Last updated: August 2026
The Black Lion has been here a very long time, and six centuries leaves behind a lot of stories. This page explains how we've put our History page together, and where the material comes from.
Our history has been pieced together from a mix of sources: digitised newspaper archives, historical licensing records, local stories and anecdotes passed down over the years, and research gathered over time by people who care about this building. Some of it is well documented. Some of it survives only through old photographs, family memories, or stories that have simply become part of how people talk about the pub.
Where something is well evidenced, we say so plainly. Where it isn't, we've tried to be honest about that in how we tell the story, rather than smoothing it over. You'll notice wording like "records suggest," "contemporary reports tell us," "one account suggests" or "local stories tell" scattered through the History page. That's deliberate. It's our way of showing you how confident we actually are in any given detail, without turning the page into a footnoted research paper.
Occasionally, our own records disagree with each other, or a name is spelled differently across different sources. Rather than quietly picking one version and presenting it as fact, we'd rather leave the uncertainty visible. Sometimes that uncertainty is the most interesting part of the story.
A good deal of our nineteenth and early twentieth century research comes from digitised regional newspaper archives, including titles such as the Essex Newsman and the Essex Herald, alongside licensing records from the Dunmow Petty Sessions. These give us genuinely reliable detail: licence transfers, court reports, and the odd small news item that happened to mention the pub by name.
Where we quote or rely on a specific report, we keep the original reference on file, even where we haven't printed the full citation on the History page itself, to keep that page readable rather than academic. If you'd like a specific source for something you've read there, just get in touch and we'll happily share what we have.
Some of what's on the History page - including a couple of our favourite stories - is local tradition rather than documented fact. We've labelled these clearly as stories or folklore. We include them because they've become part of how the Black Lion is remembered, not because we're presenting them as proven history.
This page, and our History page, will keep changing as we find out more. Some names and dates are still being checked against original sources. A couple of small mysteries - including two landlords who may or may not be the same person, many years apart - are still genuinely unresolved, and we've chosen to leave them that way rather than guess.
If you know something we've missed, or have an old photograph, document or family story connected to The Black Lion, we'd love to hear from you. The best history is the history that keeps being added to.
Newspaper archives
Essex Newsman, Essex Herald, and other regional titles from the same period, accessed via digitised newspaper archives.
Historical & licensing records
Records from the Dunmow Petty Sessions, including licence transfers and court reports naming specific landlords. We're adding to this list as individual records are confirmed.
Local stories & traditions
A handful of stories on our History page, including the tale of a Roundhead officer said to haunt the hay loft and stories of coins found within the walls, are local tradition rather than documented fact. We've labelled these clearly as folklore on the page itself.
If you have a question about a specific detail on our History page, or want to share something with us, please get in touch.
