The Elders was a beer house during the mid-1800s just a few yards south of The Anchor (now a residential care home) on Loughborough Road, opposite the Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor Museum.
The first reference to this pub (that we know of) is in the 1841 census when Mary Spencer, aged 70, is living there, and her occupation is described as a beerseller. Also living there are Richard Spencer, a gardener and Harriet Hackney and her three children, William, Richard and Thomas
There are two houses in the yard behind the pub, which is called The Black Horse Yard. We can therefore assume that at this time the pub was called The Black Horse.
There is no reference to The Black Horse in Pigot’s directories of 1828,1835 and 1841 but this maybe because it was a ‘beerhouse’ rather than an inn.
In the 1851 census Doughty Spencer is living there with his wife Eliza and son William. His occupation is described as a beer retailer. The yard behind the pub is now called Spencers Yard.
In 1854 the following story appeared in The Leicestershire Mercury on Saturday 9 December 1854:
“A Powerful Blast at Mountsorrel Quarry.”
“Last week a stone, weighing nearly a quarter of a hundredweight (approx 12.7kg), was forced by the explosion of one of the blasts from the Rabbit-hole quarry, Mountsorrel Hills, over the town-street, bursting its way through the front door of Mr. Doughty Spencer, Black Horse Inn. After the stone fell in the house it rebounded, and did some slight damage to some of the house furniture. It was rather an unwelcome visitor to Mr. and Mrs. Spencer as they sat at breakfast.”
In the 1861 and 1871 census Doughty Spencer still lived at the Elders but his occupation is described as a grazier
In 1891 Richard Hackney (previously noted in 1841 census as a child) appears to have returned to the Elders with his family, and the yard is now called Hackneys Yard.
So “The Black Horse” was in existence in 1841, possibly earlier, but stopped being a pub sometime between 1854 and 1861. Although the house was called The Elders, it appears that the pub was always called the Black Horse.
Some years ago (from now – 2014) the embossed signage on the house was still on its front (see photographs above) but that has now been removed (see more recent photograph below). The modern photo also gives a glimpse of the yard (Black Horse Yard/ Spencers Yard/ Hackneys Yard) and two houses built there.
