Past landlords of The Crooked Billet, Saxton. Late 19thC?

[maddys52]

Another humerous mention, though when it occurred is not stated:

"WHERE "THE FLOOD" IS REMEMBERED

The Vicar of Barmby Moor tells the story of how he entered that curious old tavern in the parish of Saxton called "The Crooked Billet" and asked the landlady if she had any idea when it was built.
"Before the flood, sir," was the startling reply.
"What flood?"
"Noah's flood I believe sir," she persisted
Inquiry showed, however, that the catastrophe referred to was the "Big Wind," which occurred in January 1839 and ravaged the district."

Friday,  Jan. 21, 1927
Publication: Evening Telegraph

[maddys52]

Gosh, Maddys52, that's a bit offputting!  Maybe they just made alterations or renovations/refurbishments at that time, and  perhaps that was when the old document was found.
I've had a look at the 1871 Census, and Thomas LAWN was still running The Crooked Billet then...
Keith
Ah, another crossed post, thanks so much for that new (to me) info about a new pub being built on the site.

Happy to send you the item if you're interested in a bit of history of butchers' prices. 

[Keith Sherwood]

Haha!  Very nice, Maddys52.  Maybe the damp that had got into the place in 1839 eventually led to it being pulled down and rebuilt 43 or so years later.  I'm glad they kept the name (was that Warwick The Kingmaker's emblem during the Wars of the Roses?), and didn't call it something much less evocative such as The New Inn,
Keith
...I'll PM you with my email address then, and you can send me that document.  Very kind of you!

[maddys52]

No problem. 

There are also advertisements for the winding up of the estate of Thomas LAWN, farmer of Saxton in March 1865 (died 16 Dec 1864).

[Keith Sherwood]

Maddys52,
Have now PM-ed you.  You've certainly unearthed so much on the LAWN family's association with The Crooked Billet.  There's quite a steep grassy bank at the back of the pub where their beer garden is today.  I dread to imagine the floodwaters whooshing over that and down to the pub in January1839 in the Big Wind...
Keith
Added: Though now I have googled The Big Wind, on January 6th 1839, and that seems to refer to a catastrophic weather feature that happened in Ireland.  So maybe that story about it happening in this part of the West Riding was an apocryphal one, dreamed up by that landlady.  Or she might have experienced it earlier in Ireland herself.  And simply forgot where she was when chatting to the Vicar of Barmby Moor...

[maddys52]

"The Big Wind" indeed did affect Ireland, but also the north of England. Have had a look at some newspapers from 1839, and there are many reports of the  "hurricane" including at York on 7 January 1839. Lots of damage reported in quite a wide area, though I can't see any particular reference to flooding, and not at Saxton or any of the towns nearby mentioned in particular. But I'm sure it was an event that locals came to measure time by. 

[Stanwix England]

How weird seeing this mentioned here, I've been there many times.

Will have a look and see if I can find anything about the flood.

[Stanwix England]

The earliest mention I've been able to find in the newspapers of anything called the Crooked Billet, in the right location (there's another one in Hull, and seemingly for a short time at least, there was one in Leeds, but in a different part of Leeds), is from May 1838.

It's about some robbers and it describes their journey.

"he first heard of them by two jobbers in a gig going to York; he found at Tadcaster bar that they had been let through about 4 o clock; they went forward to Towton, thence to Lotherton lane ends, and from thence to Crooked billets, to Garforth bridge and to Swillington bar."

The way it's phrased I can't decide if its a pub by then, or just a place. It's odd.

What's frustrating, is that the road it's on seems to not have a name. It is now known as the B1217, but despite having found out some history of that road, I can't find out what it was called before. I feel like if we could find what the road was known as, we'd maybe find more clues and information.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=B1217

[maddys52]

It shows up on this 1845 map
https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344917 (bottom right hand side)

The road above is called "Mill Race"

Possibly easier to see on this side by side map
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16.8&lat=53.82561&lon=-1.29634&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld