The Plough

As the Plough goes to auction this week I thought it would be good to do a potted history of the pub.

The main, north, part of the building itself dates to the 17^th century with other parts added in the 19^th century and later. Many I have seen would jump to the conclusion that as the building is that old so must the pub be. No, a pub could be older than the building it is in or much younger. It might have been purpose built for a pub or not. With the Plough the earliest confirmed record I have for use as a pub is Edward Farrow in 1795. I suspect it is, as a pub, older but have not yet been able to confirm that. It stayed with the Farrow family until c.1860. In November 1888 the skeleton of an infant was discovered in the roof. Was there a body placed there and it decayed or was it just bones placed there? Whoput it there and when? To this day that remains a mystery. In 1894 Thatcham Football Club played their first recorded match, using the nearby Plough Inn as their base.

I will put more details on this and other pubs soon.