See also The Bear. His daughter Hannah married the Red Lion landlord Albert Edmund Neighbour who would after Hannah's sadly early death go on to run the Dog and Badger Medmenham. Daughter Sarah married Alfred Allam in 1865 - for more on the Allams see here. Charles other business interests included the Marlow gravel pits, which he owned for a period.
We mainly focus on pre WW1 listings but sometimes list later names if it ties in with research we are helping with.
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To find all mentions of your ancestor however small, use the A-Z person index.
Marlow's 100+ beer sellers A-Z see here
SOURCES
1833 Parochial Assessment original working notebooks and correspondence held by my family and transcribed by Charlotte Day.
1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory
Kelly's Post Office Directory
1847, 1859, 1863,1869,1877,1883, 1895, 1907,1911
Census - 1851,1861,1871,1891,1891, transcribed from microfilm made by Jane Pullinger.
Slaters Royal, National, Commercial Directory 1852 (Isaac Slater 1852)
Duttons Directory 1863
Pigots Directory 1823,1831,1844
Oxford Chronicle 11 March 1838. Copy held at the British Library. Digitized by the BNA.
Bucks Gazette - 1 August 1835, 21 October 1843. As above.
Bucks Examiner - 27 August 1890 as above
Inquest report notes- Emily Maud Harraway 1890. Plus coverage in the Maidenhead Advertiser December 10th that year.
©Marlow Ancestors.
