Building record 4232/6/1 - The Old Red Lion

First mentioned in 1701. The current building was built in the early 19th century and closed in 2012

{1} A lease dating to 1701, for a year describes a public house, ‘the Red Lyon’ to be situated on the village green. The lease also included outhouses, barns, stables, yard and an orchard.
In the 19th century it was still operating as a Public House. Whellan’s ‘General and Manorial History and Directory of Northamptonshire’ (1849) names Mary Buswell the victualler of the Old Red Lion. The Kelly’s Directory names James Buswell as the victualler in the second half of the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century the Pub was run by Judd Williams. The pub closed in January 2012.
The public house appears on the 1886 Ordnance Survey and is named as the Old Red Lion on the 1900 edition. The maps depict the building with its current outline, house and extensions.

The current buildings possibly date to the first half of the 19th century. The building has undergone several phases of changes comprising the addition of extensions and remodelling of the interior. It initially comprises a two-storey building with three rooms on the ground floor with a central corridor that included the stairs to the upper floor running from the front of the building to the rear, a faint indentation in the wall can still be made out. The upper floor comprises three, possibly four rooms depending on when the two front rooms were separated. There was a central landing. Over time the upper floor arrangement has not changed substantially, the banister of the stairs is recent with the alteration of the stair well.

The position of the bar has changed over time. Initially it was customary to bring beer to the table of the customer from the back, the bar in the modern sense did not necessarily exist. From old photographs of the mid 20th century it is possible to establish that a bar existed along the northern wall of the Bar before the interior was extensively remodelled. This placed the bar at the centre of the building in the old corridor after re-orientating the stairs. At some point the rooms of
the Lounge and Restaurant had their adjoining walls knocked through to create an open space.

<1> Wolframm-Murray Y., 2014, Archaeological recording at The Old Red Lion, Clipston, Northamptonshire, October 2013, (checked) (Report). SNN110064.

<2> Whellan W., 1849, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Directory). SNN100427.

Record last edited

May 20 2021 10:40AM