History

The first evidence of a building on this site is recorded in 1803 although it was probably not being used as a pub. In the census of 1841, in the Hazeleigh section, under the entry of “Oak”, it shows Samuel Carter 35, married to Emma, aged 30. Occupation - “beer shop keeper”.
On 31st October 1843, John Pitcairn, well known brewer of Maldon, came to the court and produced a document showing he had bought the property for £104.
    County directories between 1850 and 1855 show the occupier of “The Oak” as William Sandford, the building still being classed as a beerhouse. By 1861 “The Oak” had achieved public house status as shown in the 1861 census, Robert Brazier being shown as the publican.
    John Pitcairn, the owner, owned the Maldon brewery which Grays took over. He used mortgages to advance his business interests and on the 25th June 1873 he raised £100 from the Maldon Permanent Building Society using “The Oak” as security. The directory for 1874 shows Charles Hammond as the landlord.
    The census of 1881 shows the publican to be Pettett Johnson and directories of 1882 and 1886 show him sill occupying the inn and he was probably still there when John Pitcairn died in
1888. In order to provide an annuity for his daughter Ann, the trustees of John Pitcairn sold three
premises to Walter Gray for the sum of £950. The Royal Oak “used as an Inn or Public House
and the garden and enclosure of pasture land belonging thereto and situated in the Parish of
Hazeleigh” being one of them.
Records of the Manor of Great and Little Maldon shows that at the court of 27th November 1890, Walter Gray was admitted as tenant of “The Oak”.He was in court later the same year to pay £55 for the enfranchisement of the property, thus freeing him from any further payment under the “copyhold” system of manorial tenure. Records show that by 1894 Grays’ tenant at “The Oak” was Charles Everitt.
The deed of 18th March 1897, which is found with all Grays’ properties, giving Walter Gray’s Sons the option of carrying on the business as a going concern, lists all the properties in a long schedule. One of them is:
    “8. The messuage called “The Royal Oak” and now used as an Inn or Public House and the
garden and enclosure of pasture land belonging there to and situate in the Parish of Hazeleigh
in Essex as the said premises are now in the occupation of Charles Everitt”