The Buck and Dog Public House Flitwick

This Flitwick drinking establishment is known only from a run of deeds dating from 1740 to 1771. In 1740 Henry Deacon sold two cottages to John Gibbs of Flitwick, wheelwright, one of which was the Buck and Dog, in Gibbs’ own occupation [WJ176]. Gibbs mortgaged the properties immediately to Edward Wyekes of Ampthill, tailor [WJ177]. The mortgage was assigned to Henry Pearson, an Ampthill butcher in 1747 [WJ179] and the following day Gibbs conveyed the cottages to Edward Wyekes [WJ180].

In 1771 Marmaduke West of Flitwick, perukemaker and Elizabeth, his wife (a kinswoman of Edward Wikes to whom he had devised the property in his will) conveyed the two cottages to Thomas Read of Flitwick, yeoman. The Buck and Dog is described as now in occupation of John Howson [WJ184-185]. There are no further references to the Buck and Dog. The countywide licensing registers of 1822 to 1828 to not mention it so either it closed between 1771 and 1822 or it changed its name - three licensed premises are identified in 1822 - the Butcher’s Arms (which had been and became, once again, the Swan), the Blackbirds (first recorded in 1791) and the Crown (first recorded in 1796).

Sources:

• WJ176: conveyance: 1740;
• WJ177: mortgage: 1740;
• WJ179: assignment of mortgage: 1747;
• WJ180: conveyance: 1747;
• WJ184-185: conveyance: 1771

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:

1740: John Gibbs, wheelwright;
1771: John Howson.