Simon Garrett
January 2025
There are now only a handful of pubs in Framlingham, but until the beginning of the 20th Century there were many more. This article gives a flavour of Framlingham’s past drinking places.
The map below shows the approximate position of known fomer inns in Framlingham (former inns are shown with the dark red wine glass icon, the few existing inns shown in orange). There were probably more, and possibly many unnamed alehouses. Inns opened and closed, moved, changed hands and changed names. As a result there is some uncertainty about details in this article.
Click this symbol on the map for more information on former inns.
This article is an abridged version of a talk given more than 60 years ago to the members of the Framlingham and District Local History and Preservation Society by PJ Stannard, Hon Sec on 30th November 1959. It is still relevant today; former inns are still former inns!
It was originally published in full in the FRAM Journal in three parts: Aug 1997, Dec 1997 and April 1998, then republished with illustrations in the FRAM Update, Oct 2020. See https://framlinghamhistory.uk/newsletters-and-journals/ to read these longer articles.
Note that the “modern day” of this article was 1959. Some clarifications and updates to place names are shown [in square brackets] but other text is as presented by Mr Stannard in 1959.
Click any of the images below for a larger version.
In the 18th Century, there were many Inns, Public Houses and Alehouses in Framlingham. In many cases beer was brewed on the premises, and before the Licensing Act of 1910 there was almost unlimited opening hours. In 1750, there were at least these named Inns (and more unnamed alehouses):
Dove; Bull; Black Swan; White Horse; White Lion; Griffin; Crown; Duck and Mallard; Marlborough Head; Black Horse; White Hart; Shoulder of Mutton; Cherry Tree; Castle; Blue Boar; Wagon and Horses.
In the early 19th Century 21 Inns, including 6 in Framlingham, were owned by (and supplied beer by) George Brook Keer, who owned and operated a substantial brewery. Mr Keer went bankrupt in 1832, and the pubs and brewery auctioned. This had a considerable impact on inns in Framlingham, with a number changing ownership.
One in the list above was known by the sign of the ‘Griffin Inn’, which until the year 1777, was located at the grocer’s shop on Market Hill, now owned by Carley and Co. [more recently Framlingham Travel and Carley Hill Hair], but in that year for some reason which I have not been able to ascertain, the sign of the ‘Griffin Inn’ was transferred to the premises on the other side of Market Hill, now occupied as a grocer’s shop by Mrs Steggall [more recently Country vision Opticians], so that you see both sets of premises I have mentioned can lay claim to the fact that formerly they were known as the ‘Griffin Inn’.
I think you will follow better what I have to say, if I now start at the north-east, or, shall I say, the St Michaels Rooms [now Castle Community Rooms] end of town. As far as can be ascertained, the inn now known as the ‘Castle Inn’, which adjoins these Rooms, did not exist until many years later [than 1750], and in a reference to it which I found in a copy of The Framlingham Weekly News published about 1895, I find this note:-
The Castle Brewery, now held by Mr Page, was outside the Keer family, and was built by Mr Benjamin Rackham, who was employed as a clerk by Mr GB Keer.
Unfortunately, it does not state the year the Castle Brewery was built.
I would like to mention that until 1816, there was an inn in Church Street called ‘The Kings Head’, afterwards known as ‘The Black Swan’, and this was situated on the site of the Old Stables, which belonged to the house opposite these Rooms, and are now used as the Conservative Club [recently re-opened as a community resource called “10 Church Street”].
The name ‘Black Swan’ was subsequently transferred to the premises which I have mentioned were built by Mr Benjamin Rackham across part of the outer moat of the Castle, and I dare say a few of you may have noticed painted on the side wall of the ‘Castle Inn’ next to the entrance to The Gulls [the pathway next to Castle Inn, leading down to the Mere] the words ‘Black Swan and Castle’, which is the name by which the inn was known for many years
May we now pass on to Swan Street (or, as most of you will know it, Castle Street). Swan Street was the ancient name for it, and possible the ‘Black Swan’ took its name from the name of the street. On the corner of Castle Street and Double Street is the inn formerly known as ‘The Dove’ and now called the ‘Hare and Hounds’ [now a private residence]. It is one of those in existence about 1750, and it was sold at Mr Keer’s auction (it was then known by the sign of the ‘Hare and Hounds’) to a Mr James Aldridge for Mr Richard Wright for £500.
Proceeding down Double Street we come to a house on the left [No. 26 Double Street] now occupied by Mr Podd, College Master, and belonging to Mrs Woodgate. In 1801 this house was an Inn known as “The Bull”.
There has been a suggestion that Northwold House [No. 22], the residence of Mr Barrington Phillips, in the same Street, was an inn or public house, but I have not been able to obtain confirmation of this. The next is the beerhouse known by the sign of ‘The Farriers Arms’ [Double House], the licence for which was surrendered only this last February: this had been a beerhouse for a good many years, but in the particulars of sale of Mr Keer’s property in 1832, these premises were described as:
two dwelling houses with a butchers shop slaughter house and yard adjoining and in the occupations of John Dixon a butcher and Charles Williams, an excise officer.
The property was bought by the tenant John Dixon. Many years later, it passed into the ownership of Flintham Hall and Co Ltd., brewers of Aldeburgh and when this company went into liquidation it was bought by Adnams and Co. Ltd., brewers in Southwold, who as I have said, surrendered the licence only this year. This is the only inn which has been closed in Framlingham during the past 50 years. [In 1959 perhaps. Alas no more!]
Round the comer into Church Street, we come to the Crown and Anchor Hotel, which was formerly known as the White Hart Inn, and the lane at the side leading into Fore Street which we call Crown and Anchor Lane, was then known as White Hart Lane. This was reckoned to be one of the two Commercial Houses in the town. This was another Inn belonging to Mr. G. B. Keer’s estate, and was sold at the Auction to M. Cobbold of Ipswich, and the Inn is still owned by that Company [it was at the time of this talk, sadly closed at some point after 2011]. Records show that round about 1840-1850, Framlingham Post Office was at the Crown and Anchor lnn, when the business was so limited that it was transacted in a little box about six feet square, just inside the front entrance door.
At Garrards shop on Market Hill [later Bridges and Garrards, then Coopers Hardware] was the inn known by the sign of the ‘White Lion’, but little is known as to its merits as an inn, nor how long it existed.
We now come to Carley’s shop, which was known by the sign of ‘The Griffin’ until 1777. In the year 1701 this property was owned by Mr Richard Porter of Framlingham, and in his will dated 2nd June 1701, he directed and appointed 18 twopenny loaves of bread: –
to be delivered weekly to eighteen poor persons of Framlingham of honest conversations to be nominated by the Churchwardens of the same parish for the time being which allowance of bread shall be perpetual and continue for ever and be paid by the tenant and occupier of my Griffin Inn in Framlingham aforesaid.
Many years ago, the perpetual allowance for bread was converted into a rent-charge, and the owners for the time being of the property now pay one sum of £7 16s 0d (i.e. 3/- per week) [i.e. 15p per week] annually at Michaelmas [29th September], in lieu of the weekly issue of 18 two-pence loaves. There are other small charities in Framlingham which supplement the amount received from this rent-charge. During the Second World War, from 1939 onwards, bread was rationed and the price increased to such an extent, that those members of our local Parish Council who were then entrusted with administering the amounts received, found great difficulty in carrying out the terms of Mr Porter’s will, and it was decided to allocate the amounts once a year at Christmas. At the present time about 27 poor persons of Framlingham receive 10/- each.
In August 1747, the ‘Griffin Inn’ belonged to a Mr Willian Foulkes, who lived in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, and a Mr Joseph Barker of Debenham, who no doubt carried on an Estate Agency business wrote in the following terms:-
Sir,
I have a client who hearing your inclinations to sell the Griffin Inn in Framlingham is minded to purchase it, desired me to write to you to know the lowest price you’ll take for it , all other particulars relating thereto which you apprehend a Purchaser ought to be acquainted with – I make no doubt but you are sensible of the great reparations that are wanting to make it either convenient or commodious, will propose your price accordingly which I’m pretty certain if agreeable will be complied with. My client being willing to give a reasonable price, as much as any other. Therefore I think you’ll deal so honourable with these offers, to prefer them to any subsequent proposal of this sort. Your speedy answer will oblige your intended purchaser.
Ever you humble servant
Jos. Barker
Debenham Suffolk 8th August 1747
Whether Mr Foulkes replied to Mr Barker’s letter is not on record, but in or about the year 1777, as I have mentioned before, the licence of the ‘Griffin Inn’ was transferred to Mrs Steggall’s property, and thereafter that shop was known as ‘The Griffin Inn’.
Now ‘The Crown Inn’: here was established the Corn Exchange, which was carried on there in the Corn Hall [at the rear of the building, now a function room] until a few years ago. In 1849, the Petty Sessions were held there. This also was one of the houses owned by Mr GB Keer and sold at the auction in 1832 to Mr John Oakley1. It was described as a Posting House with excellent accommodation with stabling for 24 horses. There was also a hairdresser’s shop adjoining the premises, this in the occupation of Richard Lay. This hairdresser’s shop stood on the site of the entrance to the Corn Hall, and there were steps up to the floor level. It is stated that the shop was papered with posting bills, horsemanship, lithographed placards, etc. Mr Lay had a picture inside the shop illustrating Absalom hanging on a branch of an oak tree and his mule or donkey running away, beneath which were these lines as near as we can remember: –
O Absalom, my son my son
Had’st thou had thy periwig on
Thou would’st not have been undone.
At the Exhibition in the Assembly Hall in 19532 we had a barber’s sign lent by Ipswich Museum containing the same quotation, and which, it is said, hung outside Mr Lay’s shop. ‘The Crown Inn’ was a free house until about 25 years ago, when it was sold to Trust House Ltd., and it is now under their ownership [it is no longer owned by THL].
Next door, at Barclays Bank [now a café], it is reputed hung the sign of ‘The Barking Dicky’, but I have not been able to confirm or deny this.
In the corner of the Market Hill, now Mr Durrant’s butcher’s shop [Leo’s Deli], was the inn known by the sign of ‘The Duck and Mallard’ and next door, where the Queens Head Inn is now [16 Market Hill, no longer an Inn], this was known as ‘The Blue Boar’. This was also one of Mr Keer’s houses, and at one time the lodging-house which was attached to the inn used to be a brewery, in which Mr Revett for a time carried on business – there was stabling for 16 horses.
At this inn was a ‘dosshouse’ or lodging-house for down-and-outs. In Queens Head Alley, at the rear of the inn’s premises, was a common lodging-house used for giving a night’s shelter to those who had no homes. It was a sort of half-way house for weary road travellers between the workhouses at Eye and at Wickham Market, and a tramp, or anyone else for that matter, if he had no money, could go to the Police Station in Bridge Street, and on satisfying the Superintendent of Police who then lived at the Police Station [on what is now the car park in front of the Court House, which now houses the Library] (oh yes, we had a Superintendent of Police in charge here in those days), he or she could get a ticket worth sixpence3, which entitled him or her, as the case might be, to a single bed for the night: the bed was fourpence, and you were entitled to a pennyworth of bread and a pennyworth of cheese, but more often that not the tuppence was spent on a pint of beer, which was the price of mild beer in those days. If it was a married couple, then they were entitled to a sixpenny ticket for a double bed, with the usual allowance for subsistence. The dosshouse was closed down on the reorganisation of the Poor Law system4.
Near to the ‘Queens Head’, at what is known as ‘The Old Bank’ [The Old Bank House], where Mr Henry Turner until recently had his office, was the ‘Marlborough Inn’. Subsequent to its being used as an inn it was used by the late Dr GE Jeaffreson and afterwards by his son Dr Cordy Jeaffreson.
Opposite, on the site now occupied by the Guildhall, was “The Black Horse”, demolished in 1832. Passing on down Bridge Street to Well Close Square, where there was an inn known as the ‘Kings Arms’. Its exact location is still a mystery to modern-day research. Crossing the road to the ‘White Horse’ [now a private residence], this was in existence in about 1750, and it was also one of Mr Keer’s houses. At the auction in 1832, it was purchased by James Brunning for £900. James Brunning went to the inn to live and carried on a very good business (there was stabling there for 26 horses). He was succeeded by his son, John Brunning, who lived there till about 30 years ago.
In addition to those mentioned above, there were other inns or beerhouses in the College Road part of the town, where beer was brewed on the premises; however, is known of these inns or beerhouses. (Horn Hill by the way, was the old name for College Road, and Pembroke Road was known as Strawberry Hill or Red Rose Lane.)
Coming back into the town, opposite to Brook Lane, or Potter’s Lane as it is sometimes called, is the ‘Railway Inn’. The Chapel was pulled down in 1868, and the site was thrown open for the purposes of an inn yard. A bowling alley was on the site of the vestry, and there are graves of those who once were worshippers in the Chapel, which can be found in the yard of the inn.5
But just one moment. I have overlooked the ‘Shoulder of Mutton’. This was probably where Herbert Clements now lives [No. 5 Station Road] and carries on his business of harness-maker, as its location is given as opposite Mills Almshouses, but it is definite it was never the premises known as the ‘Railway Inn’.
Taking a right-had turn by Mill’s Almhouses, we ramble down Brook Lane to the late Mr John Larter’s farm, the house of which was a beerhouse and known by the sign of the ‘Cherry Tree’. Again, not a great deal is known of the inn, but the farm is still known by the name of ‘Cherry Tree Farm’ [about 200m beyond the turning to Vyces Road].
Returning to Station Road, there is the ‘Station Hotel’ next to the railway station, and this no doubt came into existence about 1859, the year when the railway to Framlingham was opened.
Leaving the town and proceeding along the Woodbridge Road, near to the Kettleburgh Road gate crossing, the bridge over the stream there is known as the Castle Bridge, and round the corner into Fairfield Road, we come to what was for many years the Fairfield Nurseries, where a market garden was carried on by the late Mr Fred Clark and his father before him. The house on these premises was known by the sign of the ‘Castle Inn’, and I think we are not far wrong when we express the opinion that the licence of the ‘Castle Inn’ was transferred, when this house was closed to trade, to that of the ‘Black Swan’. This accounts for the name of the sign which I referred to at almost the beginning of my paper, as being painted on the wall of the present ‘Castle Inn’.
Back in Fore Street, the ancient name of which was Back Lane, our call is at Mr Brownsord’s butcher’s shop [Old Tavern House, going up Fore Street, the second house on the left after Crown and Anchor Lane]. This was also one of Mr Keer’s properties and is show as lot V on the sale plan. It is described as a freehold Public House called the ‘Wagon and Horses’, with a slaughterhouse, butcher’s shop, stable and also a coach house, and was then in the occupation of Francis Bilney. This was sold at auction to Mr Cobbold for £400, but, as we all know, it ceased to be an inn many years ago. When these premises were closed as an inn, the licence was transferred to the ‘Station Hotel’.
Finally, on Saxmundham Road, round the corner beyond the bungalows on the left: there was an inn known by the sign of the ‘Mill Inn’.
2025 Addendum
Some other possible former inns (not mentioned in Mr Stannard’s 1959 talk) have been identified by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale6 and are shown on the map above:
- Coach & Horses, Market Hill
- The Black Horse, Station Road
Some other possible unnamed inns or alehouses include 4-6 Albert Place, 24 Double Street, and other locations in Station Road. These are not shown on the map above.
Notes
- Pigot’s Directory 1823-4 (p. 465) and 1830-1 (p. 756) records John Oakley as landlord of ‘The White Horse’ (Well Close Square). ↩︎
- Reference is made here to the establishment of the Lanman Museum, which is now located in the Castle. ↩︎
- 2.4 ‘old’ pennies = 1p. ↩︎
- i.e. officially or otherwise in the mid-1830s. ↩︎
- At this point Stannard is quoting almost exactly from Lambert’s Annual Almanack 1874. ↩︎
- See https://suffolk.camra.org.uk/place/118. ↩︎