Hen and Chickens, 1-2 Butts Lane
| Alternative Addresses: | Butts, Hertford Terrace, Summerland Place | ||
| These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
| 1835 | 1993 | HEN AND CHICKENS | |
| 1993 | 2001 | FOWL AND FIRKIN | |
| 2001 | present | AARDVARK | |
In 1862 we have a record of a meeting taking place at the Hen and Chickens. In 1898 there is the report of the sudden death of W. J. Podbury, the Hen and Chickens landlord and long time harrier, after a twenty four hour illness. The Midland Daily Telegraph reported that, "The sudden nature of his decease will come as a shock to the athletes of the Midlands."..
In 1982 Ansells spent £20,000 on renovating the lounge.
In 1993 it became the FOWL AND FIRKIN, one of David Bruce's Firkin chain of pubs, and a brewery was installed.In slang 'chickens' were small pewter pots mixed with larger pots (known as 'hens') and this looks a tempting source for the pub names. Before the seventeenth century however, a hen and chickens were symbolic in Christian art of God's providence and that is probably the original reason for their use in street signs of various kinds, including taverns. In the seventeenth century the expression was also used to describe the pleiads, the group of stars in the constellation taurus. However, the most likely explanation in this case is from the first licensees occupation as a farmer. | |||
LICENSEES:1835 - 1865 Joseph Ward (victualler, maltster and farming 50-60 acres of land. Died 6th Nov 1865.) 1865 - 1868 Martha Ward (widow of Joseph) 1868 - 1874 George Hollick 1876 Thomas Crofts 1876 Samuel Boddington 1879 - 1893 Walter Podbury (died Apr 1893) 1893 - 1896 Susan Podbury (widow of Walter) 1896 - 1898 Walter John Podbury 1898 Mary Elizabeth Podbury 1901 - 1903 Percy J. Whittem 1903 - 1905 Mary Elizabeth Whittem (married John Frederick Skidmore 1905) 1905 - 1906 John Frederick Skidmore 1906 - 1911 Walter Mason (died 1911) 1911 - 1917 Jemima Matthews Mason 1917 - 1927 Alfred James Tilt 1929 M. W. Blackford 1931 - 1932 W. S. Rose 1933 - 1938 W. H. Powell 1939 - 1940 C. H. Phillips 1960 R. Weston 1982 - 1985 Mick Anthill | |||
| Previous page: Help Me Through the World | This page: Hen and Chickens | Next page: Hen and Chickens |