The Anchor Inn was located close to the banks of the River Severn at the northern end of the town. It was built c1710 and was frequented by men working on the river. In 1828 the landlord was summonsed and prosecuted for ‘keeping the Anchor Inn open for purposes other than the reception of travellers’.
The Anchor Inn closed between 1860 and 1867 and was subsequently demolished.
Heather Hurley, in her book ‘The Pubs of the Royal Forest of Dean’ (Logaston Press 2004), states that the Police Station in Church Road occupied the site of the Anchor Inn.
The ‘new’ Newnham Police Station opened as an operational station in April 1972. It was built on the site of The Beeches, which may have replaced the Anchor Inn. The Newnham Police Station has now been decommissioned and converted to residential use. During the construction of the Police Station the contractors were delayed by the discovery of two 30-foot wells which had to be filled in. A section of the old Beeches site was left untouched after the discovery of a grave of a dog which, according to the headstone, died in 1913.
Landlords at the Anchor Inn include:
1809 Thomas Brown
1812 Richard Morris
1830 Joseph Richards
1839 John Jones
1846 William Jones
1852,1856 John Jones (John and Susan Jones in 1852)
