Georgian Old Jockey Research Claire Dimond-Mills September 2018
Cuff's Corner marked on Andrews' and Drury's map of 1810 (courtesy Wilts History Centre)
Toll Road
TO DO
TO DO
Origins of the Old Jockey
It is possible to go back in time even further to see what happened to the house earlier in history. An alehouse was sited close to Cuffs Corner, named after a 1620 tenant, Michael Cuff, who probably lived at the present Old Jockey Cottages. The Horse and Jockey Inn indicates that the alehouse was very successful and a new, larger property was built to take advantage of the opportunities. The datestone on Old Jockey House says it was built in 1737, clearly as a coaching inn, set at an angle so it showed up to passengers coming to and from Bath on the Old Bath Roads. Katherine Harris, a resident of the area in the 1920s, believed that the advantage of the inn was the need for a change of horses every 10 to 15 miles which would be especially important in view of the steep hill from Kingsdown to Batheaston.
However, the new premises floundered when the Corsham to Box road (now called the A4) was built in 1761, attracting London to Bath traffic away from the medieval ridgeway route as it was more direct and quicker. Passenger traffic followed the mail coaches on the route through the centre of village.
Attracting Georgian Customers
We are all used to pubs putting on entertainment to attract custom; it has always been like that. In 1782, the Old Jockey tried to do just that with a Bull Baiting competition. It was advertised in the Bath Chronicle as:
At the Horse and Jockey near King’s Down Hill on Tuesday the 22nd October will be BULL BAITING. The best dog to be entitled to a silver collar and the second best a silver punch ladle, a free gift. The first course at ten in the morning, the second at two.[1] The event was between a bull and dogs bred for the purpose of attacking and bringing the animal down to its knees. The bull would subsequently be cooked and served to spectators. The Old Jockey area was ideal as it was close to several parish boundaries for Atworth, Corsham and Box. It was legal until 1835 but these events attracted a clientele keen on drinking and gambling and the Parish Constable would often be needed to stop riotous behaviour.
It gross spectacle doesn't seem to have done any good and the premises was put up for sale a few years later:
Also to be sold a leasehold messuage or inn consisting of two dwelling houses, a garden, orchard, stable and out buildings called the Horse and jockey, situated near the five mile stone on the turnpike road leading from Bath to the Devizes in the parish of Box, Wilts now in the possession of George Arnold. For particulars and treaty of sale, please apply to the above John Jefferys (Esq of the Crescent, Bath).[2] It is interesting to speculate if the owner of the property was the Jefferys who gave his name to the round the corner still called Jefferys Cottage.
New Horse and Jockey
A new toll road (now called Devizes Road) was built from Box Fiveways down to Box between 1831 and 1841. Travellers to and from Bath no longer came past the Old Jockey pub and it ceased to be a coaching inn. We should imagine that the Fuller family of Neston park, related to the London brewery firm, were aware of the possible consequences when they bought the property in 1835.[3] The Old Jockey never recovered as a pub.
In the tithe apportionment records of 1838 - 40 Old Jockey House was no longer described as an inn at all, now just a dwelling house, occupied by Jacob Poulsom. By 1851 Jacob had died and Sarah Poulsom, farmer's widow, was in residence farming the land around for the next twenty years.
It is possible to go back in time even further to see what happened to the house earlier in history. An alehouse was sited close to Cuffs Corner, named after a 1620 tenant, Michael Cuff, who probably lived at the present Old Jockey Cottages. The Horse and Jockey Inn indicates that the alehouse was very successful and a new, larger property was built to take advantage of the opportunities. The datestone on Old Jockey House says it was built in 1737, clearly as a coaching inn, set at an angle so it showed up to passengers coming to and from Bath on the Old Bath Roads. Katherine Harris, a resident of the area in the 1920s, believed that the advantage of the inn was the need for a change of horses every 10 to 15 miles which would be especially important in view of the steep hill from Kingsdown to Batheaston.
However, the new premises floundered when the Corsham to Box road (now called the A4) was built in 1761, attracting London to Bath traffic away from the medieval ridgeway route as it was more direct and quicker. Passenger traffic followed the mail coaches on the route through the centre of village.
Attracting Georgian Customers
We are all used to pubs putting on entertainment to attract custom; it has always been like that. In 1782, the Old Jockey tried to do just that with a Bull Baiting competition. It was advertised in the Bath Chronicle as:
At the Horse and Jockey near King’s Down Hill on Tuesday the 22nd October will be BULL BAITING. The best dog to be entitled to a silver collar and the second best a silver punch ladle, a free gift. The first course at ten in the morning, the second at two.[1] The event was between a bull and dogs bred for the purpose of attacking and bringing the animal down to its knees. The bull would subsequently be cooked and served to spectators. The Old Jockey area was ideal as it was close to several parish boundaries for Atworth, Corsham and Box. It was legal until 1835 but these events attracted a clientele keen on drinking and gambling and the Parish Constable would often be needed to stop riotous behaviour.
It gross spectacle doesn't seem to have done any good and the premises was put up for sale a few years later:
Also to be sold a leasehold messuage or inn consisting of two dwelling houses, a garden, orchard, stable and out buildings called the Horse and jockey, situated near the five mile stone on the turnpike road leading from Bath to the Devizes in the parish of Box, Wilts now in the possession of George Arnold. For particulars and treaty of sale, please apply to the above John Jefferys (Esq of the Crescent, Bath).[2] It is interesting to speculate if the owner of the property was the Jefferys who gave his name to the round the corner still called Jefferys Cottage.
New Horse and Jockey
A new toll road (now called Devizes Road) was built from Box Fiveways down to Box between 1831 and 1841. Travellers to and from Bath no longer came past the Old Jockey pub and it ceased to be a coaching inn. We should imagine that the Fuller family of Neston park, related to the London brewery firm, were aware of the possible consequences when they bought the property in 1835.[3] The Old Jockey never recovered as a pub.
In the tithe apportionment records of 1838 - 40 Old Jockey House was no longer described as an inn at all, now just a dwelling house, occupied by Jacob Poulsom. By 1851 Jacob had died and Sarah Poulsom, farmer's widow, was in residence farming the land around for the next twenty years.
1840 plan of the area (courtesy Wiltshire & Swindon Archive)
Amazingly the Sheppard and Bird families appear to have tried to revive a pub in the area called the New Horse and Jockey, situated at Fiveways Crossroads (now Crossroads Farm). In 1855 George Sheppard was the licensee and in 1861 another family member, Eli Sheppard, was fulfilling that role. Eli was the registered licensee from 1859 to 1872. There is a reference to the Bird estate selling the premises to the Fuller family in 1873, the trade presumably being too small for Eli to survive and he became a stone cutter. By 1875 The New Jockey was still being run as a pub by John Hall but the license was not renewed in 1879 and it never featured again as a licensed premises.
References
[1] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 10 October 1782
[2] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 25 June 1789
[3] See article on Old Jockey Farm
[1] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 10 October 1782
[2] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 25 June 1789
[3] See article on Old Jockey Farm