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YewTreeInn

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years ago

The Yew Tree Inn, Darby Green

For the Society's 1997 exhibition Inns, Ale and Beerhouses in Yateley, we attempted to trace the Yew Tree Inn -- and failed. The first Beerhouse Act of 1830 enabled any householder paying the Poor Rate to sell beer

from home by paying annually two guineas to the Excise. From 1869 all beerhouses had to be licensed by the Licensing Magistrates in Petty Sessions. New research in Hampshire Record Office has revealed the existence of the Register of Licences from 1873.

 

On 26 Aug 1873 the on-licence for The Yew Tree, Yateley was renewed for the sale of beer and cider. The annual value of the premises was estimated at £20. By contrast the White Lion was worth £24 and the Dog and Partridge £28. The owner of the premises was Mr Henry Hewitt, the brewer of Waltham St Lawrence. The name of the licence holder was Henry Wareham. The register is annotated that on 21 April 1874 Sarah Wareham became the licence holder. The parish registers reveal that Henry Wareham was buried at St Peter's Yateley on 19 Feb 1874 aged 63.

 

We can now trace the Henry Wareham, beer house keeper, and his wife Sarah of Yew Tree Cottage back through to the 1861 census. Henry was born in Crondall and Sarah in Elvetham. The address in 1861 was given as the Darby Green Beer House.

 

The licence registers for 1882 list the Yew Tree, Yateley, but under the column for licence holder it states "not applied for" with a note "house done away with". It was in 1881 that John Mills realised that the redundant tap-room of the Yew Tree Inn would make the ideal Mission Room for Darby Green. This congregation eventually became St Barnabas. The closure of the beer house was recorded in the Licence Books on 23 Aug 1881. The owner was still Henry Hewitt the brewer, but the licence holder was John Smallbone. However the 'transferee' column states "house converted as Church". In the 1881 census John Smallbone is recorded as a 57 year old beerhouse keeper born in Sherborne St John. His wife Sarah was was born in Elvetham and is the right age, 74, to be the former licensee Sarah Wareham. A check of the marriage registers confirms that on 8 May 1875 John Smallbone, widower, a labourer of full age married Sarah Wareham, widow of full age. Neither could sign their names. Sadly both John and Sarah ended their lives in the Hartley Wintney Workhouse. Sarah was buried at St Peter's in 1892 aged 86 and John survived died in 1899 aged 75.

 

It is unlikely that Yew Tree Cottage was a beerhouse between 1830 and 1860, but it is possible that it had been a small alehouse in the 17th and 18th century when earlier highwaymen, such as Claude Duval, might have frequented it. But so far we have found no licensing records for this earlier period.

 

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