The Unicorn
History
The Unicorn (pictured right in 1876) has
been a pub for at least 250 years, having originally belonged to a Thomas
Kingswood. By 1741 it became vested in Elizabeth Gilbert of Marden,
the widow of Fernden Gilbert, and their son John, who sold to Edward Cole
of Marden "...all that messuage or tenement commonly called or known
by the name or sign of the Unicorn ... and also all the third part of a
water pit ... and 8 acres called Lower or Lilley Field."
Edward Cole left it to his son Peter Coleman Cole and
after he died it went to his brother John. By his will in 1803, when
he is described as living in Horsmonden, he left his property in trust
for Stephen, John and William Walter. William bought out the interests
of the other two, and two years later in 1824 sold the Unicorn to Thomas
Day, an innkeeper of Marden, probably the son of the last occupant who
had just died. It remained in his ownership and that of his widow
Caroline until 1876 when it was bought by Godfrey Burrell, William Jude
and Ernest Osgood Hanbury, brewers of Wateringbury.
Known occupants have been:
| |
John Jarvis |
| Before 1741 |
Margaret Grigsby, widow |
| |
Joseph Jarvis |
| |
Richard Chapman |
| |
Richard Mallyon |
| In occupation before 1822 (and in 1822) |
Thomas Day |
| 1824 |
Thomas Day |
| 1860 |
Thomas and Walter Day (another member of the Day family
was landlord of the White Lyon across the entrance to the market - "The
Lyon and the Unicorn") |
| 1876 |
Walter Day |
| |
Stevenson |
| 9 March 1880 |
George Price |
| 30 June 1885 |
Frederick William Gilbert |
| January 1896 |
Mrs Gilbert, widow |
| December 1904 |
G Clarett |
| March 1905 |
W B Warner |
| August 1907 |
A M Taylor |
| June 1911 |
W A Wade |
| April 1912 (and in December 1915) |
C Bromley |
| 3 January 1918 |
C Stephens |
| 29 September 1931 |
Frederick John Stephens |
| 6 May 1936 |
Edward Millsted |
| 2 July 1956 |
George Willis Delo |
| 17 May 1961 |
Ernest Edward Curtis |
| 6 July 1964 |
Charles Robert Peter Ghick Beadle |
| 10 September 198X |
Ronald Charles Dunn |
| |
Colin and Sue Watts |
| |
Jan Othen |
| |
Tony Rimlett and Sally Catt |
| August 2000 |
Keith and Ros Rookledge |
Plan of The Unicorn in 1876
