Here we see a Watercolour Drawing of Market Place in Lancaster which dates back to 1765 which if you look closely at the centre (second building in) you'll notice the landlord's names above the door which was at the time William Sharp. The building you're looking at is that of the once popular Inn, The Royal Oak

What I find most significant about the Royal Oak, is that after William Sharp was the Landlord and for a short time also John Royle (1772) The Inn was owned and run by three Ladies from the late 18th and early 19th Century.

Jennet Warbrick 1794-1798

Elizabeth Noon 1798-1802

Jane Noon 1803-1839

During a time of prosperity in Lancaster amongst the Golden age which would later be shattered by the War with France, we don't normally see many records of Female's in the Town. I've found Jane Noon to be particularly interesting as Jane would take over the Royal Oak from her Mother Elizabeth after she passed away in 1803. She would go on to use the Inn as a posting house aswell as popular establishment to socialise and drink. As the newspaper clippings say from 1804, Jane has made this Established Inn a poplular place amongst Travellers with spectacular single bedrooms and sitting rooms.

Newspaper clipping from 1804 

The Royal Oak was as prestigious as the King's Arms hotel which already had Stagecoach travel for Mail and Jane would often Advertise her establishment inside the Lancaster Gazette for a place of meeting or auctions to be held. It certainly sounded the place to be amongst local residents and it seems newspapers from as far as London would be delivered via Coach here, where she would later send around the Town to well known places like the Former Merchants coffee house on Market street. Jane would use her inn as a coaching house where stagecoaches would travel as far South as London.

where as most landlords and landlady's of the Royal Oak didn't run the Inn for long, Jane herself would seem quite popular with the locals and run the Royal Oak for around 36 years. The Oak was fitted with stables and a warehouse which ran behind the Inn and carried on in the presence of Edward Braithwaite 1840-1844 Joseph Sly 1851-1856 and finally John Wilson in the 1860s (although still owned by John Sly).

Sadly during these times it had lost much of it's fine service and fell behind the more popular Inn's which were scattered around the Town. The last record official record of the Royal Oak was in 1869 when the building went up for auction and was bought by Robert Mensergh, who had the building demolished and replaced by his new showroom and workshop, Mensergh and son, which lasted into the 1950s