Cosby Inn Keepers
The information has been collected from several sources including; the Alehouse
Recognizance Registers 1753-1827, 1841-1901 census returns, Electoral registers 18851999, various Trade Directories 1846-1941 and from some of the past and present
landlords.
The records are not necessarily complete as can be seen by the gaps between the years
but in all cases there are records for all the years shown.
The spelling of names can vary particularly in the Alehouse Register.
The Alehouse Recognizance register is a bond imposed by the Quarter Sessions for good
behavior; it includes only the name of the Inn Keeper, the name of the parish, the name of
the Bondsman and the sum of the surety. After 1825 it gives the sign of the house.
Although the register does not give the name of the house because the business’s tended
to be kept in the family it is fairly safe to assumed that the Inn has always been in that
family.
There have been several people listed in the Trade Directories as Beerhouse Keepers
these have not been included because they are not Inns as such, more like today’s off
sales. And there are a few people mentioned in censuses as publicans or victuallers but I
can find no indication of where the Inn is so they have not been included.
I think that The Greyhound may well have changed its name to The Blacksmith’s Arms,
which is believed to have been a coaching inn, some time after 1827. And the Inn
changed its name again during the time of John McLaughan to the Black Pig, much to the
indignation of villagers; however it was changed back but to The Blacksmith’s in 1999.
The Bulls Head is the oldest Inn in the village and at one time was used as a Post Office.
The Huntsman has had many landlords over the years and the list may be missing some
of them. The King William IV and The Cross Keys are no longer in being.
In the 1891 census Joseph Robinson was the Innkeeper at the Challiss Folly beerhouse,
this was an off license as shown in the trade directories.
.
John Savage
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2/13/2016