Another inn worthy of mention here is the Fighting Cocks. Here this once fashionable but cruel sport used to be practised, until it was made illegal by Act of Parliament, in 1849, and it is said to have been clandestinely continued for some time longer, although a penalty of £5 was imposed. An old man working on the premises in 1902 could remember the last fight. The "pit" was in the present garden, at the rear of the inn yard.
In the Fighting Cocks yard were formerly the kennels of the South Wold hounds, and the writer can well remember going frequently, as a boy, while he attended the Grammar School, to see them fed, as well as occasionally being mounted by the whips on one of the horses of the hunt, when, after the hunting season, they went out for exercise. Mr. "Jack" Musters, the whilom rival of Byron for the hand of Miss Chaworth, was at that time Master.
In the yard of this inn there still remain two large scythe blades affixed to the wall of an outhouse. The history of these is that they were formerly on the front of the inn, facing the street, because was annually held, on August 21st, what was called the Scythe Fair, when the county blacksmiths gathered to purchase scythes, to supply the Irish, and other reapers, for the coming harvest. This was discontinued when the machinery for reaping came into use.
The Three Maids' Inn was situated in the High Street, on part of the site now occupied by the Corn Exchange, and was demolished when that building was erected. A small inn, on the east side of North Street, now called the Cricketer's Arms, was formerly named the Tom Cat, because here was sold the strong old gin of the well-known distillers, Swagne and Borde, whose trademark was a cat. Hence gin took its name of "Old Tom." There is still the figure of a cat engraven on the front window, with the words "Unrivalled Tom" beneath it.
Opposite the Bull, the leading hotel in the town, replete with all modern requirements, stands the King's Head, an old "public," still remarkable for its low thatched roof; the reason for which is said to be, that by the forms of the will of a former owner, it was bequeathed to his successor, with the condition attached, that it should continue to be thatched: a condition which the advance of civilization may, in a few years' time, make it difficult to fulfil.
And here we may make the concluding remark that 100 years ago most of the houses in Horncastie were thatched. It is on record (Overton MS.) that the first slated house in the town was built for a Mr. Storr, a gardener, in what is now the back passage from the Bow Bridge to the Wong, near the Baptist Chapel. This was afterwards occupied (1790-1800) by Mrs. L'Oste, widow of a former Rector of Langton. The next house to be slated was that of Mr. Titus Overton, lately the residence of Mr. John Overton, Grocer.
