Fellow pub and local history enthusiast has compiled a list of pubs that were trading in early Victorian times in Cheltenham in the year 1844. Martin has identified two pubs in Jersey Street in Fairview, the Endeavour Inn (25 Jersey Street) and the Masons Arms (no street number given).
Only the even numbered terraced houses exist in Jersey Street, the Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School occupies the southern side of street where, presumably, both the Endeavour Inn and the Masons Arms used to stand. It is likely that the school was built in the late 19th century towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign.
RE: Endeavour Inn 25, Jersey Street, Fairview and Masons Arms, Jersey Street, Fairview
Hi Geoff,
You say in the listing for both of these that they were identified as existing in 1844 by Martin Edwards, and suggest that they might have been lost to the building of the Trinity School. You give landlords for each for 1844.
However, there is a plaque on the wall of what is now 36 Jersey Street (2nd in from Union Street end) identifying it as the former Endeavour Inn at 25 Jersey Street. There is a slight time discrepancy in that the plaque says the Endeavour Inn stood on the site 1848 – 1921, whereas Martin has it existing in 1844 and a landlord ascribed.
I did find listed under “Beer Retailers” in the 1848, 1850, 1851 and 1852 Edwards Directories J. Matthews 25, Jersey Street, so I think you can safely add him to the landlords. It also does seem to suggest that the pub continued. Listings for Fairview are so lacking though, I can’t identify anything further, but the plaque does also say “owned by the Cheltenham Original Brewery Company” if that gives you any lead.
In the 1848 Edwards Directory list of “Beer Retailers” there is also a second for Jersey Street – T. Parry. I assume he was from the Masons Arms, as it’s the only other boozer I’m aware of that existed in Jersey Street. In the 1848 directory he is also listed as a “Dairyman”, and afterwards in the 1850, 51 and 52 only under “Dairyman” not in the “Beer Retailers” list. Perhaps this gives an indication that the beer house was a secondary income/occupation. Maybe he didn’t carry it on (though to have gone on into 1848, he must have been able to meet the stricter licensing requirements in terms of cost of licence and having the deed to the property I guess. Maybe he or the compilers just recorded the primary occupation going forward.
Anyway, the other thing is, on the Facebook group ‘Days gone by in Cheltenham’ Martin has published a photo of the building on the north side of Jersey Street opposite the school on the corner with Columbia Street (now no. 14) and identified that as the site of the Mason’s Arms, in which case neither of the old beer houses would have been lost to the school
Cheers,
Alan
Landlord:
1844 David Morris