Blog: The ‘inns’ and outs of Welton’s public houses

From the moment the Romans arrived around 2000 years ago, Britain began developing a taste for communal drinking, thanks to the tabernae they set up along the roads to keep their troops supplied with wine.

A few hundred years later, Saxon life reshaped this culture, with home‑brewed ale becoming the norm and surplus batches sold straight from the houses of alewives, giving rise to the earliest village alehouses.

After 1066, the Normans expanded things further: monasteries and newly founded inns offered travellers a warm meal, a drink, and a bed for the night, creating the first recognisable network of English hospitality.

Jump forward to 1830 and the Beerhouse Act. This allowed almost any householder to brew and sell beer for a small fee—it was an attempt to curb gin drinking that instead sparked an explosion of tiny, often short‑lived beerhouses across towns and villages.

It’s a tale of how pubs gradually transformed from simple roadside wine stops for Roman soldiers into the beating heart of British community life — and Welton was part of the story. Like many villages, it relied on its pubs as social hubs where everyday life unfolded.

The one we all know

The White Horse circa 1895 – 1905

We are all familiar with The White Horse on High Street, shown above around the turn of the 20th century. Our lovely, CAMRA recognised village hub, The White Horse is a historic two-storey, thatched-roof inn, with its origins over 400 years ago.

Its age shows in the drop from the street – the pub existed when the road was a dirt track, and as it became developed and surfaced over hundreds of years, created that step down.

Located at the heart of the village on the High Street, it has served the community for centuries and continues to do so today. It was frequently used to hold auctions and sales, and many newspaper cuttings show the pub being central to the social life of the village.

Northampton Mercury 30 August 1935

You can find a fuller history of The White Horse here and you can see some historic photos of the pub here.

The one that’s now a house

Many readers will also know the Red Lion Inn – now a home known as the Old Red Lion at the bottom of Churchill Road.

The Red Lion was part of village life for 250 years or more. Its roots reach deep into the 1700s, with a 1750 licence noting Edward Munday taking over from John Thomas as landlord.

Throughout the 1800s it appeared on local maps and in multiple press cuttings as an integral part of the village. For much of its time as an inn, The Red Lion was a modest thatched building.

The structure standing today dates from the late Victorian or early Edwardian period, starting to appear on photographs around the turn of the 20th century.

In 1960 the pub called last orders for the final time and the property was delicensed and became the private residence now known as The Old Red Lion.

You can read a very detailed history of the Red Lion here including fascinating information about some of its residents stretching across the empire.

The one that was just a rumour

For a long time we’d heard tell about a third pub in Welton, but had no name to go with the rumour. The census didn’t help, and the business directories we checked listed only the familiar pair — the White Horse and the Red Lion.

Then came a breakthrough; we were given a village memory written by Tom Pearcey in 1841. In it, while describing Welton’s inns, he mentions “Wheatsheaf John – his name was Boys.” That raised the intriguing question: was there really a Wheatsheaf in Welton, or had John Boys worked at the one in Braunston or Daventry – or was it all a figment of Tom’s imagination?

The 1841 census does list a John Boys and his family, though without an occupation, and by 1851 they seem to have left the village.

Our next clue came from an 1841 Welton business listing for the Fawsley Hundred, where we saw it in black and white in an official document: “Boys John, victualler, Wheatsheaf.” This was a clear suggestion that a pub called The Wheatsheaf had existed in the village.

The trail strengthened when we tracked down a copy of the 1847 Kelly’s Directory for Welton — an early form of Yellow Pages. There it was again: “John Boyes, tavern keeper, Wheatsheaf.”

Finally, after more digging, the definitive evidence appeared in an 1840 newspaper cutting, confirming beyond doubt that Welton once had a third inn: The Wheatsheaf.

We believe the Wheatsheaf was towards the top of the village, based on where we estimate John Boys to have been living on the 1841 census. It was likely a similar modest building to the original Red Lion, and would have been John’s family home as well as an inn. It disappears as an inn by about 1850 although the building may well have existed after that time.

And finally, in case people didn’t fancy any of the three pubs, thanks to the 1830 Beerhouse Act mentioned earlier, we had people like Jane Farr.

She’s mentioned in the Fawsley Hundred listing as a “beer-retailer” and talked about fondly in the Tom Pearcey account: “I was just a passer by who fancied the fare of Jane whose beer until this day does rest upon my lips.” Her beer clearly left a strong impression!

Do you know anything about ANY of the pubs in Welton? If you can add to our story do comment below.