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7 (9)(8) Petty Cury, Falcon Inn
History of 7 Petty Cury
1959 Royal Commission on Historical Monuments Survey of Cambridge notes that this building of three and four storeys was timber framed and was part of the Falcon Inn built in the 16th cent. There was also a S wing that was destroyed in 1883. Most remarkable had been the survival of a length of some 20ft of the original south wing which had open galleries on the first and second floors.
See Enid Porter: Old Cambridge Inns
1504 The owner Richard King of Wisbech, gave it to the Prior of Barnwell on condition that a requiem was sung at the Priory on the first Friday of every Lent for the souls of his family.
1557 Sunday, 3 January 1557. The Falcon Inn, Petty Cury, Cambridge. Despite the plague, which is ravaging Cambridge yet again, crowds cannot resist a play. Last Friday, a clear but chill New Year’s Day, Trinity College provided an outdoor show in its court. Today, warmer though still overcast, a troupe of professional players has come to Cambridge – indeed possibly two troupes, for one play is to be performed at the Falcon, close to the Guildhall, another about half a mile distant, near the main bridge, at the Saracen’s Head. (A H Nelson, Early Cambridge theatres)
According to Nelson, no [drama] performances apart from two of 1557 and certainly no performances before royalty are capable of being documented for the Falcon, and no performances at all before modern times for the only surviving Cambridge galleries inn, the Eagle. The two performances at the Falcon are nevertheless twice as many as can be documented for three other Cambridge inns: the Saracen’s Head (3/1/1557), … the Elephant (27.2.1596); and the Bear (28.5.1600). We know, however that professional players visited Cambridge with some regularity into the 1590s, though their place of performance is scarcely ever recorded.
The writer, Atkinson is recorded by Nelson, as describing the Falcon Inn as it was at the end of the 19th century:
The Falcon has now ceased to be used as an inn, but is a very good example of the old arrangement. Till quite recently the court was entirely surrounded by the timber buildings of the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries, and the west and south sides still stand almost unaltered. The buildings are in three floors, the two upper of which have open galleries, projecting slightly over the ground storey. The galleries probably ran all round the court originally…
1841
John Constable, 38, hat maker
Elizabeth, 40
Elizabeth, 14
Charles, 12
Edward, 8
James, 7
Susan, 4
Amelia, 10 mos
Mary Chappel, 22, servant
Elizabeth Chappel, 16 mos
? unnumbered:
John Harris, 33, baker
Eliza, 30
Ellen, 11
Emma, 9
Eliza, 7
James, 6
John, 7
Josiah, 3
Ellen Smith, 18, servant
Henry Neal, 18, apprentice
George Tuck, 14, servant
Mary Ewen, 26, dress maker
Hannah Ewen, 24, dress maker
Harriet [?] Ewen, 20, dress maker
1851 Petty Cury
Jeremiah Garner, head, 34, grocer
John Frederick Constable, head, 48, hat manufacturer, b Cambridge
Elizabeth
Elizabeth, 24, b Cambridge
Charles, 22, hat maker, b Cambridge
John Edward, 19, hat maker apprentice, b Cambridge
James Frederick, hat maker apprentice, b Cambridge
Susan, 14, b Cambridge
Amelia, 10, b Cambridge
Mary Chappel, 25, servant, b Balsham
1861 [no. 7 was in St Mary the Great parish, no. 8 was in St Andrew’s; the properties therefore appeared on different census returns]
(7)
Jeremiah Bank Garner, 49, tea dealer, b Beds
John S Constable, 57, hatter and publican, b Cambridge
Elizabeth, 62, b Cambridge
Charles, 33, hatter, b Cambridge
Amelia, 21, b Cambridge: Amelia married William Lusher in 1863 and resided at 15 Petty Cury. After the death of her husband in 1865 she remarried in 1870 to James Kent. In 1871 she is living with her brother Charles at 8 Petty Cury.
Ann Marley, 25, b Cambs
1871 (9)
James F Constable, inn keeper, b Cambridge
Emma
Charles E, 10, b Cambridge
John F, 9, b Cambridge
Julia E, 7, b Cambridge
Amelia M, 3, b Cambridge
Harriet Ison, servant, 19, b Cambs
Matilda Phillips, nursemaid, 17, b Cambs
1881 Falcon Inn
James F Constable, 47, brewer, b Cambridge
Emma, 47, b Cambridge
Julia, 17, apprentice, b Cambridge
Harriett Ison, 27, servant, b Cambridge
1891
1901
1913
Lipton Tea Ltd
1962
Lipton Ltd, provisions merchants
1970
Mothercare Ltd
7 Petty Cury (MoC193/72)
1972 old Falcon Inn demolished
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