The Bell 1889 - 2025

The Bell 1889 - 2025

Longest resident
No one knew the Bell as home more than Emma Mapperley. Born at the Bell in 1863, she lived there for 55 years, raising six sons and a daughter.

Her teenage years were spent as a dressmaker, while her father Samuel carried on as a chimney sweep and her mother Ann managed the family and boarders. Emma must have helped, for there was always more work than one pair of hands could manage.

Just behind the Bell, in Green Street, lived Arthur Hurl, a carpenter from Fenstanton. Emma and Arthur met, fell in love, and married in 1882 when Emma was only nineteen.

Emma Mapperley, possibly at the time of marriage
in 1882, aged 19 years.

Arthur probably moved into the Bell, and when Emma’s mother died in 1889, the licence passed to him. Samuel, then 72, became a boarder in what had once been his own business.

Emma & Arthur had three little boys, her father and seventeen boarders to look after. Arthur worked both as publican and carpenter. Feeding and tidying for twenty-two people was Emma's life. 

By 1901, there were six sons and a daughter, ten lodgers & one boarder, plus Emma’s retired father. Lodgers weren’t provided with meals, so the switch from boarders made life a little easier for Emma. Little had changed by 1911, although the grown up children had jobs.

Then came the war. Emma sent five of her six sons to fight in the First World War. Walter, the most prolific letter-writer, had many of his letters telling of war experiences printed in the Hunts Post. A German shell struck his trench, killing him and his companions. He is named on St Ives War Memorial.

St Ives War Memorial unveiled to remember the dead, 1920.

Albert, one of the surviving brothers, was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in battle and had a letter published describing the circumstances.

Arthur gave up the the Bell’s licence in 1918, and by 1921 the couple lived on the Broadway in five small rooms with family around them. By then, St Ives had received its war trophy, a German 15cm sFH13 heavy field howitzer. It was most likely the type of gun that killed Walter.

At first hidden away, the cannon was eventually displayed on the Waits, opposite the Bell. How bitter a sight it must have been for Emma, a constant reminder of her loss.

A family photo on the Waits, the German howitzer in the background, c1930.

By 1939, Emma and Arthur were elderly, living with their son Ernest in West Street. Both were listed as 'incapacitated OAP'. Emma died in 1940 aged 77. Arthur died the following year.

Watered whisky and a fall from grace

When Charles Brown took over the Bell in 1918 it was thriving. By 1921, he and his wife shared the accommodation with their three teenage children, five boarders and twelve lodgers. Most of the Bell's lodgers were casual labourers with no fixed work, amongst the poorest residents of St Ives.

Charles Brown and wife outside the Bell, c1918.

In 1922 Charles left for what seemed a step up to the White Hart, a large coaching inn with wealthier patrons and more potential profit than the Bell. But with greater opportunity came greater temptation.

Whisky cost as much as three pints of beer, a luxury drink compared with the Bell's cheaper trade. Suspicions arose when customers started to grumble that their spirits tasted weak. By 1923, the Food and Drugs Inspector was on the case. He gave George Burgess money to buy whisky, then marched into the White Hart, leaving half the sample behind for Charles. The County Analyst soon confirmed what regulars suspected; the whisky contained 15% water.

Summoned to court, Charles pleaded guilty, claiming the whisky had been watered down for his wife, who was unwell, and had been served by mistake. He insisted the only sale of that whisky was the Inspector's purchase.

Superintendent Gale didn't buy it. He testified there had been repeated complaints, and one of his own samples contained a staggering 40% water. Charles was fined £5 (today £260). The following year Charles left the White Hart.

Last publican

When Charles Brown left the Bell in 1922, the licence passed to Henry 'Harry' Dawson. A blacksmith by trade, he had been landlord of the Chequers on Ramsey Road, an engineer's fitter at a local foundry, and a fireman. With his wife, Alice, and their three young children, he moved into the Bell.

The Dawson family had long ties to the Bell. From 1857 they ran a plumbing and heating business from the yard behind the Bell, and later Harry started working there for his grandfather. During the First World War, Harry was turncock for the East Hunts Water Company, controlling the street stopcocks, and was exempt from military service.

In 1915, Harry was fined £1 (today £90) for serving beer after hours, a common temptation under the Government's new wartime restrictions. The following year he was reprimanded failing to send his daughter, the grandly named Maria De Silva Dawson, regularly to school. Later that year he applied for a further exemption from military service, but when told to join the Volunteers as a condition, he protested that he worked very hard during the day and his legs would not stand it. He had to attend and see that the fire engine was in working order once a month. Ordered to apologise to the Tribunal, he did.

By 1921, Harry had turned businessman. He set up as a self-employed hot and cold water pipe fitter, just as St Ives homes were being connected to the new mains supply.  Harry and Alice had another two children. After his grandfather's death in 1926, Harry inherited his role as Borough Water Engineer, a position later shared with his sons, Harry Jnr and Frank.

A 1929 courtroom case shows the sort of lodgers Harry dealt with at the Bell. A man named Ian Williams, later convicted of indecent assault, had taken a room there. Harry testified that his wife thought Williams was 'too well dressed to put up there', a blunt hint at the Bell's usual class of resident.

St Ives Fire Brigade, 1929. Harry Dawson is fifth from the left.

In 1930 Harry was appointed senior officer of the Fire Brigade, serving until 1946. His son Harry Jnr earned fame of his own in 1935 when he dived fully clothed into the river to save a drowning boy. For his bravery he was awarded the Royal Humane Society's certificate, presented at a Town Council meeting.

Harry appealed for a reduction in rates in 1938, citing falling profits and the proposed demolition of nearby houses. He also complained about the Methodist church next door displaying a poster that read 'There is a close connection between beer, ill-health and disease!' Harry won his appeal, though the following year there were no boarders at  the Bell.

In 1953, the pub closed. Its licence was transferred to the New Crown, on the corner of London Road and Hemingford Road. Today the spot is better known as Armes Corner.

Harry died in 1966 aged 85.

Recent residents

For a few years after the pub closed, the Bell stood empty. Then in 1970, Harry Dawson Jnr's daughter, Delphenia Packer, bought the house. By then it was in a sorry state. During restoration, a leather-backed parchment was found bearing the original plans for St Ives water mains, installed years earlier by the Dawsons in their role as Borough Water Engineers.

Once restored, Delphenia and her family gave the building a new lease of life, running it as a bed and breakfast with ten bedrooms. It remained in their hands until 1998.

The house was again in a state when James and Jenny Cutler moved in, and during the whole of their 16 years of occupation it seemed the house was in various stages of renovation.

Linda and Mark Haslett are the current owners, from 2014. They have carried out further sympathetic restoration.

To read more instalments about this house, click the Bell. To view stories of other interesting houses and their residents in St Ives in the style of David Olusoga's BBC television programme, click A House Through Time. To access more topics on the social history of St Ives, its resident and the surrounding area, click St Ives 100 Years Ago.