SOME PUBS WITH A STORY TO TELL - Eastern England

The Lincoln Imp

This pub is named after the well known  ‘Lincoln Imp’ which is the symbol of

the City of Lincoln in Lincolnshire.

 

According to legend two imps were sent by Satan to do evil work on earth.  They ended up at Lincoln Cathedral where they smashed tables and chairs and tripped up the Bishop. When an angel intervened, one of the imps threw rocks whilst the other one submitted. The angel then turned the first imp into stone, but gave the second one the chance to escape. It fled to Grimsby and caused further mayhem at St James Church there. The angel reappeared and thrashed its backside before turning it into stone like his friend at Lincoln. The stone imps can be seen at both churches.

 

The Lincoln Imp

 

 © Copyright Julian P Guffogg and licensed for reuse under this
Creative Commons Licence 
To whom I am grateful for the use of his Geograph photograph.

The  Ram  Jam  Inn

 

 

 The  Ram  Jam  Inn is an ancient coaching inn  on the A1 at Stretton in Leicestershire.

Apparently an 18^th century guest at the inn was unable to pay his bill and he offered to show the landlady how to draw two different ales from the same cask as compensation.   He drilled a hole in one side of the barrel and asked the good lady to  ‘ram’ her thumb into the hole to stop the beer coming out.  He then drilled another hole in the other side and invited her to ‘jam’ her other thumb into that hole.   Whilst she was safely  ‘rammed and jammed’, the guest made good his departure!

 

The  George  Hotel

 

Great curiosity is immediately aroused at the sight of a painting hanging in  The George  Hotel,  at Stamford in Lincolnshire, it is that of one Daniel Lambert, who is said to have been England’s fattest man, who often frequented this his favourite pub in the 19^th century.

 

 

 

Daniel Lambert was only 39 years old when he died in 1809 and he was buried in the graveyard of St Martin’s church just opposite the pub at Stamford, where the epitaph on his gravestone reads :

‘ In remembrance of that Prodigy of Nature, Daniel Lambert, a native of Leicester,

who was possessed of an exalted and convivial mind

and in personal greatness had no competitor.

He measured 3ft round the leg, 9ft 4ins round the body and weighed 52 stones 11lbs.

He departed this life on 21^st June 1809 aged 39 years.

As a testimony of Respect this stone is erected by his friends in Leicester.’

Lambert was the keeper of Leicester Prison.   Apparently he was very fond of a wager and often boasted that he could beat any fit man in a race, provided he had the right to choose the course.  The course he always chose was a long narrow passage!

 

The  Beehive  Inn

 

Apart from a chat about Grantham’s famous daughter, the one and only Margaret Thatcher,  you can enjoy real honey for tea when you visit  The  Beehive  Inn  in Castlegate at Grantham in Lincolnshire; for it has a unique ‘living sign’  -  a beehive.  Since 1830, the beehive has hung in a tree outside the pub and the bees have produced an average of 30lbs of honey every year.  A sign on the pub reads :

‘ Stop traveller this wondrous sign to explore

and say when thou hast view’d it o’er and o’er.

Grantham now two rarities are thine,

A lofty steeple and a living sign.’

The lofty steeple is that of St Wulfram's church, 272ft high, at the end of the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Open Gate Inn

 

The Open Gate Inn is an ancient hostelry on the A1028 at Ulceby near Alford in Lincolnshire.  White gates hung on the façade tell us

 

“ THE GATE HANGS WELL AND HINDERS NONE REFRESH AND PAY AND TRAVEL ON.”   and   “ CALL AT THE GATE TO TASTE THE TAP DRINK AND BE MERRY BUT KEEP OFF THE STRAP.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  Bull  and  Dog  Inn

 

The Bull and Dog Inn in Southgate, Sleaford in Lincolnshire reminds us of the cruel ‘sport’ of Bull Baiting which was prevalent in former times.   A fine old plaque on the pub wall, dated 1689, depicts a bull being baited by a dog.   The bull would have been tethered to a metal ring, either in the ground or on a wall and would have been baited by a bulldog, one of the oldest breeds of British dog.    This activity was banned by law in 1849 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

 

 

 

 

 

The  Lea  Gate  Inn

 

The  Lea  Gate  Inn, an ancient hostelry at Conningsby in the Lincolnshire Fens, recalls a former tollgate here where it was once very important that travellers kept to the turnpike road in the days before the fens were drained.  An old iron bracket on the corner of the building was where a beacon light shone at night to guide those travellers.   The Inn is  thought to be the last surviving guide house in the Fens.

 

 

 

 

 

The  Abbey  Hotel

 

The fascinating little town of Crowland in the South Lincolnshire Fens, was once an island in the previously inhospitable fens.  After perhaps visiting historic Croyland Abbey there, your quiet drink at  The Abbey Hotel , may well be disturbed by the sound of someone dragging their feet across an upstairs room.   ‘That’ll be old Henry’ the landlord will tell you.   Apparently Abbey regular, Henry Girdlestone, a local farmer in 1844, walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours to break some sort of record.  The story goes that he actually took 1,176 hours to walk 1,025 miles and a bit.  No wonder his ghost drags its feet!

Prior to the drainage of the Fens, the main streets of this town were in fact waterways of the River Welland with the buildings standing on various banks.    The unique ‘Triangular Bridge’ was built of Ancaster limestone between 1360 and 1390 and replaced a wooden construction.  It has three arches but one over arching structure, a 3 in 1 bridge built to facilitate the crossing of the waters of the divided River Welland.   As the river now completely by-passes the town, this strange bridge  stands on dry land in the town centre and is said to be the greatest curiosity in Britain, if not in Europe.    A lone stone figure which adorns the bridge is thought to have been moved from the west front of Croyland Abbey.

 

 

 

The  Haycock  Hotel

 

The village of Wansford,  situated on the River Nene in Cambridgshire at the junction of the A1 and the A47, is a very pretty village with stone built houses and a very fine stone arched bridge crossing the river.   The Haycock Hotel  is a lovely old coaching hostelry and its colourful signboard tells a very interesting story….  Passers-by on the bridge one morning were most surprised to see a local rustic floating on the water underneath on a hay- cock.  Apparently he had been sleeping on the hay during which time it had been swept away by a sudden flood.  “ Where am I?” he shouted, not knowing how long he had been asleep or how far he had travelled on the hay-cock.  When told that he was at Wansford the rustic said, “ What, Wansford in England?”  The village has been known as ‘Wansford in England’ ever since.

 

 

 

Wansworth Bridge

 

 

 

The  Ferry  Boat  Inn

 

One of the claimants to being the oldest inn in England,  The Ferry Boat Inn  stands, thatch- roofed and proud, on the banks of the Great Ouse at Holywell near St Ives in Cambridgeshire.  Be prepared for a shock when you enter the bar for there is a  gravestone set into the floor!

The story goes that more than 1,000 years ago, local girl Juliet Tewsley was spurned by one Thomas Roul,  with whom she was smitten.  The girl is said to have hanged herself near to the inn and, as a suicide was denied burial in consecrated ground, so she sleeps under the gravestone inside the inn.   It is not clear why the grave should be inside but presumably the inn was built over the grave site.  It is claimed that on the anniversary of her death, 17^th March, she walks in search of her lost love.   A good time to capture the spirit of over a thousand years!

 Juliet's gravestone

 

 

 

 

The  Caxton  Gibbet  Inn

 

If ever a pub should be haunted then  The Caxton  Gibbet  Inn  an old coaching inn alongside the road between Royston and Huntingdon at Caxton in Cambridgeshire, would be the one.   You will have noticed the old  gibbet  standing starkly outside and you will soon learn that it was last used to hang the son of a previous landlord of the inn.   Apparently he murdered three guests at the inn and hid their bodies in a well under the stairs.   Maybe not the place to spend the night!

 

 

 

 

 

The  Swan  Inn

 

Although The Swan Inn at Hoxne in Suffolk has been a pub since the early 17^th century, it was originally  The Bishop’s Guest House.   From Norman times the Bishops of  Norwich had a palace in this small village, although there is no trace of the building today.   We are told that when the Guest House was built, the upstairs was divided into three ‘apartments’ each with its own staircase!   Local gossip has it that all the ‘guests’ were female and this was a place where the clergy could find a little relaxation in female company.

 

 

 

 

 

 The Swan Inn

 

Phpotograph © Copyright Duncan Grey and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

 

To whom I am grateful for the use of his Geograph photograph.

 

 

SOME PUBS WITH A STORY TO TELL - West Yorkshire 2

 

The Royal Hotel

 

This fine building in Upper Washer Lane, Halifax, was once the home of John Edward Wainhouse, the owner of a nearby dyeworks, and is situated on the steep side of the Calder Valley.   A huge tower, 253 feet tall, dominates the scene.    This amazing construction was apparently built as a chimney to disperse smoke from the dyeworks belonging to Wainhouse back in the late 19^th century.   The strange thing was that the dyeworks were down in the valley whilst the chimney was high on the hilltop above, and it was intended that the two would be connected by a flue.   For some reason the connection was never made and the chimney actually ended up as a rather ornate tower.    The brick built chimney was in fact encased in stone and an internal spiral staircase of 400 steps lead up to a very ornamental observation tower on top.  Offering spectacular views over the town and the surrounding countryside, the tower is only occasionally open to the public.

So why did Wainhouse spend £15,000 to build such an ornate chimney?  One can speculate but local legend has it that ‘Spite  Tower’, as it was called locally, was never intended to be a chimney in the first place, but that Wainhouse had it built as the result of a feud with his neighbours, the Edwards family.    It is said that the Edwards’ suspected Wainhouse of being a peeping tom and erected a huge wall between their properties.   The tower of course gave Wainhouse back his view over his neighbours property 

Spite Tower

 

 

The Lord Rodney

 

The Lord Rodney is an ancient pub situated in the centre of Keighley in West Yorkshire alongside the parish church. Now much modernised from its hey day in the 19^th century. We are reminded that pub regular, entrepreneur James Leach was a larger than life figure in Keighley in the 19^th century.  He was known as ‘Pie’ because of his one time meat pie business, but he also ventured into other trades such as handloom weaver, wool comber, coal pit sinker, beer house keeper, spoon maker, horse & cart driver, gambler, hawker, travelling showman, docker, green-grocer, nightwatchman/ policeman.  He also became very much involved in local organisations and public offices.  Pie got married on a particular afternoon only because he had time on his hands when his loom broke down.  Unfortunately he arrived late at the church and fearing that the ceremony would have to be postponed because it could not be held within the permitted hours, Pie persuaded a friend to climb the church tower to alter the clock in order to mislead the parson.  Then, when a ring was unavailable for the bride’s finger, he enlisted the help of the landlady at the  Lord Rodney  and she loaned her own wedding ring.

Apparently Pie was a little more organised when it came to making his funeral arrangements, making elaborate arrangements.  He erected a fine tombstone in Keighley Cemetery some six years before his death and had it engraved with a testimonial and details of his public service:

 

‘We the undersigned have pleasure in certifying that the bearer JAMES LEACH is of sober and steady habits. He has been employed in the Keighley Police Force for upwards of 5 years and retired therefrom last October having been so long in the Force  and accustomed to the duties of a Police Officer, we have confidence in recommending him to your notice. We are yours obediently

William Busfield Rector. John Craven JP. Jno Brigg JP. John Sugden JP. James Kershaw Superintendent of Police. July 29^th 1854.’

Mr James Leach was a representative of the Ratepayers as follows:

He was elected a member of Keighley Local Board and served about 12 years. He was elected a member of Keighley Board of Guardians and served 7 years. He was elected a member of the Keighley School Board and served 2 years. He was elected a member of the Keighley Burial Board and served 3 years. He was a Commissioner of the Baths and Washhouses for 7 years and moved the resolution for the incorporation of the town officially in the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the old Local Board of Health.

The burial chamber was also excavated and, as Pie had nowhere to keep his prepared coffin, he obtained permission from the Burial Board to store the empty coffin in the grave until needed!  Suffice to say that Pie was successfully laid to rest, as planned, on 13^th October 1893 aged 78 years.

 

He kept a diary of his duties as Police nightwatchman (1848-1853) which is preserved in Keighley Public Library.

 

The Reservoir Tavern

 

A gravestone in Utley Cemetery at Keighley in West Yorkshire tells us that it is in memory of :

‘Christopher Ingham landlord of the Reservoir Tavern, Keighley,

who died September 1866 in the 80th year of his age.

He was one of the heroes of the Peninsular War having served in the

95^th Regiment of Foot for which he received the silver medal with clasps

for the engagements at Toulouse etc. He also received the

Wellington Medal for Waterloo dated June 15^th 1915.

 

Known as Sharpe’s Grave, because it is thought that Bernard Cornwell used Ingham’s life as the basis for his ‘Sharpe’ novels.     The Reservoir Tavern still exists in West Lane.

 

 

 

The  Old  Silent  Inn

 

A rural pub, The Old Silent is situated just outside the little moors village of Stanbury in West Yorkshire close to the Lancashire border and not far from Haworth of Bronte fame, with the Pennine Way long distance footpath close by.  Formerly called the Eagle, this free house got its name when  Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed there during his foray south in the 18th century,, in secret of course, and he relied on the silence of the local people for his safety, and so the name was changed.

Another story surrounding this pub is about cats, lots of them in fact.   The story goes that a 19^th century landlady was very fond of cats and fed all the strays that roamed the surrounding moors.  When she was ready to feed them, the lady would ring a bell and the cats came running.   The landlord will tell you that there are still lots of cats about and from time to time the bell is still heard ringing.

 

SOME PUBS WITH A STORY TO TELL - West Yorkshire 1

 

 

The  Nevison's  Leap

And

The  Three  Houses

 

 

 

The Nevison's Leap  a modern pub situated in a residential area on the road between Pontefract and Ferrybridge not far from the A1 and The Three Houses  an old coaching inn at Sandal near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, reminds us that highwaymen were once prevalent in this area.  In those days of the 17th and 18th centuries when stagecoach travel was the order of the day,  the predatory activity of the highwayman was one of  the many hazards for such travellers.

 

 

 

 

William Nevison  one of the most notorious of these characters, a man renowned for his dash, ingenuity and fearlessness,  was born in Pontefract in 1639.  Although Nevison came from a good family, he stole from his family and soon left home.   He stole a horse and rode to London where he obtained employment and for a couple of years it seemed that he had settled down, but then he stole £200 from his employer and disappeared with the police on his tail.   He evaded capture and eventually enlisted as a soldier, serving in Flanders, but, ever the individualist, Nevison deserted and returned to his native land and became a highwayman.   His notoriety soon earned him the soubriquet Swift Nick Nevison with the reputation of aiding the poor. He rode and worked alone and reaped a rich harvest from the wealthy travellers on the southern highways until things became too hot for him and he moved back to his native Yorkshire where he was virtually unknown.   As he continued his nefarious activities Nevison soon had the local law officers after him and it is said that it was whilst being closely pursued by constables on the road between Pontefract and Ferrybridge that he took his horse on an incredible leap between two cliffs, making good his escape.    This chasm became known as Nevison’s Leap and was near to where the pub is now situated. Stories of this audacious freebooter are legend and he usually managed to keep one step ahead of the law but his luck ran out in 1684 when he was found asleep on a bench at The Three Houses.  He was arrested and tried for a variety of crimes and was hanged at York on May 4th 1684.

It was in fact Nevison who made the legendary run, wrongly attributed to Dick Turpin, from London to York.  This able and accomplished horseman had been arrested and accused of committing a robbery near London at 4.0.clock in the morning.  He was acquitted after proving that he was in York on the day in question, and had actually spoken to the Lord Mayor at 7.45pm.  Nevison  later boasted that he had made the amazing ride of 209 miles to York in less than 16 hours after the robbery.

It seems that although Nevison was dreaded by those liable to suffer at his hands, he was in fact a gentleman of the road, much respected by the poor to whom he was a good friend, and a contemporary ballad was written about him:

 ‘ Did you ever hear tell of that hero,

Bold Nevison was his name.

He rode about like a bold hero,

 And with that he gain’d great fame.

He maintained himself like a gentleman,

Besides he was good to the poor,

 He rode about like a great hero,

And he gain’d himself favour therefore.’

 

 

 

 

 

The  Dock  Green

 

This popular urban pub in Leeds built in 1903 was formerly a police station which closed down in 1961.  At that time the popular TV programme,  Dixon of Dock Green featured Jack Warner as PC George Dixon, an old time copper.   The building was soon acquired and tastefully converted into a pub, whilst retaining much of  the features of the former ‘nick’.   It is situated at the junction of Ashley Road and Harehills Road, close to St James’ Hospital – TV’s Jimmy’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  Hermit  Inn

 

This old inn on the edge of Ilkley Moor recalls one Job Senior who lived nearby in a ramshackled shelter  in the early 19^th century.   Apparently Job was born at nearby Ilkley in the 1780’s, the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner.  He became a drunkard, which together with a problem with women, proved to be his downfall.   He became very unkempt and eventually suffered from rheumatism which necessitated him walking with two sticks.   At the age of sixty he managed to persuade an eighty years old widow to marry him.   It suited Job very much because she owned a house on the edge of the moor.  However the marriage was short-lived  when his wife died suddenly.  Her family, who were less than pleased about the marriage became more so when Job inherited his wife’s possessions including the house.   To vent their fury members of the family descended on the house and virtually demolished it leaving Job with no option but to construct his ramshackle shelter to live in.   Apparently it was so small that he had to enter on his hands and knees.   And so his lived as a hermit until he contracted cholera and ended his days in the workhouse, where he died when he was 77 years old.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  Cow  and  Calf  Hotel

 

This gaunt stone built moorland inn towers on the hillside on Ilkley Moor overlooking the charming town of Ilkley which nestles below in lovely Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales.  A feature of this inn is a restored Victorian garden. 850ft above sea level, with panoramic views.    Immortalised in song, Ilkley Moor covers a large area on the edge of the Leeds and Bradford conurbation and is extremely popular with  day trippers and tourists alike, all the year round.

Across the road from the pub is a rocky outcrop of millstone grit popularly known as  the Cow and Calf Rocks, Whilst the  Cow forms the main part of the formation, the huge detached Calf Rock,  looks as if it could easily roll away at any time, but it is in fact firmly embedded in the ground and has been for hundreds of years.  Prior to 1860, a third large rock, The Bull, stood much nearer the road, but it was broken up to provide stone for the building of the Crescent Hotel in Ilkley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  Running  Man  Inn

 

 

 

This pub in Pellon Lane, Halifax, reminds us of the terrible fate which awaited miscreants in the 

 ‘ Liberty of Halifax, ‘ in the West Riding of Yorkshire, prior to 1650.

‘From Hull, Hell and Halifax, the good Lord deliver us.’  What does this old beggar’s litany mean?   Hull refers to the prison there,  Hell is self explanatory,  whilst Halifax refers to ‘The Gibbet.’    Actually,  Gibbet is a misnomer –  it was actually a guillotine!   This fiendish instrument of death fell into disuse in the mid-17^th century, but a replica, mounted on the original base, can be seen in nearby Gibbet Street, whilst the original blade to be seen in Bankfield Museum.  Being axe shaped, it differs from a guillotine blade which is diagonally shaped.

Gibbet Law meant harsh punishment for relatively minor offences in this area of the West Yorkshire Woollen District.   The rules were simple :

‘ If a felon be taken within the Liberty of Halifax, either handabend  ( with stolen goods in hand);  backharend  (with stolen goods on his back);  confessand  (admitted theft); to the value of thirteen and a half pence, he shall, after three markets, be taken to the gibbet and there have his head cut off from his body.’

This related especially to cloth which was the life-blood of the town.   When the cloth had been woven and then washed, it was hung outside on ‘tenterhooks’ and so was particularly vulnerable to theft.   The gibbet was first used in Halifax in 1286.

The last two men to be executed on the gibbet were Anthony Mitchell and John Wilkinson of Sowerby.  They were found guilty of stealing sixteen yards of russet coloured kersey cloth, value 9s from Luddenden Dean, and two colts value £5.8s from Durkar Green.   They were introduced to the gibbet on 30^th April 1650, making a total of fifty recorded victims..    After the gibbet fell into disuse, the ground on which it stood gradually became a rubbish dump.  In 1839, workmen clearing the site found the base of the gibbet still intact and nearby they found the skeletons of two men with severed heads!

It was actually possible to escape from the gibbet!  If the accused could remove his head before the blade fell and then escape over Hebble Brook half a mile away, he was free, provided he never returned to the Liberty of Halifax.  

The Running Man pub recalls that one, John Lacy, managed to do just that but he made the mistake of returning to  The Liberty after seven years and was duly executed.

 

 

 

 

A replica of the gibbet on origin base in Gibbet Street

 

 

The Old Cock Inn

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Cock Inn in Old Cock yard, is one of the oldest pubs in Halifax and is a Grade 11 listed building.  It has been an inn since 1688 having been built as a town house in the 1580's. The first floor Oak Room boasts a very fine Elizabethan fireplace which dates to 1881. This is the room in which the Halifax Building Society was formed in 1853.  Coiner, David Hartley was arrested at the pub in 1769. (see The Dusty Miller below).