Flecks Lion PH, Flecks Lane

Also known as simply the Lion. The Lion element may have originated as a corruption of Lane. It is believed that the original house was erected around 1820 and was a beerhouse from at least 1830s, although the earliest beerhouse reference found, is 1851. The beerhouse licence was withdrawn by the Justices in 1908.

Since 1908 this has been a private house and today is known as Flax [sic] Lion Cottage, 6 Flecks Lane and is also an equestrian establishment. An alternative address is 6 Shingay Road., which is preferred by the Land Registry, although local practice favours Flecks Lane.

The original cottage or public house is the thatched part on the left. The slated part on the right is a modern extension added in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Here in 1874 the publican Abraham Cambers was murdered, shot dead, by his great nephew Charles Street. Read all about it.

There was a general policy to reduce the number of beerhouses in the early 1900s and Flecks Lion came under scrutiny in 1908 and its licence was finally withdrawn in December 1908 and the owners Simpson & Co of Baldock were awarded £30-£40 compensation and the tenant John Sharp £10. The process is described in the newspaper reports below.

The owners of this property are recorded as members of the Fordham family and/or Brewery of Ashwell from 1839 (and earlier?) to 1898, when they sold it to Simpsons Brewery of Baldock. After the licence was withdrawn in 1908 Simpsons appear to have retained the property, selling it in 1926 to John Edward Jarrett, who is recorded as owner in 1928. On 20 October 1997 Kathleen Beckwith and Ronald Layton Wilkerson sold it to Thomas John Williams and Robert Leslie Williams. On 29 September 2016 Adam John Keith Nigel and Cheryl Ann Mitchell sold it to Richard Edward and Lorna Mary Pinner. It was bought by the present owners on 30 January 2018.

Tenants and Licensees

More information about the tenants and their families is given on the Census Returns 1841-1911 below.

Enclosure Map 1816

An extract from the Enclosure Map is in the gallery below and various plots of land have been marked with the Tithe Map 1839 plot numbers in red. Flex Lion is plot number 323, 324 & 325. At the time of Enclosure all the land in this part of North Brook End had already been enclosed much earlier, so is not described in the Enclosure Award. The Map shows field shapes and sizes. No buildings are shown in this area of Flecks Lane, although the Map primarily depicted land and not all buildings are necessarily shown.

Tithe Map 1839

An extract from the Tithe Map is in the gallery below and each plot is numbered. Plots 323, 324 & 325 combined make up the modern day plot for Flex Lion, with part of 325 taken for 8 Flecks Lane. The owners and occupiers recorded in 1839 are:

PAGE IN PREPARATION

Click on image to view. Click again to enlarge. Drag to view entire image.