Thomas Heskin Court / The Railway Arms / Inn / Hotel
The Railway arrived in Bishop’s Stortford in 1842. Six years later, in 1848, the Railway Arms, on the corner of Station Road and London Road, opened. It had been built by James Patmore. He had previously been a Job Master, running a livery stable on Windhill. Immediately prior to opening the Railway Arms, he was landlord at the nearby Crown Inn, Hockerill. He cannot have been there for that long as there was a different landlord in 1845 and he said his farewells to his old customers at the Crown in April 1848, welcoming new customers to the Railway Arms in November 1848. He was offering every accommodation for horses, so a continuation of his earlier occupation as a Job Master. He had in 1844 already taken the extensive stabling occupied for many years by Mr Thomas Heskin, adjacent to the new station, advertising his services to those arriving by train.
At the Licensing Session for 1850, held in late August as part of Bishop’s Stortford Petty Sessions, at the Corn Exchange, Patmore’s application for a wine and spirit license was opposed by the local brewery, Hawkes & Co, who two years previously had had an application for a new “house” nearby refused. There were already 4 “respectable houses” within 100 yards of the station (the cluster around the crossroads at Hockerill). Traffic had nearly doubled in the past 2 years and the population increase at Hockerill was very large. It was also opposed by Mr Burrows, the owner of the Crown Inn, Hockerill. He thought the Crown Inn was capable of satisfying the needs of all railway travellers and that the new Inn would be an outlet for a big London brewery. The Alehouse Act of 1828 had established a general annual licensing meeting to be held in every town, to grant licenses to keepers of inns, alehouses, and victualling houses.
In this application, the name is the Railway Arms but this did not survive for long and in an 1850 Directory, it is listed as the Railway Inn and Posting House. A Posting House was where horses could be changed or hired – Patmore offered livery-stabling for 80 horses. He was an industrious man, describing himself in 1855 as an ale and porter merchant, agent for the sale of Allsops Burton Ales and a hearse and mourning coach master. He would also seemed to have run a daily return coach service from Finchingfield via Dunmow, to meet up with the trains to and from London.
A photograph from about 1885 shows a further change in name, to the Railway Hotel, and an advertising board for Truman, Hanbury, Buxton (Brick Lane, London), London Stout and Porter.
The Railway Hotel, prior to extension, ca 1885
Later, in 1887, and by now the Railway Hotel, it appears that the premises were owned by Sir Walter Gilbey. He had accumulated a lot of land in this area, in particular around Warwick Road, which he would go on to develop. He commissioned a significant extension, designed by the eminent local architect George Edward Pritchett F.S.A. and built by the well-known local firm, J. L. Glasscock and Son. It is not clear whether this was limited to a new range fronting onto Station Road with an archway through to an interior yard, retaining the single storey range seen on the above photograph on the left of the yard, or also included upgrading this range. Today, there is no building there, only a brick boundary wall. The front wall of the original building was rendered with stone dressings at the corner. Extensive stabling was provided in the paddocks across the road.
Patmore remained until the late 1870’s, dying in 1879.
Hotel extension down Station Road
Painting from a photograph of the extended Railway Hotel
In the late 1960’s and 1970’s, the Hotel played an important role in the local live music scene, hosting a succession of different clubs. The Railway Hotel was closed in 1984 and sold for redevelopment. It was converted into apartments and renamed Thomas Heskin Court.
As for Thomas Heskin, he was a horse dealer, who had a house, stables and meadow at Hockerill, the meadow being to the north side of what is now Sation Road, extending down to Dane Street, plus two meadows a bit further along London Road, extending eastwards. He died aged 80 in 1848 and is buried in St Michael’s. As mentioned previously, James Patmore had already taken over these stables, by 1844, before building the Railway Inn. Patmore then built the Inn on the site of Heskin’s house.
He had a son, Thomas Heskin jnr. who was also a horse dealer. In 1839 he was renting meadows to the eat of the Stort Navigation, to London Road, through which the new railway line would run as it entered the station. He then moved to Thorley Cottage. He was less successful, having been declared bankrupt in 1841 and insolvent in 1844. He spent the last month of his life in Bedford Lunatic Asylum. He died aged 45 from a heart condition.
