The Pig and Whistle and Other Beer Houses
The Pig and Whistle
The Pig and Whistle can be found on a 1717 map (below) based on an estate survey. It was originally two cottages and located at the Wicken end of Folly Road, close to Hurst Farm. The area is often referred to as Wicken Hurst in the Census Records.
There is very little information available regarding the property, however, the cottages had cellars and the name ‘Pig & Whistle’ suggests it could have been a public house or beer house.
The demolition of the old cottages was approved in 2007 and a new dwelling was built in their place.
The Mount
The deeds, dated 1826, of what is now called ‘The Mount’ in the High Street, Deanshanger, refer to it as one house. However, in 1877, it consisted of a messuage with six adjoining cottages. Three of the cottages were occupied by William Bird and run as a public house. It is thought that it was these three cottages that were converted and named The Mount by Albert Roberts in 1892. The other cottages were demolished.
Puxley Ale-house
In an article called “A History of Deanshanger” by Major S.F. Markham and , published in the Wolverton Express on 7th November 1947, it is stated: ”During the 18th century, Deanshanger grew slowly. By 1790, the population was about 500 souls. Its earliest public houses date from this period, for according to the records, the Fox and Hounds at Puxley, the Beehive and the Rose and Crown, were all in existence before 1810”.
The pub at Puxley is also referred to in the book “Passenham: The History of a Forest Village” by Brown and Roberts, published in 1973, it states: “The pub - name not known; was probably situated in the limestone cottages, now fallen down, adjacent to Grange Farm, and had cellars underneath”. The pub (or Ale House) is also referred to again in chapter 6 of the book under the heading “Puxley Law”, stating "an ale-house at Puxley Green was kept by Jane Thompson”.
The Black Horse
A pub called the Black Horse was situated at Old Stratford close to the A5 roundabout. In the 1871 return, the pub had been licensed for 'over 50 years'. In 1756, it was licensed to John Davis, but the pub may have been previously known as the Wagon and Horses as two years before this, John Davis was the licensee of the Waggon and Horses, but after 1756, the records for the Wagon and Horses disappeared.
In an article by Susan Hatton “Old Stratford - The Town on the Ouse”, she says: “It is reputed that Dick Turpin rode up to the gates at Old Stratford (painted white and over six feet tall) and because he was not allowed in, he jumped over them (presumably on Black Bess). He stayed at the Black Horse Inn, opposite the new hotel just off the roundabout, formerly the Little Chef. It was, apparently, at the Black Horse that deer from the forest were put on the coaches to go to London and poor people used to go to the keeper's house at Shrob Lodge (two or three hundred yards behind the inn) to get the 'snips and humbles' (the innards of the deer, I believe)”.
The pub lost its license in 1920 and two years later the owners, Phipps of Northampton, sold the building, which was subsequently demolished. In recent years a new housing estate has been built and one of its main streets has been named “Black Horse Drive”.