The Adderley family owned an extensive tract of land around this
part of Birmingham and this street is named after them. Charles
Adderley, who would later become the first Lord Norton, owned much
of the area to the north at Duddeston and Vauxhall. Indeed, he
donated the land for Birmingham’s first public park in 1856. The
ancestral home of the Adderley family was Hams Hall near Coleshill.
The first Charles Adderley bought the original hall, an equerry to
King Charles I. Following a major fire in 1890, the hall was
demolished and rebuilt in the village of Coates in
Gloucestershire at the whim of the shipping magnate, Oswald
Harrison.
Named in honour of the Adderley family who owned
large tracts of land in this area, the Adderley Arms Inn opened in the
late 1840's. There was another Adderley Arms in Saltley's High Street.
This building was on the corner of Watery Lane. A ratebook compiled in
1876 detailed the Adderley Arms Inn as a licensed public house,
brewhouse, malthouse, stables, loft and premises. The recorded owner of
the property was the executors of the late Thomas Minor. A former
shoeing smith, he was born in Stratford-on-Avon around 1801 and,
together with his wife Elizabeth, was the former publican of
the
King's Head Innon Bordesley High Street. He was probably the man to
open the fully licensed Adderley Arms Inn. He was the licensee in 1850
and he and Elizabeth had four children living on the premises. In the
late 1850's, although retaining ownership of the Adderley Arms Inn, the
family moved a few doors away where Thomas and Elizabeth Minor traded as
a grocers. George Harris succeeded Thomas Minor as licensee of the pub.
George and Sarah Harris lived on the
premises with six children and employed Worcester-born Martha Harris as
a servant. The extract from the Birmingham licence register shows that
ownership passed to John Jones at some stage. He was a beer retailer at
both Green Lane and Garrison Lane before moving to the Yardley Arms
Hotel in the mid-1890's. The Adderley Arms Inn later became part of the
Mitchell's and Butler's empire. However, the pub fell victim to wartime shortages and closed in
1941. The licence was not extinguished and was held in suspense until
1953 when it was transferred to the temporary building erected for
The Fordroughin West Heath. The licence was later removed to the
Merritts Brook in Northfield's Bell
Holloway.
Richard Turner was an early
publican of this
beer house located on the corner of Liverpool Street. He kept the
Bricklayer's Arms with his wife Ann. Three years younger than her
Brummie husband, she was born in the Warwickshire village of Corley in
1793. James and Clara Mason were mine hosts in the early 1860's. Clara
Mason later took over the nearby
Waggon and Horses where she married for
the second time. More details on this
beer house to follow....
This
beer house was located on the corner of Lower Trinity Street. The
pub's name may indicate a date for the opening of this boozer. Certainly
William Smith was trading here as a retail brewer in 1839, two years
after Queen Victoria was crowned. One of the reasons for
Queen
Victoria being so popular on urban pubs and
beer housesis because they
first opened during her reign. Queen Victoria was the only child of King
George III's fourth son, Edward, Duke of Kent, and Victoria Maria Louisa
of Saxe-Coburg, sister of Leopold, King of the Belgians. Born in
Kensington Palace, she was crowned following the death of her uncle
William IV in 1837. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Goth in
1840. They had nine children. Well, what else is there to do in Balmoral
when it's raining? When William and Elizabeth Smith
were running The Queen during the early 1840's Sarah Forth was trading
as a beer retailer on the opposite corner of Lower Trinity Street.
However, by 1845 Daniel Quin was using the premises as a shop.
David Edge was recorded as a
retail brewer, suggesting that that
homebrewed ales were enjoyed by patrons of The Queen. Born in Rowley
Regis in 1825, David Edge spent his teenage years living next to the
Gunbarrel Works in Hayseech near Haden Hill. He kept The Queen with his
wife Elizabeth. The couple employed Kingsbury-born Catherine Mills as a
servant. A rate book compiled in 1876 recorded Zenas
Dunn as the publican of the
beer house and that the property was owned
by Robin Ebenezer. Zenas Dunn was born in the Black Country town of
Netherton in 1852. He kept The Queen
with his wife Elizabeth who was a Brummie. The Dunn family had
previously lived in Sandy Lane where Zenas had worked as a French
polisher. After their spell in Adderley Street, Zenas and Elizabeth
moved to the
Roebuck Inn on Hurst Street. Thomas
Bickley was also recorded as a retail brewer at The Queen during the
early 1890's. The Leicestershire-born publican kept the corner boozer
with his wife Emma. The former metal roller remained at the
beer house following her death but was helped by daughters Elizabeth
and Gertrude who worked as barmaids. A 1912
rate book records Henry Day as the occupier of
The Queen, a property owned by
Ebenezer Piercy. The annual rates for the building
was £6.8s.2d.
This pub seems to have drifted in
and out of the single "G" and double "GG" spelling so to avoid confusion
I'll stick to the traditional double "GG" Waggon and Horses. The
building is one of the oldest surviving public houses in Bordesley. Many
of the neighbouring taverns in this part of Birmingham were completely
rebuilt but the Waggon and Horses is one of the originals.
Remodelled rather than rebuilt, it shares some of the characteristics of
another survivor - the Spotted Dog in Meriden
Street. It is a common misperception to think of the
Waggon and Horses as a Digbeth pub - it has always been a Bordesley
location and, historically therefore, the building was part of Aston and
not Birmingham. During the 19th century theborough of Birmingham tookchunks away
from Aston which remained outside the city's jurisdiction. During this
period itwas governed by the Aston Manor
Local Board. However, ithad become an Urban
District by 1903 and was finallyabsorbed into
Birmingham in 1911.The
Waggon and Horses is a slightly later
building than the aforementioned Spotted Dog
but this is simply because it is a little further from the centre of
Birmingham. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries Birmingham
gradually “moved out” during the march of the industrial revolution. It
may be hard to imagine today but this area was completely rural up until
this period. Anglo-Saxon in origin, Deritend is derived from "Der-yet-end",
the end of the town near the deer-gate. Indeed, not too far from the pub
stands one of the old farmhouses. Built in 1601, Stratford House was the
home of Ambrose and Bridget Rotton who farmed an estate of 20 acres on
which they kept sheep, oxen, cows and pigs.
The estate remained as a farm until the Victorian age
when, in 1838, a railway was built through the middle of the land.
Midland Railway constructed a goods station on Camp Hill in 1840
- just a few years after the opening of
the Waggon and
Horses as a public house. An early recorded
licensee of the Waggon
and Horses is John Muddyman, a coal and corn dealer
turned brewer who produced
homebrewed ales in the pub's back yard. In the 19th
century it was difficult for publicans to make a living solely from
sales of beer and most had a second trade. In this case, the business
not only formed part of the Muddyman family’s income but also provided
the name of the pub. The sign of the Waggon
and Horses was fairly common as they were the principal means of
transportation before the advent of the railways. Many pubs and inns
acted as agents and all manner of goods could be left there where they
would either be forwarded or collected by locals to whom they were
addressed.
By 1845 a
small brewery had been
established in Adderley Street and it is possible
that John Muddyman opted to buy in a more consistent ale for his
customers.George Jones,
who later moved the business to Watery Lane owned the Kingston Brewery,
which was founded just along the road from the pub. Ironically, Watery
Lane was the location from which the second licensee of the Waggon
and Horses moved. Builder and
brickmaker Henry Jackaman took over
the pub following the death of John Muddyman.
Widow Sarah Muddyman moved along the road to continue trading as a
carter. Born in Bury St Edmunds in 1812, Henry Jackaman kept the Waggon
and Horses with his wife Elizabeth who hailed from the Kent village of
Farningham. The couple employed Sarah Sharp as a cook and Walsall-born
Fanny Cook as general servant. Sarah Sharp was also from Farningham - a
relative perhaps? It would appear that
homebrewed ales were still being sold at the Waggon and Horses as
Henry Jackaman was recorded as a retail brewer in the 1851 census. He
and his wife later moved to the
Great
Western Innat nearby Allcock Street.
Subsequent licensees tended to be listed as publicans or
innkeepers, suggesting that brewing on the premises
had ceased. This was the case with Birmingham-born George North,
a man possibly related to James North, a retail brewer based in
Deritend High Street. The 1861 census records that 45 year-old George North
lived here his aunt Jane Woolley, a 56 year-old widow who was born in
Minworth. George North also employed his niece Sophia Gallow as a
general servant. She was born in Harvington, Worcestershire in 1842.
George North later moved to run the
Malt Shovel Innat Selly Oak.
Clara Mason was the licensee of
the Waggon and Horses in the mid-late 1860's. Along with her maltster
husband James, she had previously kept the neighbouring
Bricklayer's Arms. Following a
second marriage, her husband, former Japanner George Stainton took over
the licence. The couple lived on the premises with her four children
Clara, Florence, William and Nelly. The Stainton's also employed 18 year-old Maria Goodman as a
general servant so it was a fair house full. The family later moved
to a large property on Moseley Road from which George Stainton worked as a
photographic artist. The Waggon and Horses
became a relatively early target for the
emerging large brewery
concerns and in the 1870’s Showell's Brewery moved
in to secure the pub for themselves. Beating local rivals like
Ansell's and the
Holt Brewery to the Waggon and Horses represented something of a scoop
for Showell's. They were based at
the Crosswells Brewery at Langley near
Oldbury. The company also had a brewery at Stockport and also operated
some pubs in London though these were later sold to Reffell’s Bexley
Brewery Ltd.
Showell's initiated improvements to the newly-acquired
Waggon and Horses and, in September 1878, the brewery commissioned
William Jenkins, an architect and surveyor based at 34 Bennett's Hill to
draw up plans to improve the existing building. Birmingham-based
breweries such as
Ansell'shad already committed themselves to rebuilding
many of their pubs but thankfully Showell's opted to retain the old
Waggon and Horses. William Jenkins worked quickly and the plans were approved
by William Hill, Borough Surveyor on October 25th 1878. The proposals
included the restructuring of the floorspace, the installation of larger
windows, the creation of a rear smoke room and an outdoor department.
This jug counter was accessed by its own door and was a key part of the
pub’s business. The men working the furnaces in local factories would
send a "runner" to the pub to fetch essential liquid refreshment. The
yard was also adapted to incorporate a "new-fangled" pub addition - the
toilet.The
original
"before-and-after"
designs help to identify the key changes to the building. James Beard
was the licensed victualler in charge of the Waggon and Horses for much
of the 1880's. Born in the Worcestershire village of Peopleton in 1847,
he kept the pub with his wife Emma. Four years younger, she hailed from
the carpet-making town of Kidderminster.
By the time of the 1891 census 34 year-old licensed
victualler John Hunt was the licensee. The son of a
lock maker lived here with his
Birmingham-born wife Georgina, 29, and their 4 year-old daughter
Theresa. The couple employed 16 year-old Alice Butlin as a general
servant. Enjoying inn status, the pub had a visitor on the night of the
survey. George Edmunds, a metal roller, was possibly helping to impart
his skills at a nearby firm. The Hunt family later
moved to the
Royal Mint on Icknield Street,
another pub operated by Showell's so perhaps the move was an internal
decision within the company. The Langley-based brewery
installed 51 year-old
Henry McCann as manager just before the 1901 census. He was born in
Bermondsey, London but had moved to Birmingham when
his father found employment in the Jewellery Quarter. He kept the Waggon
and Horses with his wife Brummie-born wife
Elizabeth. The couple
lived here with their eight children - Florence, Louis, Alice,
Dorothy, Frederick, Sidney, Lily and George. Herbert Pickering was the
incumbent detailed in a 1912 rate book for
Adderley Street in which the pub was listed as
a licensed public house with shopping and stables.
The ground rent on the property was £87.0s.0d. per annum. The rates of
£11.17s.3d were paid in full.
Samuel Allsopp Ltd.of Burton-on-Trent acquired Showell's Brewery and its estate of 194 tied houses in 1914. This brought
theWaggon and Horses under the ownership of a truly historic brewery.However, the company, founded in the 1740’s, went through a
difficult period before merging with
Ind Coope in June 1934.
The pub can be seen in this company's livery in the 1967 photograph
above. The Waggon and Horses was subject to a discussion in a board meeting held
at London’s Victoria House and chaired by Lt.Col.Kingsmill DSO OBE MC on
Thursday December 3rd 1953. Michael Sperling reported that “a further
review of the uneconomic houses in Birmingham had been made and that the
pub had been placed before the Committee of Management of Ind Coope &
Allsopp Ltd. with a view to disposal”. Trade was reported to be two
converted barrels per week and the “property was in an area where on
account of redevelopment proposals and other changes in the character of
the locality, the trade was declining rapidly”. The board resolved to
“authorise the sale of this uneconomic property at a price to be
approved”. The pub was also discussed in 1954. However, on this occasion
it was to agree a lease on an adjoining petrol station,
on land that the brewery
also owned. Somerset House Garage [Birmingham] Ltd. leased the property
from
Ind Coopeon a five-year lease expiring on the 25th December 1959
at a rent of £175 per annum. This was renewed but at the higher rent of
£200 per annum.
Ind Coopedid not sell
the Waggon and Horses but a
solution was found in 1961. In that year
Ansell'smerged with Ind Coope &
Allsopp and Tetley Walker to form Allied Breweries in 1961. The pub was
quickly changed to sell the local brew and the fortunes of
the Waggon and
Horses were reversed. Many of the old factories closed and much of the
housing cleared but the pub remained a popular haunt of the nearby bus
garage.
Ansell's brewerywas closed in 1981 and their range of beer's
brewed at Burton-on-Trent, became a subsidiary of the Carlsberg Tetley
Group. In another industry shake-up, the Waggon
and Horses was sold in
1986 to Robert and Theresa MacKay who used the first floor function room
as a jazz club. Being located in Adderley Street, changing the name of
the pub to The Cannonball proved irresistible. A member of the Miles
Davis Quintet in the late 1950’s, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley was one
of the great saxophonists of his generation. The Cannonball enjoyed
early success but suffered as a result of Ronnie Scott's opening in Broad
Street. The MacKay's sold the pub to June and James Nye who restored the
old Waggon and Horses name. Barbara and Derek Rivitt took over as
custodians of one of Birmingham’s truly old pubs on June 29th 2001.
Contains
over 380 quality photosfrom
the Mitchell's and Butler's archive,
this large format book is
invaluable for anyone who has an interest in Birmingham and its
pubs past and present.
A pictorial history of the public houses of
Burton upon Trent, from the early days right up to the present, is
illustrated with over 170 images of pubs long gone, many of them
demolished.
Paperback edition of the classic and popular
guide to the Black Country by Harold Parsons who describes with
affection and pride the towns, villages and landscape of the region
The
book compiles the story of brewing in Warwickshire from the creation
of a common brewery in Coventry in 1801 to the establishment of
major forces during the 1830's.
Written by a former librarian
at Birmingham, this book records the pubs of Birmingham city centre
in an area now within the present Inner Ring Road. Over 100 images
are featured.
This
book takes you on a picturesque stroll along Broad Street with
nearly 250 photographs and captions to celebrate the thoroughfare's
rich history. Used copy in Good Condition.
This book
features 200 Nottingham pubs, each with a photograph plus
substantial captions. Many of the photos are from the early 1970s
before the council’s mass demolition actions.
A pictorial history
of Gloucestershireincludes external and
interior brewery views, the workers, owners and transport.
An attractive book that is a superb visual
record.