The Wellesley Arms

The Wellesley Arms public house was built in the late 18th century. It was originally a coaching inn, like the Bell Inn at the far end of the village. At the beginning of the 1800s, more than 200 years ago, it was called the Tylney Arms Inn. At that time the Lords of the Draycot Manor were the Tylney Long family. They married into the Wellesley family in 1812, and in the 1840s the pub name changed to the Wellesley Arms. It has kept the same name ever since, even though the Lord of the Manor became Lord Cowley in 1863. The black and white postcard captioned 'JJ Hunt Calne', with people standing in front of The Wellesley, dates from 1904-1910; the landlady at this time was Mrs Louisa Sharp, who continued running it after it was bought by Wadworths following the 1920 Auction. With acknowledgements to JJHuntArchive for allowing us to use this photograph; see https://jjhuntarchive.weebly.com and also JJ Hunt’s Wiltshire Camera: One Hundred Historic Photographs of Marlborough and District Standing in the doorway of the pub in one of the photos from the 1930s are (left) Oliver Heath, the Park Lane Baker, and (right) Graham Olds, the butcher. They are taking a break from the fancy dress parade at one of the village carnivals. Can you help? Can you date the photos from the cars parked outside? Or do you have any other old photos of The Wellesley Arms that you would be happy to share? If so, please get in touch.