THE WHITE HART
Ipswich Street

In the Middle of the 17th century the town’s principal inns were mostly clustered around the Market Place. Possibly the largest inn in Stowmarket was The White Hart which was situated in Ipswich Street facing the Market Place, (now the site of Woolworth’s).
The first mention I have found of an inn of this name in the town is in 1645 when a Robert Cullum held the Inn for as year at the rent of £25. The next mention of the Inn is not found until 1673 when Mr. Thomas Offord pays the Poor Rate for The White Hart. In subsequent poor rate lists the inn can be traced with some gaps as follows. 1673 -1675 Thomas Offord. 1677 - 1681 Edward Goodall. 1682 -1684 Christopher Lee. 1686 Thomas Colson. 1688 - 1692 Thomas Martin. 1711 - 1712 John Pooley. 1713 - 1719 Robert Hall. There is then a gap until 1732 - 1737 Widow Hall. 1737 - 1741 Robert Halls. then in 1760 another Widow Halls. 1769 - 1772 Joseph Lamb, the entry for 1772 also mentions “new buildings”
In 1781 a Samuel Elmer took the Inn as announced in the Bury and Norwich Post which adds that it was lately in occupation of his sister Mrs Ann Pooley.
At this time the importance of the inn lead to it being the venue for meetings both of local and county matters. In 1782 there was held a meeting to raise a subscription for a 74 gun ship for the navy. Other meetings included that of the Bosmere and Claydon Association and The Charity for the Widows and Orphans of Clergymen. Other meetings were in the nature of a protest against new taxes at the time of the wars with France, there was a meeting against the tax on coal in 1793. But some were of a patriotic nature, such as the meeting of Subscribers to the Defence of the Kingdom which was addressed by Lord Euston, and the one called to raise a Company of Stow Hundred Volunteers in 1798.
Sam Elmer was still in occupation in 1795 but in 1798 a Mr. John Elmer is at the Inn advertising in the Bury and Norwich Post for a “strong hobby, not more than 13 hands”. In 1800 Mr Rust the then owner was offering the Inn to let, The tenancy was taken by Robert Keeble who had previously been at the White Hart in Colchester. Robert however died in 1804.
The use of the Inn for meetings continued in the early 19th century with The Stow Hundred Association for Prosecuting Felons holding meetings there and also the Commissioners of the new Stowmarket Navigation. There were also auctions and entertainment, John Crosse, an apprentice surgeon, in his diary mentions that he “went to a musical play at the White Hart” and “Played at a concert at the White Hart” in 1808. He also attended a Quaker Meeting at the Inn in what he described as “The Great Room” It was this room which is mentioned elsewhere and the ability to accommodate a large number of people together with Stowmarket's central position in the county that made the White Hart such a prominent venue. In 1808 a Mr. Boldero ended his tenancy with a sale of his effects, the Inn was advertised to let and in the same year was put up for sale. In 1810 Mr. Joseph Lankester, grocer and draper move into the building and the premises ceased to be used as an inn.
Lankester was one of a new wave of tradesmen, who prospered from the Stowmarket Navigation opened in 1793, others included the Webbs, Fisons, and the Prentices, Manning Prentice had the premises next door for his grocery business and used the stables of the old White Hart These families were Nonconformist and particularly of the Independent persuasion, they intermarried and the businesses they founded were to shape Stowmarket in the 19th and early 20th century. Joseph Lankester was able to use the extensive vaults of the old inn which extended under Ipswich Street in his burgeoning Wines and Spirits business.
Samuel Waters saw his Kings Head in Ipswich Street as the successor to the White Hart and advertised in the Bury & Norwich Press “In consequence of the White Hart being discontinued Samuel Waters is fitting up his house in a commodious manner”.
The name The White Hart was after a few years used by Henry Ungless, anxious maybe to trade on the prestige of the name for his premises in Crowe Street, This building which is now Knight`s Estate Agent was previously known as The (White) Swan.

Click here for pictures and  information on The White Hart, Crowe Street.

STOWMARKET HISTORY AND HERITAGE
2007
email neil@stowman.plus.com