The Kings Arms

  • The Kings Arms in 1920
Archive Notes:

Photo taken circa 1920 of the Kings Arms on the London Road.

In earlier times, the Kings Arms was on the edge of the village but in a good position for travellers on the Stokenchurch to Islip road. When the new turnpike (A40) was built, it had the opportunity to serve the coaches which no longer travelled over Shotover and along the High Street.

On the building there is the date 1756 (see record 936 for the datestone which is undecipherable in 2021. The Davis family owned the premises for many years. 'Thomas Davis his house and Malthouse' is mentioned in the Constables Accounts of 1765. His son, another Thomas and who was a schoolmaster, is understood to have held classes for the poor children from Holton here in 1787 (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holton,_Oxfordshire) became landlord in 1785 until 1805. Other members of the family continued as licensee, Sophia from 1806, another Thomas from 1822, and Hannah from 1846. William Jones was the licensee from 1863.

The ‘Court Room', one of the public rooms, is said to be the place where local courts were once held. The appearance of the room below suggest it may have been where prisoners were kept. There is no documentary evidence for this. It may, of course, have been used as a schoolroom in the 1770 - 80's. Thomas Davis Junior was a schoolmaster.

Hall’s of Oxford owned this from the 1860s.

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