This is named after Adam’s elm, a magnificent tree which stood for many years between what is now Station Road and Cranleigh Drive. The elm gave its name to the farm and the nearby area. The farmland was sold for development in the 1860s, and the farmhouse became the Elms Hotel in the 1930s.
Text about Adam’s elm.
The text reads: Adam’s elm, a magnificent tree, stood for many years between what are now Station Road and the area nearby.
It was 30 feet in circumference and hollow. Kegs of brandy were left in it by Leigh smugglers for collection by their overland counterparts.
In 1780 the farm was sold to William Webb. In 1861 it was purchased by Lawrence Davies, but he was bankrupted when farming slumped and the land was then sold for building.
On Michaelmas Day, 29 September 1880, Davies left a nine page manuscript, sealed in a bottle, in the rafters of the farmhouse. The bottle was found in the 1930s when the farmhouse was being converted into the Elms Hotel.
The letter told of the agricultural depression, how the work was slavery, and how in twenty years Davies had not made a shilling profit.
In 1980 a new landlord tried to alter the name from The Elms to the Hadleigh Fourpenny, wrongly believing that this horse-drawn service had been connected with his inn. Locals soon put him right.
The name Adam Elm was given to the old people’s home built on the site of Howards Dairy.
Photographs of the garden, The Elms c1930.
Photographs of the off sales section, Steam Brewery Delivery and staff at The Elms, 1943.
Photographs of the new lounge, c1937.
Photographs of The Elms, c1908.
External photograph of the building – main entrance.
If you have information on the history of this pub, then we’d like you to share it with us. Please e-mail all information to: pubhistories@jdwetherspoon.co.uk