The Barley Mow Public House Hatch

4 Thorncote Road - the former Barley Mow March 2010

This public house was owned by Simpson's of Baldock and, consequently, the deeds are held at Hertfordshire Record Office. The only records held by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service are directories and licensing records and a valuation.

The countywide licensing register of 1876 states that the public house had first been licensed over a hundred years ago. Certainly it was licensed by 1822 as it appears in the first surviving countywide licensing register [CLP13]. The present building does not look anywhere near so old and was probably built around the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The surveyor reported [DV1/C43] that the public house was built of brick and slate and included a "rather small" tap room, kitchen, pantry and scullery, cellar and, upstairs, three bedrooms. Outside was an earth closet and water was laid on to the house. Trade consisted of a barrel of mild per week along with four dozen bottles and a quarter of a gallon of spirits as to takings, the tenant "cannot say". The valuer noted: "House in good repair. Good pull up. Rear council cottages".

The public house closed in 1966. The building survives as a private house.

References

• CRT110/102: List of Simpson’s of Baldock’s documents deposited at Hertfordshire Record Office;
• CLP13: register of alehouse recognoxances: 1822-1828;
• HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
• HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
• HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
• HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
• HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
• HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
• PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
• PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972.  

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

1822-1847: Stephen Weyman
1871-1914: George Truin  
1920-1940: John Truin;
1966: Mabel Alice Irwin
Public House closed 1966

The former Barley Mow February 2010