No. 8 Market Place, The Bull Hotel, 2012
Number 8 Market Place is the Bull Hotel and was once an important coaching inn and stopping place for the ‘Beehive Coach’ which ran between Wellingborough and London.
Before Olney’s Railway Station was built in 1872, an omnibus ran daily between Bedford and Wolverton Station. When the rail passenger service was opened, a Conveyance ran from the Bull Hotel to the Station to meet every train.
The Bull was also used as a meeting place for Dinners and Auctions. The Inland Revenue even had an office here in 1883!
Landlords for the period of 1800 – 1940 were:
1810/11 Thos Worley
1833 John Worley
1841 Sarah Baker
1844 Samuel Baker
1851 William Hipwell
1866 W.H. Lockyer (died in April of that year)
1891 Mrs J.M. Cooper
1907/11 Mrs Susannah York
1924 William John Trimmer
1931 Mrs Florence Wilson
1935 Arthur T. Simons
1939 William Crosby Packwood
The 1891 Census confirms that Jane M Cooper was the proprietress in that year. The 1910 Inland Revenue Survey records Hipwell & Co. as the owner and confirms S. York as the tenant; the 1911 Census also cites Susannah York as the Hotel Manager.
The Bull Hotel 1900s with, probably, the ‘Station Conveyance’ outside
The 1936 Register of Electors records the residents at the Bull as Edgar Richard Maund, Edith Lily Maund and Leslie R Spencer. Whereas the 1951 Register of Electors indicates that William Packwood was still the Manager in that year, and that Clive W Packwood, Bessie Packwood and Amy Packwood were also in residence.
Associated images and advertisements:
Advertisement appeared in Ratcliff’s 1907 ‘Olney, Bucks’ Almanack
Click for enlarged image
The Bull Hotel 1950s
The Bull Hotel 1930s
The Bull Hotel 1890s
Return to Introduction to the Market Place tour
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