ARCHIVES: Public Houses
TheWheel
The Wheel pub was on High Street, very close to the centre of the village. It is now a private residence.
The first landlord was Richard Kinton in 1766. He was a farmer who held a plot of land here at the time of the Enclosure Award. He was probably succeeded by a son and grandson, also named Richard. James Kinton was landlord from 1817 to at least 1825.
By 1841 Thomas Plant, born in Cadeby, lived at “The Spinning Wheel” with his wife and family and was here until 1861 when James Lane, born in Stoney Stanton, moved in with his wife and 2 children.
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James Lane was a master carpenter and wheelwright and looking after the pub was only a part-time occupation. Frankie was born about 1871 and when he was 3 they moved to live in a house across the road (where the library is now). Here there was space for a workshop, where James and later Frankie could carry out their trade.
A story was told by Frankie about when his father left the Wheel and the new landlord refused to pay the turnover money. James consulted Mr GF Brown, a solicitor who lived at The Grange, Newtown Unthank. James twice took a witness and demanded the money from the new landlord, who refused to pay, so he then sawed down the pub sign and took it to his carpenter’s shop. The law at the time said that no inn sign could be down for more than 24 hours without the licence being forfeit, so the new landlord lost the licence.
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We do not know if this is true, but it makes a good story.
Perhaps this new landlord was Joseph Cook who was recorded in directories in 1875 and 1877.
There are no further mentions of the Wheel, so we assume that it was probably the first of Desford’s pubs to close.
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