Why Bells Lane?

Last year, in an article on the main Glemsford History Website, I posed a question about the naming of Bells Lane.

Proving that the internet is still fulfilling its original intended function, Jenny Wear has been in touch with the following additions to our collective knowledge:

During my searches at the Bury Record Office, over the past couple of years, I have come across The Six Bells, Glemsford.

The period is mainly 1752-1776 and the Public House also crops up in the Ipswich Journal between 1761 and 1776 (thanks to the Foxearth LHS).

I'm pretty sure the place was named after the six bells of St Mary's and the lane then after the pub/hostelry.

It must have occupied a good plot as horse and sheep fairs were held there regularly; unfortunately it was too early for the Tithe map and there is a dearth of other maps for that period.

 

Thanks, Jenny. Another question with a possible answer, and more questions to be looked at - all at the same time. Now, about those horse and sheep fairs ...

 

SC