The Kings Arms Inn Potton

The Kings Arms Inn: King Street, Potton

This early inn is first mentioned in a will of 1720 [WG88]. George Pedly owned a number of inns in the town. He devised the King’s Head and the Maidenhead (later the Queen’s Head) to his son John and the King’s Arms, described as being in King Street, went to his son George along with a piece of meadow next to Church Causeway, the Cock in Horslow Street and the White Lyon along with another Maidenhead Inn and a Nag’s Head Inn both at Sandy.

George Pedly may have been a maltster or brewer, though this is nowhere stated. His will simply describes him as a gentleman, he died in the same year he made the will. We know that his father John was a maltster [M15/17] and his son John likewise [WG89].

The King’s Arms was obviously an important inn. A number of the streets in Potton seem to have been after inns (such as Sun Street and Blackbird Street) and this suggests that King Street was named after the King’s Arms. The fact that in 1804 a stand of arms was to be set up at the inn for the use of the Volunteer Corps also suggests the inn’s importance.

The King’s Arms seems to have survived the Great Fire of Potton of 1783, at least, it is not one of the inns mentioned in the pamphlets totaling losses in the fire. It also survived into the 19th century, as we have seen. These facts combine to make it likely that the inn was not at the bottom of the street as properties here were destroyed in the fire. The inn is not included in the countywide licensing register of 1822 to 1828 so it must be assumed that it closed for the last time at a date between 1804 and 1822

References:

• WG88: probate of will of George Pedly: 1720;
• X202/149: letter: 1804.

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:
1720: William Walsome;
1804: Slim
Inn closed between 1804 and 1822.