Newborough Public Houses

Hi everyone and welcome to part two of the series of articles about Newborough Pubs. Thanks to everyone who has said they enjoyed reading the first instalment of the series. As described in part one Newborough has had eight public houses and Inns in the parish since 1800. In part two we will have a look at two more pubs. This time we will concentrate upon the pubs and inns that have been along Thorney Road.

There were actually four but we covered the Bull Inn last time and I plan to include the Fitzwilliam Arms on Thorney Road next time. I first moved to Newborough in 1979. At the time I was working in Peakirk, so I would travel along Thorney Road at least twice a day. I remember on many occasions seeing two old gentlemen outside a house just past Werrington Bridge Road junction. They were well advanced in years yet, still farming with very old farm equipment. It was later that I was to know them as Matt and Fred Adams and the house they lived in was formally a public house.

The Royal Oak

Traditionally the name “Royal Oak refers back to the English Civil War.

The war did not end with the execution of Charles I, His son, also Charles continued fighting until his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. After he was defeated he eventually escaped to France. However, during his escape he was forced to hide, for the night, in an oak tree in Shropshire. Charles returned to England in 1660 as king. Many pubs were named Royal Oak in his honour following his exploits in the oak tree. In addition there have been many Royal Navy ships named “Royal Oak”.

There are no records to indicate that The Royal Oak, on Thorney Road, was open before 1841. In fact the earliest mention of the pub being there is its entry into the Post Office Directory for Northamptonshire dated 1854. The publican at the time was George Morris. George was also a farmer. He ran the pub with his wife Mary until shortly after 1879 when Mary died. Between 1879 and 1930 there were five different landlords who ran the Royal Oak. In

1930 it was John and Mary Adams who took up the role of publicans. John died soon after taking up the tenancy; Mary continued to run the pub after her husband’s death. Mary was to be the last person to hold the license there.

The picture on the left was taken in the early 1950’s. Mary Adams is the 2nd from the left

The Phillips Brewery Company, from Stamford owned the freehold of the Royal Oak until its eventual closure. In part one we looked at the rivalry between pubs, especially in the area regarding traditional pub sports. This is where the Royal Oak was different. Yes it did have the darts, dominos, skittles and other traditional sports but the pub also had its own cricket team. It was called the Newborough West End Cricket Club; its cricket pitch was in the field behind the pub. There was also a Newborough Cricket Club that was running at the same time. Going back to the two old gentlemen I mentioned at the beginning Fred and Matt were both members of the Newborough West End Cricket team in their younger days. The period I am talking about is just before the Second World War. Also a member of the team was a third brother; Cecil Adams. Cecil was the youngest of the brothers and extremely competitive. As their sister Rose explained to me; “If Cecil was given out it was always a poor decision by the umpire rather than anything he had done wrong”

Rose also explained that the cricket pitch was in the paddock behind the pub. On match days the cows had to be taken out of the field and their deposits cleaned up before play could commence. In early 1938 the chairman of The West End Cricket Club had a very narrow escape. On the 28th January at 9.30 in the morning Mr Cecil Wright was carting some poultry to Peterborough. Whilst travelling along Guntons Road, a tree weakened by the previous night’s storm, crashed down on his cart, landing between the cart and the horse. The cart was badly damaged but miraculously, despite being pinned to the ground, the horse escaped injury. At the outbreak of WW2, Cecil Adams joined the army and was posted to the 5th Green Howard’s and sent to France. His regiment was the part of the “rear guard”, fighting to allow others to escape. Cecil was one of the last to be evacuated from Dunkirk. He was then sent with his regiment to North Africa and ordered to defend Gazala. He was sent out on a patrol as the Germans attacked. That patrol probably saved his life as the Regiment was overrun and most of his colleagues killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Cecil’s luck ran out on 3rd September 1943 when he was killed shortly after landing during the invasion of Italy.

The Royal Oak finally closed its doors to its customers during 1958. Matt and Fred continued to live there and farm the small number of fields they had. The building stood, although by now it was falling into disrepair, until shortly after Matt Adams died in 1999. It has since been demolished and now the new house in its place is home to the Singh family.

The Red Cow (The Decoy)

Just a short distance away from the Royal Oak and on the junction of Werrington Bridge Road and Thorney Road was the Red Cow Pub. The pub is an older business than its close neighbour The Royal Oak.

It was open before 1841 when the census of that year identifies Robert Bailey as the landlord alongside his wife Elizabeth. The next records that identify the Red Cow is the 1861 census which now has John Dale in charge. As with most public houses in the Newborough area the Red Cow was a regular centre for auctions of both land and agricultural produce, with advertisements appearing locally on a regular basis informing of a pending auction. It was during the tenancy of John Dale that the first record of an inquest took place. On the night of Tuesday 13th December 1859 James Jackson, an agricultural labourer, had been drinking in the Red Cow. He left between 7pm and 8pm in quite a state of intoxication. He never made it home. The next day a young lad named Robert Bailey found James in a ditch face upwards. He was submerged in water and the water surface had frozen. It was recorded that he had fallen into the ditch and been too helpless to able to extract himself.

>> Jesse Monk was the next landlord from 1862. However, whilst he was the landlord the Red Cow became another centre for an auction. On Monday November 20th 1865 The Red Cow public house was the auction room to sell the Red Cow public house. The pub was described as; stone built with a slated and tiled roof, three rooms downstairs and a cellar, four chambers over, a skittle yard and garden.

during his work with the horses he was injured and sent home on leave. Whilst at home one evening he decided, (31st July 1915) to go swimming with his mates in the River Welland. Being a non- to a social evening being held at the Decoy Pub in 1962. During his time at the Decoy and Red Cow, Ted built up quite a reputation for his wit and sarcastic, but good natured, insults to his regulars.

Flowers Brewery bought the freehold and Jesse continued to run the pub until mid-1880 when he moved to Lincolnshire. His position was filled by Robert Fisher who ran the pub until his death in 1898 aged just 48 years old.

During WW1 Edmund Browning was the landlord. This was to be the start of the Browning name over the door which would last until 1970’s when Edmunds son Edward (Ted) retired. It was during Edmunds reign as landlord that perhaps the saddest inquest was to be held at the Red Cow.

George Henry Beasley lived at Milking Nook prior to being called up for service during WW1. His eyesight was insufficient to allow him to serve on the front line. Instead he was assigned to a Remount Regiment (Working with horses, his civilian occupation) swimmer George got into trouble in the deep water and drowned. The inquest was held at the Red Cow and the coroner, Mr WheatcroftBuckle, on 2nd August 1915, concluded that George’s death by drowning was accidental. Edmund Browning was listed as one of the jurors for the inquest.

Edward (Ted) Browning retired in late 1970’s he claimed in an article for the Real Ale magazine that since Ted had been serving behind the bar at the Red Cow it had seven different breweries. It was one of these breweries which changed the name from The Red Cow to The Decoy around 1960. An article in the Peterborough Standard refers

It truly was a pub for the locals. The Decoy remained a public house with a number of different landlords until the early 2010’s when it was bought privately and became a free house. Sandra Kabia was one of the last tenants before the pub closed its doors. However, this was not to be the end of the line. The pub reopened soon after as an Indian Restaurant. Unfortunately this venture only lasted a couple of years and the Decoy finally closed its doors as a hospitality venue in 2015. The building was sold a year later to become a private dwelling. The new owners have done the building justice and turned it into an impressive home.

In the next issue of the Tribune I will look to cover two more pubs. One of the projects I am working on at present is to build up an old photo collection from the village. It is an attempt to keep the memory of the old buildings and past residents alive for future generations. If you or your relatives have any old photos of the village or village life and you would be happy for me to copy and catalogue them then please get in touch. Preferably by email in the first instance: paulac5jun@gmail.com