1841 census

Highworth and Swindon, Wiltshire (Highworth, Cricklade and Staple) >HO107/1178/12

Swindon Street

Anne Brind

15

Wiltshire, England

Wiltshire, England

Female servant

Anne was a servant in the house of publican John Smith, who may have run what is now the Fox or the Malt Shovel, a pub that shut in 1907. Both where in Swindon Street, Highworth.

Anne could have been the daughter of Thomas (blacksmith) and Ann. Alternatively perhaps she was the daughter of Thomas's brother John (mason) and wife Sarah. Both had daughters they called Ann, born at about the same time.

One of the first things that visitors from Swindon see when they arrive in Highworth is The Fox Inn. Those who are tempted to stop and sample the beer and the traditional pub food will find a down-to-earth, modest pub with a ready welcome. The Fox has been dispensing beer since 1840 and it has been Arkell's beer since 1862 after its owners, a banking firm from Faringdon, went bankrupt. It was formerly one of a pair of cottages and stood next to another pub called The Malt Shovel which closed in 1907 and was later a sweet shop, standing on the site of the Fox's car park. As its name suggests, The Fox is a throwback to a time when Highworth was an important centre for hunting and if stories of the old town are to be believed, in its early days it was frequented by the area's best poachers. "At Christmas time one could hear old country songs and very often 'D'ye Ken John Peel' and 'A hunting we will go," recalls a local history. "Yes, they had a great time at The Fox Inn." FROM http://www.swindonweb.com/arkells/fox