DERSINGHAM HISTORY
DERSINGHAM  HISTORY
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Dersingham Folk
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Site by Mike Strange
How The Cock gained his Feathers - The Cock Public House and Feathers Hotel
Elizabeth Fiddick ©
1904
TIMELINE
THE COCK

07.09.1789 - 1794  James Gates
1836-           George Gamble
1841-1846  Abraham Gay and farm, age 45 in 1841
1850-1852  Thomas Wells  Age 42 in 1851, died Q2 1852 Widow Sarah Wells married Archibald Petrie Q4 1852
1854-1868  Archibald Petrie Age 40 in 1861, died Q3 1868
1869-           Mrs Sarah Petrie Widow Sarah - age approx 47 - married Enoch Taylor Q1 1870
1871-1881  Enoch Taylor Age 29 in 1861, 36 in 1881 and 43 in 1891, Sarah died Q1 1881, which appears to mark the end of the Cock.

Apparently damaged by fire c1881.Demolished and the new building on the site became the FEATHERS HOTEL by 1883

THE LAMB ?
Said to have been called THE LAMB  when rebuilt but renamed the FEATHERS following purchase by the Sandringham Estate in 1882; no references can be found so far.

THE FEATHERS
1883-1892   Enoch Taylor and farmer, married Annie Charlotte Spalding 1888, died Q2 1894 age 50
1896-1916   William Henry Mann Age 60 in 1901
1922-             Frederick Hales
1937-             P.R.H.A. Ltd
by 02.1950-  Harry Alexander Prime
12.03.1951-  William Thoms
19.10.1953-  Charles William Walter Henry Keen
1956-             P.R.H.A. Ltd
21.10.1957- John Groves and Shirley Alfred Fussell
31.03.1958-  Richard Halton and Shirley Alfred Fussell
01.06.1959-  Robert Bell
21.08.1961-  John Arthur Cameron Barnes And  Paul Vyvian Douglas Horne
03.12.1962-  Jack Victor Spencer
03.02.1970-  Ivor Frederick Hillman and Clive Robert Clifton Howard

Full Acknowledgement  to Norfolk Pubs for the three entries
 
Recorded in the survey of 1804 was The Cock Public House; it was described as "garden and pightle with one James Yates as a tenant." It was let at £12 per year.  The surveyor believed that the style of the chimneys and the three long windows suggested a sixteenth or seventeenth century origin for the building which would put in the same time-frame as the Manor House and cottages that once stood on the opposite side of the road.
It would seem to have been built of capstone* like the cottages, which were demolished in recent years, and was surrounded by a post and rail fence. The door on the left probably led to a cellar or storeroom and the domestic quarters were probably at the rear not shown in the drawing. The small detached building was likely to be a brewhouse.  The pightle which was the name given to any small piece of land was used for cultivation rather like the allotments of today.

Recorded in the survey of 1804 was The Cock Public House; it was described as "garden and pightle with one James Yates as a tenant." It was let at £12 per year.  The surveyor believed that the style of the chimneys and the three long windows suggested a sixteenth or seventeenth century origin for the building which would put in the same time-frame as the Manor House and cottages that once stood on the opposite side of the road. It would seem to have been built of capstone* like the cottages, which were demolished in recent years, and was surrounded by a post and rail fence. The door on the left probably led to a cellar or storeroom and the domestic quarters were probably at the rear not shown in the drawing. The small detached building was likely to be a brewhouse.  The pightle which was the name given to any small piece of land was used for cultivation rather like the allotments of today.

The Cock Inn was an important meeting place in the village for centuries and the Royal Archives have numerous mentions of it.  The earliest reference they have is in 1844 when Abraham Gay was the tenant. In 1847 when the Hon. Charles Spencer Cowper, the then owner of Sandringham, mortgaged parts of his estate for £5,000 The Cock with accompanying land and cottage in the occupation of one John Wells as a yearly tenant is one of the properties involved. . It is mentioned again in 1861 when a mortgage for £10,500 of the whole estate is taken out.   It was purchased as part of the whole estate by the Prince of Wales in 1862.  In 1864 it is insured for £300 and is described as “stone and brick built and tiled or slated.” In 1869 it is insured for £250 and is then described as “Dwelling house and Offices known as The Cock Inn Dersingham all attached and occupied by Widow Petrie”  

The 1861 census lists The Cock Public House with Archibald Petrie as Innkeeper and farmer of 40 acres.  He lives there with his wife Sarah, sister in law Mary Ann Holland and an unnamed lodger who was a drover. Archibald employed a man and two boys to help with the farming. Once a month members of a Friendly Society held their meetings in the Inn. Members were to be between the ages of 18 and 40 and would pay one shilling each month to attend.  The Society would then support members financially if they became ill, were unable to work, or in the event of death help towards funeral expenses. Stewards would visit the sick members regularly. Each member paid a shilling a quarter for the doctor to attend any members who were sick once a letter was sent by the clerk. This must have been a great help in the days before the welfare state but there were several strict rules to be followed.  Members could be excluded for using bad language, failing to pay their dues, or being found intoxicated.  If any were found to be doing any sort of work while receiving sick pay they would be fined for the first offence but excluded if repeating the offence.  That reminds me of something I have read about recently!  The General Courts Baron of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales were held at the Inn in 1880 when tenants  occupying property on Sandringham land had to attend to pay their Quit rents and perform their suits and services.  Sales of property were often held there as well so it was a busy thriving part of the village.

In 1871 Enoch Taylor took over and the Inn is now recorded as The Cock Hotel.  Ten years later in 1881 Enoch is still the occupant and is now farming 75 acres employing 3 men and a boy.  At the Hotel there are now three domestic servants Kate Morley, Mary Balding and Barbara Bell.  Thomas Dent listed as a grocer and draper is a boarder with a John Storer who is a gas fitter.  This suggests to me rather bigger premises and we know that sometime about now the little Cock Inn was demolished and the present much larger premises were built. I have read reports that The Cock was badly damaged by fire in the early 1880s and so demolished to make way for the larger premises. It has also been suggested that the new premises were briefly called The Lamb before being renamed The Feathers in honour of the Prince of Wales. I have not yet found any reference to The Lamb but am still trawling through newspaper reports of the time in the hope of finding an account of these events.  Certainly by 1883 Enoch Taylor is for the first time recorded as the Proprietor of The Feathers Hotel and Posting House with good stabling for hunters and first class accommodation for visitors.  Later (as in the 1896 advertisement seen here) Enoch advertises that conveyances were able to meet any train at Wolferton or Dersingham.  Clearly the original Cock Inn is gone and the “pretentious sub-Sandringham building of dark capstone and red brick “as a Houghton report described it was established.

The Feathers remained in Royal ownership until 1932 when it was sold to the people’s Refreshment House Association which had leased the property since 1916 when William Mann, Postmaster at Sandringham, gave it up. This association was formed in 1896 by the Bishop of Chester as he was very concerned about excessive drinking and the abuse of alcohol.  The Association paid its hotel managers a fixed salary, but they could make no profit on the sale of alcoholic drinks. They were allowed to make a profit on the sale of tea, coffee, and light refreshments.  Although alcoholic drinks were on sale there could be no advertising of the fact although adverts for the sale of non alcoholic drinks were to be placed prominently throughout the rooms.  If a customer asked to be served an alcoholic beverage the Manager was expected to suggest that perhaps lemonade would be better. At its peak the Association owned 130 Inns and Hotels throughout the country. In 1962 the Charrington &Co Brewery purchased the chain of freehold and leasehold premises owned by the Association.

A little further on from the old Cock Inn stood two small very modest cottages.  One is described as Gay’s cottage and was rented to Abraham Gay for £12 a year. In the drawing seen here there are two lean-tos in the yard, open and roughly thatched, with a light two wheeled cart and a tiny mushroom shaped haystack close by.  All presumably part of the product of the pightle rented with the cottage and giving a small glimpse of the daily life of one of the villagers. 

The second cottage was even smaller and no tenant is mentioned.  Both cottages have long gone to be replaced by nineteenth century carrstone and brick cottages.

Reference:
*  Capstone was a coping of one of the finishing or protective stones that form the top of an exterior masonry wall or building such as local Carstone