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The Masons Arms was situated on the High Street and is now in residential use.

We have lived in this former pub, now known as The Old Masons, since 1994. As we are soon to move out after 28 years here we thought it a good time to document what we know about the place based on original documentation in our possession. The pub was owned/run by Elworthy & Co Ltd, a brewery based in nearby Kettering that was originally founded by William Rose in 1830 and then acquired by William Elworthy in 1871. It was later in turn acquired by Marston, Thompson & Evershed on 19th October 1931 after Elworthy went into voluntary liquidation and the Masons Arms remained one of Marston's pubs until it was sold on 14th April 1987 for £78,000. The purchasers were Mr. and Mrs. C W Hillyard who intended to continue running the pub as evidenced by planning permission being granted to build a 49 cover restaurant on the rear of the pub but clearly this didn't materialise and the pub apparently closed as it was unprofitable as it could not survive on wet sales alone. Interestingly, prior to becoming an Elworthy pub, the Masons Arms was owned/run by Frederick Tebbutt's Tebbutt Brewery at nearby Sudborough - property deeds in our possession state that it was sold by Tebbutt's to Elworthy & Co on 15th May 1890. The Masons Arms was earlier offered at a nearby Thrapston auction by the Reverend Charles Allington on 30/3/1869 but doesn't appear to have sold. His father, William Allington, was rector of Twywell for 20 years and had acquired much land at properties in Twywell on 1/2/1836. He died on 13/12/1849 and part of his estate was assigned to one of his sons, namely Reverend Charles Allington in 1860 after a particularly long 11 year probate period. Subsequently Allington privately sold the Masons Arms to John Chew Tebbutt of Tebbutts Brewery on 29/9/1869. Confusingly, we also have an auction notice for 11th October 1889 at The Royal Hotel in nearby Kettering (auctioneer F. S. Abbott) for the sale of 7 full licensed public houses to include the Masons Arms/Rope Cottage occupied by landlord Charles Tiney. It suggests that The Masons Arms was owned and being sold by Frederick John Tebbutt and it carried an indenture featuring the names of Rev. Charles Allington, John Chew Tebbutt and Geoffry Hawkins. We don't know the outcome of the auction, maybe The Masons Arms didn't sell and was later sold by Tebbutts to Elworthy & Co in 1890 as mentioned above. Based on the above, we believe the pub was established post 1836 and was likely purpose built to be a pub. Our current best guess based on its architectural features is that it may have been built in the 1840's. At that time it also owned the property behind it known as Rope Cottage. By the mid 1800's Twywell was a village of c.100 houses and c. 15 pubs, all in individual houses and all brewing their own beers. There is one pub left now, The Old Friar. The Masons Arms still retains its original well in the back garden which was doubtless helpful for brewing its own ales. The water table has since dropped away and it is mostly dry now. Clearly the Masons Arms was a drinking pub according to locals who frequented it into the 1980's, virtually no food offering. Pub plans in our possession show that as recently as the 1960's the front 2 rooms of the house as shown in your photo were the bars, one of them being the darts and skittles games room. These are small rooms, approximately 16 feet X 16 feet and one of them contained the servery counter, the beers being poured and brought up from the cellar upon request. The car park was only installed in the 1960's, up till this point it was all an allotment for the pub. The rear, attached both sex toilets were built at the same time. Up till then it was a trip to a remote outside toilet in the rear garden, going past a stable attached to the rear of the pub that eventually became the attached toilets. Twywell football team was based in the pub and used it to get changed etc prior to walking to the football pitch which was on fields a short 30 yard walk just behind the pub. By 1974 Marstons consented to building of a changing room hut in the pub rear garden in exchange for a payment of £1 per annum, the team by then being known as The Masons Arms Football Club. Planning permission was granted prior to closure to build a restaurant on the rear of the pub but clearly this didn't materialise and the pub apparently closed as it was unprofitable as it could not survive on wet sales alone. It was then redeveloped into the existing four bed house by Castle Builders. Original features that survive consist mainly of the original barrel drop rails into the original cellar. The last used shelves for the barrels also remain, these tilted at an angle to allow the barrels to be easier to pour beer from. Marstons Brewery letter dated 4th October 1990 confirms previous licensees as follows: 27/9/49 - 24/9/51: Harry Alfred Bales 25/9/51 - 29/6/53: Royston Albert Sydney Bugby 20/6/53 - 25/6/56: Charles Henry Cain 26/6/56 - 13/4/59: Wilfred William Jacques 14/4/59 - 27/1/67: Lionel John Jacques 28/11/67 - 3/2/70: Gordon Ferdinand 04/22/69 - 2/2/70: William John Collins 03/02/70 - 2/8/71: George Edward William Edgson 03/08/71 - 13/12/76: Neil Campbell McMillan 14/12/76 - 27/06/83: Joan Bruce 28/06/83 - 14/04/87: Brian John Warnes As we are soon to move out of The Old Masons we thought it a good time.

Paul Wren (November 2022)

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Picture source: Mark Rushton