c1906 image

Recorded in East & West Flegg Register taken 17th November 1789.

In an Auction to be held Wednesday 6th December 1820, of 10 Lots, this house was Lot 10. One of six Independent Inns and Ale-Houses in the sale.
Then in the occupation of John Rope.

On 11th July 1846, Mr. M. Smith, of Providence Place, Diss, purveyor of celebrated Botanical Medicines, quoted the case of Mrs. Roll, wife of Daniel Roll, of the Kings Arms, Caister. Having suffered a long time of cancer of the breast, she had not derived any benefit from the medical gentlemen of Lowestoft, whose only solution was amputation of her breast and to that she could not consent. As a last resource she had applied to Mr. Smith, under whose care she found immediate relief, and after two months a perfect cure was effected. Five years having elapsed, there were no further symptoms of the disease.
(Mr. Smith also had a collection, upwards of 1300 pieces, of bones from every part of the human body, which had been painlessly removed and were available for public inspection.)

On the night of Saturday 22nd September 1855 a number of harvest labourers attended the Kings Arms to celebrate. They remained drinking in the house until midnight, when it closed. In the open air, many were drunk and a fight was the consequence, but they were dispersed by a constable. One man, Joseph Underwood, remained and was inclined to fight anybody. Robert Green an unfortunate passer-by was felled by a blow, as a butcher might an ox, and died. Underwood could only say that he had drunk twenty pints of beer in honour of the harvest home.

Rebuilt by S&P c1935/6 at a cost of £5,410

Damaged by enemy action during WWII - exact date to be determined.