The Chequers

The earliest entries in the Belvoir Vale parishes show that a Cicely Welborne was born about 1587 at
Belvoir, there was also a Cicely Welborne who married at Woolsthorpe in 1608: old wills indicate that a
John Welbourne, Yeoman of the parish of Belvoir who had died in 1606, had been married to Agnes who
wrote her will in 1607. They had a daughter, another Cicely.

A yeoman was an owner of his own land, but there is no proof of a relationship between this family and
the owners of the Chequers. The earliest known member of the Chequers families was Edward
Welbourne who was baptised around 1638 and who married Frances in 1663, they had a son, Thomas,
who was to be the first Licencee in 1698 changing Chequers Farm to The Chequers Inn.

The following families who lived and worked at the Chequers is headed by the named Licencee. Unless
stated they were born, married and died in Woolsthorpe and were buried in the Old Cemetery.

THOMAS WELBORN was baptised on 22nd February 1664 at Barrowby in Lincolnshire

He married ANN in 1693 at St.James the Woolsthorpe Parish Church, they went on to have nine
children who were all baptised at St.James

The Quarter Session Records Kesteven 1678-1827 -

Thomas Welborn was registered to sell ale in Woolsthorpe in 1698.

THOMAS WELBORN (son of above) was baptised 13th February 1697

He married FRANCES SANSOME in 1728 and they had five children

The Wood behind the Chequers is named Fanny's Wood, perhaps after Frances

THOMAS WELBOURNE (son of above) was baptised on 15th January 1729

He married MARY TWELCH on 22nd February 1758 and they had seven children

Articles surviving from the family show they were not poor.

MARY WELBORN ( nee TWELCH) Widow, was baptised 25th June 1732 and died 3rd March 1816

The Twelch family lived locally at Woolsthorpe.

FRANCES WELBORN (daughter of the above) baptised 11th September 1759 and died 9th May 1830

Records show Frances was Victualler at the Chequers from 1808 until her death - she remained
unmarried.

Frances left everything by administration papers to her nearest kin, her sister Ann. Ann was married
and living at Long Clawson, so Thomas her unmarried son was asked to run the Chequers.

THOMAS WRIGHT (nephew to Frances) was born 15th April 1806 at Hose Grange

and he died 10th December 1852

He married SARAH NOUTCH on 4th December 1832

He was the named Victualler in 1830 upon the death of his aunt Frances above.

There are many family stories about Thomas Wright who married his house-keeper and was disowned
and disinherited by his parents. He had four children, one son died at 7 monthe old. It is believed
that the boys went to university, one, Thomas became an engineer at Rochester and another, John,
became a teacher and owned a private school. Their daughter Sarah Ann helped her mother at the
Chequers. The death of Thomas at the age of 46 was due to "mortification of the leg for six weeks and
an abcess on the perineum, opening into the uretha"

SARAH WRIGHT (nee Noutch) Widow, was born in 1811 at Hougham and died in 1886

Sarah became Inn Keeper on the death of her husband Thomas, above. Family history relates that she
was a strong character, worked hard running the Chequers, educating her children and teaching the
servants to read and write.

A recipe book records the large number of people she catered for in the Tea Room, e.g.

1844 goods bought for 66 people total Ł1. 1s. 9d - July, Tea 1845 for 144 goods Ł4. 2s. 3d. charged
10d each.

Daughter SARAH ANN, at the age of eighteen married a distant Welborn cousin WILLIAM
WELBORN who was at that time a butcher living next door, and they stayed on at the Chequers.

WILLIAM WELBORN (son in law of Sarah Wright) baptised 7th July 1833 and died 1875

He married to SARAH ANN WRIGHT and they had seven children.

Four children died - twins at the age of six months and four years, a baby of one month and a daughter of
six years.

SARAH ANN WELBORN (nee Wright) Widow baptised December 1841 and died 1905

She was the Licensee on the death of her husband William (above) in 1875 until her second marriage to
John Wood in 1879

JOHN WOOD was born 1850 at Braceby and died 1st December 1883

John was the son of a local farmer at Braceby and trained as a cabinet-maker at Grantham. After his
marriage he became Licensed Victualler. John and Sarah had one daughter Ethel Wood, John died of
TB at the age of 33 after four years of marriage.

SARAH ANN WOOD (nee Wright) widow of John Wood

Sarah Ann again became the Licensed Inn Keeper, and bought up three girls and one boy from her two
marriages. Sarah Ann continued to provide food for the parties in the Tea Room, the recipe book
states for Queen Victoria's Woolsthorpe Jubilee Treat "I provided for 348 persons for meat tea at 1/-
per head". The older generation of locals gathered for a drinks in the snuggery until Sarah Ann died in
1905 when The Chequers was sold out of the family to a bewery.

The Chequers 18th century stone farm-house still stands. Old photographs show a stone wing was removed and the brick
extension added. It is not known when the Tea Room was added, but an old recipe book records ingredients for a Tea
Party for 144 in July 1845. The Tea Room was extended again in width in the 1950's when the parquet floor was put down,
and up until the 1970's the Chequers was famous for its dances.

Verbal stories imply that the families in the eighteenth century were gentlemen farmers, and that the men in the
nineteenth century toyed with the farm and enjoyed country life including cricket on the adjacent field whilst the women
worked hard, educating large families, and making money from the Tea Room and selling ale to the older members the
community. Most of the house was used by the large families and servants. The first mention of the cricket pitch in
family papers is 1876. In the 1970's the Chequers was neglected for many years until bought by Mr and Mrs Duval in
1990, they restored the buildings to modern hotel standards and the present owners Mr. and Mrs Potter continued the
restoration to make sure the original character of the farm house gives the perfect background to their philosophy "where
guests can find the harmony of perfection in food, comfort and service." ...........by Elizabeth Roach