Dysart Arms
pub in Richmond, London, UK
The Dysart Arms is a former public house in Petersham, London. It is now a restaurant, The Dysart.
Current building
The current building is in the Arts and Crafts style, and dates from 1904. The oak bar is not original to the pub, but had been bought in the 1850s from a decommissioned Napoleonic era warship.
Etymology
The name refers to the arms of the Earls of Dysart, who held Ham House and the surrounding manors of Ham and Petersham for over three centuries, from their acquisition through close association with Charles I in the mid-17th century until the estate, including the Dysart Arms, was disposed of after World War II.
History
The original building on the site was formerly a farmhouse dating from the second half of the 17th century. Previously known as the Plough and Harrow, unsubstantiated claims say that the name change was paid for by the Countess of Dysart in the 1830s. The building was demolished in 1902.
In 1836, Charles Dickens, a regular visitor to Petersham along with his friend John Forster, stayed there, probably at the Dysart Arms.
It is mentioned in the 1894 edition of Baedeker's London and Its Environs: Handbook for Travellers.
References
External links
"'The Dysart Arms', Petersham".
“Dysart Arms” enters the record as pub in Richmond, London, UK. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dysart, Arms and Richmond can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Dysart Arms” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dysart, Arms and Richmond provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20876099. Authority coordinates are 51.447, -0.300. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904, 1902, 1836 and 1894.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dysart Arms”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dysart Arms primary sources, Dysart Arms archive and Dysart research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dysart Arms”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dysart Arms” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.