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30 Magdalene Street, Pickerel Inn & Pickerel Yard

History of 30 Magdalene Street

1959 Royal Commission on Historical Monuments Survey of Cambridge: has walls of plastered timber-framing and of brick…It is L-shaped on plan, with a long range projecting W from the southern part of the E range. The oldest structure is that half, approximately, of the W range adjoining the E range; it is of the 16th cent.

1798

1812

Richard Hopkins Leach‘s parents, Barnett and Margaret leach, ran this pub from October 1812. Barnett died in 1814 but his widow continued to run the pub until 1816.

1830:

John Nutter (Pigot’s)

1839:

John Glasscock (Pigot’s)

1851:

William Bullen (Gardner’s)

Sarah Bulman was living here, sister of William Lusher. William and his father were living at 17 Willow Walk.

See Mill Road Cemetery entry

1852:

Thomas Favell (Slater’s)

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1861:

William Lusher was living here. In 1863 he married Amelia Constable. In the same year he took over the grocer’s shop in 15 Petty Cury.

William Bullen, 39, innkeeper and brewer, b Norfolk

Pickerell Yard:

Charles Hall, head, 29, ?????, b Norfolk

Frederick Capes, head, 45, corn meter, b Norfolk

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1869:

William Bullen (Post Office)

1871:

William Bullen, widower, 50, brewer, b Norfolk

Alfred, 20, b Cambridge

Amelia, 20, b Cambridge

Fred, 12, b Cambridge

George, 8, b Cambridge

Eliza Ransom, 29, cook, b Stapleford

George Bullen, brother, 60, gardener, b Norfolk

Elizabeth Foreman, 23, servant, b Fulbourn

Mary A Patten, servant, 16, b Fulbourn

Charles King, 20, barman, b Hardwick

1878:

W Bullen and Son (Spaldings)

1881:

James Harris, 43, hotel proprietor, b Middlesex

Emma, wife, 27, b Wiltshire

Fladgate, son, 16, b Kent, deaf

Ernest, 14, b Kent

Ethel, 12, b Kent

Percy, 11, b Kent

Minnie, 10, b Kent

Jane Vane, 21, lady help, b Kent

Maria Hall, 21, chamber maid, b Cambridge

Elizabeth Hartley, 15, servant

1888:

Frederick Silk (Kelly’s)

1892:

Frederick Silk (Kelly’s)

1896:

William Silk (Kelly’s)

1913

William W Silk, Pickerel Inn, fly and funeral carriage proprietor

Frederick Silk

9/10/1922: There were exciting scenes at the Pickerel Yard, Magdalene Street after a loud explosion was heard in the harness-room. Fred Silk had been cleaning his motor bicycle and in filling the tank had spilt petrol. He then lit the acetylene lamp and threw the match down. Immediately flames sprang from the floor and the petrol tank exploded. His arm was rather badly burned and bicycle left in a fearful state, though not damaged beyond repair: about half the back tyre was burned completely away. The fire was put out by Thomas Frohock, a porter at Magdalene College, using a Minimax patent extinguisher. (Cam.News)

1933:

Benjamin Frederick Silk (Kelly’s)

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Jane Barham recounts in Backstairs Cambridge, 1986, how a student lodging with her aunt in 65 Victoria Road was gated by a proctor after being caught playing the trumpet in a jazz group at the Pickerel. The pub was at the time on the list of banned places for students.

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1962

Pickerel Inn

Karl E Friman

 

 

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The Cambridge Ghost Book, Halliday and Murdie, 2000, report sightings here. A former landlady is believed to have thrown herself into the Cam and her ghost is believed to haunt the Pickerel. The presence has been felt by staff members. Two landlords hanged themselves on the premises.

 

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