Lost pub · English Street

The Kings Arms Inn

Gone about 1861

Gone: Gone by the 1860s; its name passed to the house behind it in King's Arms Lane
There now: Not established
Address: 7 English Street (1858; 71 in 1847)
Where exactly: Placed just south of the English Street end of Kings Arms Lane, the lane the inn could also be entered by, using Carlisle's 1794 town plan fitted to the modern map. The pin is approximate.

One of the old coaching inns of English Street, first mentioned in 1713, near the head of Kings Arms Lane, which still carries the name. A Cumberland News column of 6 September 1991 says the Carlisle Directory Guide of 1787 named the Kings Arms among the city's main hostelries with the Bush, the Coffee House, the Grapes in Scotch Street and the Duke's Head in Scotch Street. Hutchinson's History of Cumberland, printed in 1794, lists the King's Arms among the inns 'much resorted to by travellers', and the plan of the city in the same book already names Kings Arms Lane.

Thomas Hardesty kept it in the 1790s, Thomas James in 1803, and Ralph Holmes from 1811, when Jollie's directory named it among the city's principal inns; Holmes later moved to the Bush. By 1829 it was a coaching inn and the city's Waterloo house, kept by John Donald. The True Briton left the King's Arms Inn, English Street, for Newcastle by Brampton, Haltwhistle and Hexham, Robert Blaylock's carrier left it for Longtown, and 'the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo is held at the King's Arms Inn', in Parson and White's words. Elizabeth Donald kept it in 1847, at 71 English Street by the numbering of the day.

Its photograph, among the earliest surviving of Carlisle's streets, was taken in 1857 by the pioneering city photographer Benjamin Scott, and the Lanes Library understood that the crowd in front had gathered to see the unusual sight of a photographer at work. The cab on the left was driven by Henry Graham of the County Mews, Lowther Street, and the picture was possibly taken on the introduction of the first hire horse cab in Carlisle. The inn could also be entered by Kings Arms Lane, seen to the left, one of the few city centre lanes still existing.

At a city exhibition in 1950 Mrs Mary Little identified her grandparents, Robert Little and his wife, the owners, on either side of the doorway. Mr Little had taken over the inn in June 1855 from the Globe Inn at Allonby, and the Post Office directory of 1858 lists him here. The young woman at the upstairs window was Mrs Little's mother, who married William Whitlow of the City Hotel in English Street, and the little girl in a white pinafore was her aunt.

The inn did not last much longer under its old name. In 1828-29, and again in 1858, the directories list a second house in Kings Arms Lane itself, the Unicorn and later the Crown. By 1873 only one King's Arms is listed, at 5 King's Arms Lane: the name had passed to that house, which traded as the Kings Arms until its licence was refused in 1891. The English Street building was later replaced, and in 1991 a shoe shop occupied the site.

Photograph

Engraved street plan of the Market Place end of English Street and Scotch Street, with long narrow plots running east to Drovers Lane and a red ellipse round the engraved name Kings Arms Lane — Kings Arms Lane, running east off the head of English Street opposite the Guard House, on the plan of the city in Hutchinson's History of Cumberland, 1794 W. Hutchinson, History of Cumberland, vol. II (1794), Public domain

Sources 16

http://www.cumberlandscarrow.com/englishstreetpubs.htm
Carlisle Encyclopaedia, "K" and "U" pages
CARLISLE_PUBS_Ver_3.xls (Mike Tuer's pub database)
The Cumberland News, 6 September 1991, p. 4: 'Pubs of yesteryear', 'Insanitary inn lost its licence', the King's Arms Inn, English Street (via newspapers.com)
Carlisle Patriot, 25 September 1891, p. 6: 'Public houses in Carlisle sixty years ago', reprinting the 1829 Parson and White directory list (via British Newspaper Archive)
W. Hutchinson, The History of the County of Cumberland, vol. II (Carlisle: F. Jollie, 1794), p. 666: inns much resorted to by travellers, 1794
W. Hutchinson, The History of the County of Cumberland, vol. II (Carlisle: F. Jollie, 1794), Plan of the City of Carlisle and Places Adjacent, facing p. 585: the 1794 town plan
Jollie's Cumberland Guide & Directory (Carlisle: F. Jollie & Sons, 1811), p. viii: principal inns of Carlisle (Google Books scan of the Bodleian copy)
W. Parson and W. White, History, Directory, and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds, 1829), p. 167: coaches and the inns they left from (University of Leicester digital copy)
W. Parson and W. White, History, Directory, and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds, 1829), p. 168: carriers from the inns (University of Leicester digital copy)
W. Parson and W. White, History, Directory, and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds, 1829), p. 147: the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo held at the King's Arms Inn (University of Leicester digital copy)
W. Parson and W. White, History, Directory, and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds, 1829), pp. 163-164: Carlisle inns and taverns (University of Leicester digital copy)
Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory (London, 1828-29), Carlisle: inns, taverns and public houses, and wine and spirit merchants (University of Leicester digital copy)
Mannix and Whellan, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland (Beverley, 1847), Carlisle: hotels, inns and taverns, and beer houses (University of Leicester digital copy)
Post Office Directory of Cumberland (London: Kelly and Co., 1858), Carlisle: commercial list and inns (University of Leicester digital copy)
Post Office Directory of Durham, with the principal towns of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland (London: Kelly and Co., 1873), Carlisle: street directory and publicans (University of Leicester digital copy)

Location from archive.org. The pin is approximate.

Open question

A date we can't pin down

The Kings Arms on English Street is said to be first mentioned in 1713, but a Kings Arms of 1713 to 1762 is also recorded on Scotch Street, the house later called the Lion & Lamb, and another record starts this one in 1790. Which house does the 1713 mention belong to?

If you know the answer, or where it might be found (an old photograph, a family story, a document), tell us and it goes into the story above.

Tell us about The Kings Arms Inn