The Chequers was probably built at the very end of the eighteenth century, when the village was really beginning to expand. Before that there was probably little need for an alehouse as many people brewed their own beer and sometimes sold it as well. There was probably little demand for a coaching inn either as there were other hostelries in the nearby towns. However by the early nineteenth century The Chequers was beginning to be an important meeting place for villagers and people from a wider area. The Association for the Prosecution of Horse Stealers met there at least three times in the first decade of the nineteenth century, its members including three local farmers and interested parties from neighbouring villages. In 1811 there was a Lamb Show outside the Chequers, presumably one of several, at which 50 or 60 score (1,000 or 1,200) lambs and sheep were to be offered for sate. Dinner was served in the Inn at 2 o'clock and the publican was William Scarlett. Another publican, William Sharman, was innkeeper for several decades. There is no record of any other inn in the village.