Joe Haywood and his pet fox

Today's tale from Watnall Hall is about Joe Haywood, pictured here with his pet fox.

Joe had bravely saved the life of Colonel Rolleston in 1900 in South Africa during the Boer War and as his reward the Colonel made him permanent landlord of the Queens Head in Watnall.

So what sort of a man was he? Always good at sports of all kinds, being an expert rider, a good shot and keen on boxing, football and cricket, he also had a great sense of fun. His father William was licensee of the "Portland Arms" in Hucknall. Joe married in 1901, after his return from South Africa, and together with his wife Clara (whose family owned the "Chequers Inn" in Hucknall) raised a brood of five children and ran the pub successfully for almost forty years, after they moved in, in about 1903.

According to his surviving daughter, Mrs Alice Saxton, “he was very fond of the miners, he said they were the ‘salt of the earth’. There were none of the amenities for them which miners enjoy today. They would walk to Watnall Pit for their money on Friday's, calling at the "Queen's Head" for a drink ‘en strap' and calling on their way back to pay their debts.” It is no wonder then his pub became famous for miles around with such a landlord in charge.

Astonishingly, when one thinks of the love of hunting his landlord, Colonel Rolleston, possessed, Joe Haywood kept a pet fox as can be seen in the picture.

He retired in about 1936 and he and his wife moved into a newly built retirement house on Watnall Corner which they called "Park House" as it faced the park of Watnall Hall. The new pub landlord appears to have been a Mr. W.H. Cowlishaw. He is recorded as being there by 1941 anyway. As for Joe Haywood, after a happy retirement, during which - so it is said - he never set foot in the Queen's Head again, preferring to walk down to the Royal Oak, he died at Park House in January 1951.

Pictures - Joe and his pet Fox in garden of Queens Head c.1920; Trooper Haywood of the South Notts Yeomanry; Queens Head c. 1903.

From Watnall Hall and the Rollestons by RA Horton 2000