William Leaper

William Leaper, Bird-in-Hand Brewery, East Street, Coggeshall, Essex.

A James Sibley Emberson was landlord of the Bird-in-hand public house, also known as The Through Inn, due to the passageway which connected with Church Street, from 1848 to 1853. William Leaper was landlord from 1874 to 1878, in which time he was listed as a brewer.

By 1882, Richard Messen Holmes was not only the brewer but he had added a wine and spirit business to the concern.

In this year Joseph Bird was the Tenant and Manager to Richard Bird Holmes until 1886, when R.B. Holmes sold out to Greene King & Sons Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, who continued brewing for another three years. The premises remain extant as residential property, as does the adjacent house, built in the early 18th Century by the Rice family; this too was an Inn and was known as the "new" Bird-in-Hand. It was from this rather crowded location that the earlier Weaver's processions commenced the forerunner of more recent Carnival processions.

It is not clear as to the significance of the name "Bird" in two people connected with this brewery.

From ESSEX BREWERS - The Malting and Hop Industries of the County by Ian P Peaty 1992 now out of print ISBN 978 1 873966 02 4 .