Inn Keeper in Cupar

[Ian Turner]

I have a relative by name of William Lawson, who at the birth of his son (16 Jun 1797) was listed as an Inn Keeper in Cupar, Fife. Cupar is not a massive place and so I thought it may be possible to track down the public house that he was running. This building may or may not be still in existence. Presumably as a inn keeper he was registered somewhere for licensing purposes etc.

I dont know where to start - any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks

Ian

[kiwi magic]

Hi Ian,

Have you tried looking up the Scotlands People search site? I have found it very useful in tracing my ancestors.

Good Luck with it all.

Wendy.

[Lesley Robertson]

I have a relative by name of William Lawson, who at the birth of his son (16 Jun 1797) was listed as an Inn Keeper in Cupar, Fife. Cupar is not a massive place and so I thought it may be possible to track down the public house that he was running. This building may or may not be still in existence. Presumably as a inn keeper he was registered somewhere for licensing purposes etc.

I dont know where to start - any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks

Ian

I think that it depends how big the Inn was. The Berwickshire house that started me on my 1-place study is shown on the 1st edition OS maps as an Inn, but it was never more than the front room being used for sales of beer to the locals. Cupar's a bigger place, so they were possibly bigger.

Pigot's Directory (1820s) only shows 2 "Hotel and Inn"s in Cupar - Alexander MacNab owned the Tontine, address St Catherines. Samuel Player owned the Blue Bell on South Bridge. Since Cupar was an important centre for commerce, markets and fairs at this time, I suspect that this doesn't covert all the "drinking dens" and minor establishments. It would probably be worth your taking a look at the Statistical Account for Cupar (have a look at my sticky post on where people lived on the General Scottish sectin).

Lesley