The Plough pub, High Street, now known as The Navigator

Little Shelford had a number of pubs in the past. Now the only remaining pub is the Navigator, previously known as The Plough.

Click here for old photos and drawings of some of the pubs.

From the Victorian History of Cambridgeshire

The Three Horse Shoes inn, on the south-east side of Church Street, occurs in 1787. It was used for parish meetings in the 1830s and survived until 1908 when it was demolished and a private house built on the site.

The Prince Regent on the corner of Church Street and the Hauxton road, recorded in 1847, survived in 1980.

The William IV on High Street, which also occurs in 1847, was converted into private houses in 1910.

The Chequers, on the north-west side of Church Street, built in the late 1860s, also survived in 1980. There were other public houses in the village in the later 19th century.

Click here for more pub photos

From A Record of Shelford Parva by Fanny Wale.

The Three Horseshoes pub (now demolished​) in Church Street. "This public house stood by the side of Church Street. It belonged to the Brewer Headly of Great Shelford. The house was superfluou​s, there being five other public houses in Shelford Parva, namely the Checkers (sic), the Prince Regent, the Waggon and Horses, the Plough and the Prince William. All these were more convenentl​y situated and therefore had more regular customers for the beer they sold. In 1907 the county council took away the licence of the Three Horse Shoes and it was bought by Mr Lockhart. He pulled it down and built a new red brick habitation on the same site."

"The festivities (at the Prince Regent) connected with the annual village feast were celebrated at this public house. There was dancing in the evening and a fair in the daytime and the stalls and booths were placed on each side of Church Street."

"Opposite the Hall Farm is the Maltern Close. Near the cart gate once stood a big black barn and house both burned down about the year 1851. It belonged to Seward Lofts who had a brewery there. On the Eastern side of Maltern Close there is a narrow field with a cart gate opening to the Whittlesford Road. There are fine elm trees making an avenue up to the house and cottage which form two sides of the yard called King William Close. The King William public house was hired by Hudson the brewer until 1910 when it was found to be superfluous."

"The Carrier's Cart public House. This house was built by Williams the carpenter and served with ale from White of Whittlesford. Then Phillips the brewer had it and Fred Dockerill bought it from him in 1884 when the licence was taken by the county council there being too many public houses in the parish."

Here are more details about the William IV pub, and the area it stood in from Fanny Wale's Shelford Parva book:

In the Maltern Close near the cart gate once stood a big black barn and a house, both burned down about the year 1851, it belonged to Seward Lofts who had a brewery there, Colonel Wale bought the field about that time. The Howards and Lofts were connected.

On the eastern side of Maltern Close there is a narrow field with a cart gate opening on to the Whittlesford Road. There are fine elm trees growing in the hedges, and making an avenue up to the house and cottage which form two sides of the yard called "King WiIIiam Close" - there are stables and outhouses on the opposite side which opens into High Street.

The King WiIIiam Public House was hired by Hudson, the brewer, until 1910, when it was found to be superfluous, and at that time there was a dearth of suitable dwellings for working people, so the Misses Wale to whom this property belongs paid a compensation to the brewer and converted the public house into a comfortable private dwelling and let it to John Jennings and his son, William, who are wood trawlers; the attached cottage was also enlarged and improved; John Jennings' mother and father once lived in it. Morley, the gardener of Westfield, also lived there for many years with a wife who was a first-rate cook; they had a family of sons and daughters.

The grandfather of John Jennings was supposed to have come from a well-to-do family because he had some parchment documents with red seals upon them which he used as firelighters one cold winter.

His name was Thomas Jennings, and he had six children by his first wife; probably Frederick, George and Alfred Jennings were some of them. Thomas Jennings' second wife was Sarah Kemp, a widow with ten children. Their son Joseph Jennings - Frances Harris, 1. Sarah - James Brand; 2. John - Annie Moore, his cousin; 3. Harris - a Baynard. 1. Florence - John Pooley; 2. William - Annie Chapman; 3. Cissie. George. Reginald Edward and Richard John. The Brand family is mentioned on the Durnford Mill page of this Record; there are none of them living in Little Shelford in 1916.