The Definitive Guide to the History of
Pubs and Beerhouses in Coventry

Drinking in an Old English Town

Derby Arms, Derby Lane

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1762	1859	BLACKAMOORS HEAD
	1859	1868	DERBY ARMS
	?	?	BARLEY MOW
Presumably the name came from Derby Lane, but there was an Earl of Derby. Earl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279. Most of the Ferrers property and, by a creation in 1337, the Derby title, were then held by the family of Henry III. The title merged in the Crown upon Henry IV's accession to the throne. This pub was previously the BLACKAMOORS HEAD and appears to get its first mention as the DERBY ARMS in a Coventry Times article in September 1859 reporting a theft of towels from the pub. The latest date we can find a mention for this pub is the 2nd May 1868, when the Coventry Standard reported a drunk and disorderly woman arrested while waiting for her husband to leave the Derby Arms! A Coventry Times article in December 1886, discussing the newly published portfolio of artist G. W. Webster, tells us that "No. 7 is a drawing of the "old Blackamoor's Head," in Derby-lane, in its present ruinous condition, and as this hostelry once possessed a history peculiar to itself, and as it is about to be demolished, its production will be the more acceptable." Its demolition, of course, was to make way for the Gulson Library. The image on the left is scanned from an original.
LICENSEES: 1859 - 1862 Thomas Stone (died 24th Sep 1862, aged 43) 1862 - 1865 - Elizabeth Stone (widow of Thomas, died 14th Mar 1865, aged 38) 1866 - 1867 Thomas Poultney (transferred to the Golden Lion, Hillfields) 1867 - 1868 William Holt
Street plan of 1851