Beer, beds and stabling – A history of Barkway’s inns and pubs, c.1750-1920, by Jon Mein
Between 1750 and 1850, Barkway’s busy London-to-Cambridge road attracted all kinds of travellers. The wealthy travelled to the University or their estates in Norfolk using scheduled coaches; gamblers with money to burn headed to the Newmarket races hired expensive post-chaises.
On more restricted budgets, waggoners carted goods up and down the road, especially barley to the pre-eminent maltsters in Ware; and then there were the drovers leading thousands of cattle, sheep, ducks and geese to London’s markets.
Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book explores the extent to which our predecessors in the village benefited from this trade at a time when the country’s population was growing and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing.
