The Carpenters Arms Beerhouse, Little Staughton

This page was partly written by Brenda Foster and Jeanette Atkinson 

The Carpenters Arms Beerhouse, West End, Little Staughton 

The Carpenters Arms was one of the few inns to survive the development of the airfield during World War Two, although by this time it had long since been converted into a private residence. It is possible that the beerhouse may also have been known as The Travellers Rest in the nineteenth century; a pub of this name stood on West End and was sold by the Robin Hood Brewery of Great Staughton in 1898 alongside The Crown and The Kangaroo. At the time it was occupied by a Mr. E. Wildman who paid £10 rent a year [CRT130 STA/9].

Three generations of Hawkins men (James, William and finally Thomas) are known to have run a beerhouse on West End from around 1851 until the early twentieth century. Thomas Hawkins was in occupation when The Carpenters Arms was de-licensed in 1913 and was both owner and occupier in 1927 when the property was assessed under the nationwide Ratings and Valuations Act of 1925. At this time the building was described by the valuer as being a detached former pub with two living rooms, a kitchen, scullery, dairy and five bedrooms. A stable at the back was used as a pigsty and there were also three loose boxes, two chaff barns and a three-bay cart shed.  It had a rateable value of £6 [DV1/C176/71]. 

Today it is known as Peach Tree Cottage [2018]. 

Peach Tree Cottage in 2018 (Copyright Brenda Foster)