The White Horse Inn and Public House Woburn

 White Horse Inn: Leighton Street/George Street

The White Horse is first mentioned in Sir Jonas Moore's survey of the Duke of Bedford's property in Woburn which it shows it on the south side of Leighton Street. It is described as:

WHITEHORSE a large tyled howse five bay with back howse brew howse, barnes stables, Corne rooms, facing the markett, betwixt the last tenement and Richard Houghtons howse.

The tenant is Edward Gale and it is copyhold|, held from the Manor of Woburn Abbotts. Richard Houghton's house is the next entry in the survey and is described as "being the Corner howse at Duck lane next the white horse and faceth the markett". This property later became the Swan Inn|.

The next document to mention the house is a court roll of 1693 in which John Gale surrendered the inn to Robert Geeves. Next mention is in the register of parochial dues of 1709 to 1796. There are entries from 1712 to 1751. The inn is mentioned in 1737 as abutting west onto the Swan (which lay on the corner of the Market Place and Duck Lane) and its yard being abutted north by three cottages which faced east onto George Street - at first glance this makes no sense but a glance at Thomas Evans' map (albeit of 1821) shows the reason - the middle premises between George Street and Duck Lane (i.e. the White Horse) was in an L shape, the buildings fronting the Market Street  to the north, the yard running south and turning a right angle to front George Street to the east; it has a row of cottages to the north of it and a corner building on George Street/Market Place north of the cottages; this latter building is the Coach & Horses| public house. The Windmill| Inn seems to have stood between the Coach & Horses and the White Horse.

White Horse Public Huse: Leighton End, Woburn

 
White Horse in the Parochial Assessment Register for Woburn [P118/28/2]

A White Horse is mentioned in the parochial assessment register that succeeded the previously mentioned register. This runs from 1802 to 1833 and the property is described as in Leighton End. Confirmation of this comes from mention of this White Horse as abutting Corn Close to the South. This White Horse is also described in Thomas Evans' survey of 1821-2. The final mentions are in Kelly's Directory; Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a gap between 1869 when the inn is mentioned and 1877 when it is not indicating that the inn was probably closed around this date. It stood a long way out of the centre of Woburn, somewhere in the vicinity of the modern Timber Lane on the NW side of the road, but exactly where is difficult to say. The modern numbers 25-30 Leighton Street (Duke of Bedford's cottages) have a date of 1851 and so cannot have been built on the site of the public house unless the directory is wrong by at least 18 years, which seems unlikely. The other possibility is that the public house was on the site of the modern number 31 but this looks, from the size and shape of its bricks, to be quite an old building. It is just possible that this is the former public house but without the evidence of deeds that can only be a highly speculative guess. In 1927 the property was valued under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act. It was then owned by the Duke of Bedford and occupied by a Mary Morrison. It was described as detached brick and slate and comprised a hall, three living rooms, kitchen and scullery downstairs with four bedrooms above and with two cellars under the ground floor. The valuer noted "Rooms small all front" and "Bad slope at back…not much garden"; in that garden were a coal barn and wc.

The modern photograph of the site of the older White Horse, now a green space (above) was taken in February 2006, the Swan stood at the corner of Duck Lane and Leighton Street with the White Horse next to it. The modern photograph of the Leighton End site (below) was taken exactly one year later.

 

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:

1661: Edward Gale;
1693: John Gale;
1693: Robert Geeves;
1712-1728: Benjamin Salt;
1731-1751: William Church;
1802-1808: John Smith;
1822: Elizabeth Smith;
1822-1828: James Morgan;
1839-1849: Daniel Sharp;
1849-1850: Charlotte Sharp;
1853-1869: Jesse Lewis (also shoemaker)   

List of Sources Held at Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service:

- X1/33/2: mentioned in Sir Jonas Moore's Survey of Woburn Estate: 1661;
- RBox 237: Manorial Court Roll: 1693;
- P118/3/1: parochial dues: 1709-1796 [1712-1751];
- QSR1727/62-63: baggage of Queen's own Dragoons conveyed from inn: 17 Oct 1727;
- R6/63/16/1: abuts properties in a marriage settlement: 1737;
- R6/63/7/5: admission to adjoining Swan: 1752;
- R6/63/7/13: admission to former Swan inn;
- P118/28/2: parochial assessment book: 1802-1833;
- R6/63/16/36: White Horse mentioned as abutting Corn Close to the south: 1816;
- R1/78: Thomas Evans' map accompanying R2/69: 1821;
- R2/69: Detailed survey of Woburn made by Thomas Evans for the Duke of Bedford: 1822