The Anchor Inn

Anchor Inn - 18th and 19th Century

Isaac Mason and his family, including his son and grandson and their families, lived and worked at the Anchor Inn for around 100 years from 1770 to 1866. It was used as a posting house, a coaching inn, for local events and meetings. Auctions were often held at the Inn, for example one entry in the local paper from 1780 describes an auction to take place:

“At the house of Isaac Mason, the Sign of the Anchor in Little Eaton, on Thursday the 20th day of January…. all that handsome and convenient new built messuage, or dwelling-house, with suitable stables, garden, orchard, and other offices thereto belonging, situate at Little Eaton aforesaid, late in possession of William Goodman, deceased - also three small tenements, near or adjoining the said messuage.”

Drinking rules

Travellers were allowed to drink at the Inn during prohibited hours, unlike the locals. A traveller was defined as living more than three miles from the Anchor - the Derby Daily Telegraph in 1882 had a story of three local men being on the premises and drinking out of hours, but only one of them (an Alfred Butley) was summoned and fined because the other two lived more than three miles away.

Drunkenness

There were many stories in the local papers of people being fined for being drunk and disorderly in and around the Anchor Inn. One such case involved the Reverend C.J. Fox, a much-loved and respected vicar at Little Eaton Church. An Ecclesiastical Commission found
Rev Fox guilty of drunkenness at the Anchor and “to have used profane and obscene language and to have brought great scandal upon the Church”

Attempted murder and suicide

When William Piddock was landlord of the Anchor in the 1880s, he had to deal with the suicide of his neighbour, Sarah Towle who lived at Tollgate House next door to the Inn. She had tried to cut her husband’s throat while he was asleep, but he woke up, avoided the blade and saw she had cut her own throat. He went to William Piddock at the Anchor and then the doctor for help. The court found that she was an alcoholic (a regular visitor to the Anchor) and recorded a verdict of suicide.

Amy Holland (and her ghost)

For around 20 years at the turn of the century, the landlady of the Anchor was Amy Holland, a formidable woman who ruled her Inn and did not tolerate any misbehaviour. Like many such brewsters, Amy brewed her own beer.

Such was Amy’s presence and influence, residents of Little Eaton in the 1920s and 1930s reported that Amy’s ghost could be seen walking outside the Anchor Inn and surrounding streets.

The Anchor Inn, seen from the north. The shop in the foreground was demolished to make way for Park View. The Anchor can be seen further down the street.

The Anchor Inn in the 20th Century

Frederick Alton and his son (also called Fred) ran the Anchor Inn from 1916 all the way through the 20s, 30s and 40s until 1949. Fred junior made the local paper in 1923, when he was 16, because he found the dead body of a drowned man in the Derwent whilst out walking with a friend.

In, 1938, Derby Brewery wanted to make the pub more profitable, and tried to apply for an extension. This was refused, so the brewery applied instead to remove the licence completely and move to new premises in Chaddesdon. This larger site was seen by the brewery as a “more lucrative area”.

However, such was the strength of feeling about the pub, that local residents objected and a petition by 46 residents was accepted - meaning that the Brewery’s proposal was refused and the Anchor remained open.

In 1949, the pub was taken over by Elias Jackson, but post-war pressures made it almost impossible to keep open. The picture below shows that it was valued for sale in 1955, with a valuation of £148, and it was eventually sold as a private house in 1956.