Introduction and Early History

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The Free Trade Inn is one of Sileby's most iconic buildings. Its wooden beams and thatched roof evoke a traditional charm, reminding its viewers of old coaching inns and rosy cheeked yokels supping ale and gossiping around an open fire. It is that image with which a building of this age exudes, and exhibits history at every turn.

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However, the image is not totally borne out by the facts! In the grand scheme of things, the Free Trade Inn isn't even the longest established pub still trading in Sileby. That accolade must go the Horse and Trumpet. It was never a coaching inn either. Nonetheless, the pub is one of the oldest standing buildings in Sileby. And, for all the other inventions of pub 'olde world' charm, all fake and contrived, this building at least is genuine through and through.

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The building that makes up The Free Trade Inn is an former peasant house/farm that has been converted for the purpose of an inn. Depending on which expert that you read, this timber framed building has been dated anywhere from the medieval period (Webster, Pevsner 2003) to the late 16th or early 17th century (Listed Building Register). It is a Grade II listed building. Whatever the exact construction dates are, the historical picture is more straight forward. The deeds survive and date back to 1699. They form a number of marriage settlements showing the continuation of property ownership through the King family of Sileby. The Kings are recorded in the 16th century as occupying a large landed estate in the village and held the important position of manorial bailiff in the early 17th century. Their prospects continued to rise and by the mid 18th century Thomas King had made his fortune as a mercer in London. The beginning of the 19th century saw their Sileby possessions as just one part of their extensive family estates; the main family branch had not lived in the village for some time.

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In 1809 the Cossington Road building and its sizeable plot came up for sale and was purchased by William Palmer of Loughborough for £327. Although Thomas Ferryman was recorded as Palmer's tenant from 1818 according to land tax returns, it wasn't until the Beerhouse Act of 1830 that Ferryman was to start his beer retailing business. By the time Thomas had established his business part of the former plot had already been divided and sold off. The northerly part accommodated Palmer's beerhouse property and close. The southern part had been sold off to the trustees of Sileby's Baptist congregation in 1827. 

 

Ferryman was documented as the publican in the 1841 census, and he was living there with his elderly mother Ann at that time. He later married Mary Dakin of Sileby in 1842 and together the couple ran the business until Thomas's death in 1864. Thomas had managed the business impeccably. His reputation held sway when in 1850 he was admonished by the local magistrates after being caught opening after hours, but the fine was reduced due to his previous twenty years of good conduct and behaviour.

 

What's in a Name!

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The Free Trade Inn name appears in records after 1846. This is significant as it was the period when the issue of Free Trade was of paramount importance for British industry and exports. In essence, up until the 1820s Britain had laws and tariffs to aid and protect domestic agricultural and industrial production and prices, but this inhibited foreign trade. After 1820, Britain's primacy, industriousness and its empire enabled it to take a unilateral decision to get rid of these protections. This allowed it to tap into foreign markets in a more effective way and widened British influence in the process. Under the stewardship of Prime minister Sir Robert Peel, by 1850 all major restrictions had been eliminated including the controversial Corn Laws in 1846. The policy would endure up until the First World War.