The first record of the Roebuck, as an alehouse, is in 1691 (although the core buildings date back from the early 1500’s – the exact date is uncertain) when a lease was granted to the first landlord, William Eames (Emmens), by Sir William Lytton, an endorsement to the lease in 1693 states that Sir Lytton had just erected new buildings adjoining the premises and that they had been duly glazed, for which additional rent was required. By 1770 it was known as the ‘Broadwater’ when it was described as a messuage (a dwelling or homestead), now used as an inn. Included in the lease of the property were 19.25 acres of land, which included 2 gardens and five tiny fields to the south of the buildings.
There is evidence to suggest that Dick Turpin hid here in 1738, using his mother’s name of Palmer, prior to his final flight to Yorkshire.
In the cellars there were two tunnels, one from under the Gun Room Bar running under the Hertford Road to the Old Smithy, and the other from the Roebuck Bar running under the London Road to the Farmhouse (now flats). The origin of these tunnels is uncertain, but the locals tend to believe that they were used by Dick Turpin, other highwaymen and villains as escape routes. Obviously these tunnels are now blocked off, and there is nothing to see.
It wasn’t until 1790 that the inn became known as the Roebuck, when the landlord was a local yeoman, Henry Chalkley of Broadwater.
A common misconception is that the Roebuck used to be a Coaching Inn, this never was the case. All the Coaching Inns were in, what is now, Stevenage Old Town.
A surveyors report for the Knebworth Estate in 1874 described the Roebuck as ‘an old fashioned roadside public house, containing bar, tap, parlour, kitchen, 6 chambers and attic, with stabling buildings, cow house, skittle alley and wood barn.’
Before its receiving a full license in 1919 and its acquisition by Home Counties Post House Trust (forerunner to Trust Houses) in February 1929, it was a moderately large wayside alehouse.