Lisa Chapman (lisachapman01 @t live.co.uk) of Norfolk writes: I am researching my family tree., I found out my great great great grandfather, Joseph Chapman, was the land lord of the Six Bells, Sandon. We can not find any information on the internet about the pub. We know its now a house. I was wondering if you know any information about the history of the Six Bells pub.

There are three books which are the first port of call for such queries:

• Hertfordshire Inns, written in 1962, says that the earliest mention by name was in 1785, when it was brought by Fordham and Flowers of Hertford. It had subsequently been rebuilt and sold Greene King.
• Hertfordshire Inns & Public Houses, written in 1995, says it was burnt down and rebuilt in the 1930s, and closed in 1987 and became a private dwelling.
• Brewers in Hertfordshire, written in 2006, reports that it was a tied house with Pryor's of Baldock in 1853 when it was sold to Simpson's. In 1954 it became a Greene King pub.

The deadpubs website contains details from a number of Kelly's Directories and some census information, the publicans being: Joseph Chapman (1882, 1886, 1890, 1891c); Abraham Pearson (1895); Walter Izzard (1901c, 1902); James L Mayger (1912); James Rene Pope (1922); Alfred John Robinson (1926); Aug Wm Dye (1929); Owen Cannon (1933) and Arth Turner Button (1937).

As it is not mentioned in any of the above it is presumably not listed in the Victuallers Billeting Returns of 1756 (National Archives W.O.  30/49, transcript at HALS) which is the earliest reference for many public houses in the county.

A quick check of earlier Post Office directories shows that Joseph Chapman was a beer retailer (no pub name given) in 1851, and was at the Six Bells in 1866. I noticed that in 1851 a William Chapman was a butcher at Red Hill, Sandon. There may well be documents, such as tithe maps, at HALS, which could allow you to identify earlier references.