The Royal Oak

The ‘Royal Oak’, also known just as the ‘Oak’, was an Inn at the northern edge of the village centre (on the left going towards Steeple Bumpstead). It was converted into a private house some time in the 20th century, retaining the name ‘Oak House’.

Here are some photos of the inn over the years.

Royal Oak, circa 1900

Royal Oak, 1878

Group of men outside the Oak

Oak House

It’s not easy to make out, even in this enlarged and enhanced 1878 photo , but the sign above the door (which would have been in blue vitreous enamel) reads: HAWKES & CO ENTIRE. Hawkes were ‘Brewers, Maltsters, Wine and Spirit Merchants’ in Bishops Stortford, first set up in 1780 by Hawkes, Bird & Nash with money earned by supplying malt to London breweries via the Stort Navigation Canal.

Entire’ was an early name for porter (bitter stout). It was a beer that travelled well and, by 1879, the sign was displayed on some 100 inns within horse and dray distance of the brewery. Hawkes & Co was sold to Benskins in 1898: the Bishops Stortford brewery closed in 1916 and Benskins became part of Ind Coope in 1967.

We have reconstructed the names of the various innkeepers, partly directly from census and old Kelly’s Directories (see archive) and partly from an exercise carried out for the website LondonWiki. The latter has access to more sources than we do but some of these (dates shown below in square brackets) have not yet been verified by us.

* Joshua Brazier is also shown on the 1842 tithe map as the farmer of the Whiitlesford Charity lands which generated income, and subsequently capital, for the benefit of the charity school in Whittlesford.