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Number 24 in a series of caches to celebrate all those local pubs that we have lost over time either to being converted for other uses such as housing or restaurants, or have been demolished and something else built on the site.
The Cache is at N 52° 07.615 W 000° 12.895
The Barley Mow, Potton, Bedfordshire
The Barley Mow was at 18 Blackbird Street. The only material held by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service on this beerhouse are the Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division registers of licences. The countywide licensing register of 1876 states that the Barley Mow was first licensed in 1846. The register is not always accurate with its dates but there is no contrary evidence for this date. In 1876 the owner was William Brook of Sandy. The Biggleswade petty sessional division licensing register states that on 3rd April licensee Reuben Piggott was convicted of opening during prohibited hours on 30th March that year. He was fined £2 with 8/6 costs. Perhaps he was desperate for income, he was the fifth licensee in the space of three years. A few weeks later on 26th June a large fire destroyed many properties in an area bounded by Blackbird Street, Sun Street, Bull Street and Chapel Street. The newspaper report said of the Barley Mow that it had been: “partially destroyed by falling down, also by water and fire”. The property was rebuilt but the beerhouse closed for the last time in 1881.
If you would like to expand this series the pub in question must meet this criteria: The pub must be closed and no longer able to operate as a pub again. Eg. The pub has been knocked down, turned into flats or a supermarket, etc.
The pub does not qualify if it is just closed or boarded up as it can still be used for its purpose and therefore not "lost" just unavailable at present.
If the location meets this criteria please contact The Cooke Family through the messaging centre here https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=e6925df2-b8d1-4661-adb9-1488a3cb414d so that they can issue your lost pub its unique number and add it to the database.
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