Ketton Brewery Co - A History

Ketton Brewery Company. See Ketton & King's Cliffe Brewery Co. Ltd.

In 1846, Francis Whincup was living at Geeston Lodge. He was born at Oak Hammerton in Yorkshire, the son of Henry Whincup who was running the George at Stamford. Francis was malting at King’s Cliffe, Northants, in 1862 and is though to have started brewing the year before this. In 1866, Whincup & Son of the Ketton Steam Brewery were trading from Mansion House Stores in Peterborough.

In 1876, Thomas T Whincup was listed as the brewer and the following year the business was trading as Messrs Whincup, ale & porter brewers, Ketton Brewery. Francis Whincup was shown as a farmer at Geeston House, whilst Henry John Tennant Whincup ran the wine and spirit business. There seems to have been a third brother William Lawrence Whincup, who was living at Barrowden, where he was described as a brewer. Thomas W Whincup was listed in 1887, but this may be another directory error.

In 1888, William Thompson, previously at Stamford from around 1885, was shown as the brewer at the Geeston Tap, whilst Francis Whincup was listed as a private resident. Prior to 1891 the brewery seems to have been owned by Messrs Sealy & Wilde, but that year the Ketton Brewery Company Ltd partnership was dissolved by William SW Sealy. The latter was originally from Cirencester, whilst the Wilde family was from Oldham in Lancashire, which raises an interesting question as to how they had got together to run a small brewery in the East Midlands!

In 1894, the business was trading as the Ketton Brewery Company, run by Frederick & Henry Wilde and in 1896, with William Thompson at the Geeston Tap. The 1896 Peterborough Directory shows the Ketton Brewery Company as operating from West Street. Around this time it seems to have changed its name. The Ketton & King’s Cliffe Brewery was registered as a limited company in March 1898, with a capital of £12,000 in £5 shares. The founders seem to have been one Frederick Coutts Bourne and Julia Morley, the wife of a Samuel Morley, 19 Paulton Square, Chelsea. Mrs Morley had apparently purchased King’s Cliffe Manor House, the nearby Eagle Brewery and tavern, and the brewery at Ketton, including the adjoining Tap public house.

Any investors in the concern were soon disappointed, for the firm was dissolved on 26th October, 1900. After the failure of the main company, the Ketton brewery appears to have been run by a Percy Crowhurst. He was shown in 1904 as a brewer and beer retailer, until 1908. Percy Crowhurst was also shown at Geeston (F1816), but as explained, this was in fact the same concern. However, in 1908, it was bought by Claud Wyborn Gordon Walker a brewer from Gravesend, a partner in that town’s Wellington Brewery. The Walker family actually owned the Wellington Brewery at this time, suggesting they were more than artisans.

In 1900 the Geeston Tap was kept by Lionel Barfield, who was also shown in the period 1922-1932 as a beer retailer.

According to the local history guide, the brewery closed when Claud Walker went off to war. However, it was listed until as late as 1933 (Coopers Directory). There was a Mr Charles William Walker from Burwash in Sussex at Papillon Hall from about 1884 to 1903, which if he was related to Claud Walker, might explain the connection with the Godfrey Keppel Papillon who owned the King’s Cliffe Brewery.

In 1941 the Brewery Tap pub was run by a Sydney Jas Smith, but with no connection to the Oundle family.

The pub closed in 1970, but some of the buildings are still standing as housing.