Photo above: The Dun Cow, no. 13 Upper Charles, situated on the St Baptist Chapel side between Court A & Court B. The Wolf & Lamb is situated opposite no. 36, between Court N & Court M approx behind the 9 in 203.9.
We can see the Dun Cow was trading June 1832 as a report in the LJ of a constable being assaulted there. References to the Charles Street, Dun Cow are made in 1832 again and 1833 when Joe Simmons was fined for keeping his house open after hours. This was to occur many times this decade.
Sept 1843 The Dun Cow was up for sale still in the occupation of Joe Simmons
The 1849 Directory gives Jarvis Brown as victualler, and his address as Dun Cow yard off Upper Charles Street.
Five years later, on the 12th of August 1854, representations were made to the court authorities by three respectable persons from the neighbourhood of the Dun Cow, who complained of the disorderly conduct carried on during all hours of the night at the houses of ill-fame in the Dun Cow Yard. One of these was kept by Ann Elliott. (see map above).
The ‘house of ill-fame’ kept by Ann Elliot in Dun Cow Yard was raided by the police in 1853 after a robbery of £100 pounds had taken place in Leicester. Bottles of gin, port and cigars were found, but no money. A year later police again searched the rooms of lodger Fanny Smith and owner, Ann Elliot, and found money and gold to the value of £100. Ann Elliot claimed it was her savings and the money was handed back to her as the police could not prove where it had come from.
In 1870, Charles Mortimer was listed as brewer and butcher and keeper of the beer house. He was fined in 1874 for selling in prohibited hours.
In 1880 John Hill, aged 21, stole six empty bottles from the yard of Dun Cow, took them back to landlady, Mrs Dalton, for the return money. As this had happened before the police were informed and two officers secreted themselves in the yard. They caught Hill red handed for which he received two months imprisonment.
In November 1913, John Simpson stole a calf’s head from a cart in the gateway to Dun Cow Yard whilst the cart was left unattended for a few minutes. He tried to sell the calf’s head for 3d, but was apprehended and received fourteen days hard labour.
By the early 1900s, Everards were the owners finally closing the Dun Cow around 1927.