The Village pubs and brew houses
The village has had six public houses in its known history. Three of these sat in the Square. there were two Bulls facing each other, the Bowling Green Public House tucked up in the corner. The Farmer's Arms which used to be a brew house as well as a public house and in the past two Lions.
In the past the local public houses were notorious for riotous behaviour having dog fights, cock fights and badger baiting. They were at one point stopped from serving drink on a Sunday, with all public houses having a six day licence.
The two lions were the red Lion and the White Lion. the White Lion was at the end of Barrow's Lane; the position of the Red Lion was unknown. Both of these public houses have vanished and as they were around before the earliest village maps were produced or the census then their location will remain a mystery.
The Black Bull Inn.
This old Inn sat on the original Square and is a wattle and daub building and was an old coaching inn. Note the large doorway; this is due to the fact that it used to have a revolving door. Stabling for the property was situated behind the building and the stables can still be seen..
During the second world war the Black Bull became the haunt of the bookies running. Long before the advent of booking shops bookies used to employ runners to take the bets of punters and the monies for these bets and then take them to the Black Bull. This practice was illegal and known to the police. One local resident who was a bookies runner, a mere 10 year old took the takings and the bets to the Black Bull one night in a basket with his father's empty beer bottles and then returned with his father's winnings in the form of full beer bottles. he was stopped by the local bobby (police) who asked him 'what was in the basket?'. the bot replied ms' dad's beer. Lucky he wasnt caught on the way to the pub.
The Bowling Green