Martin Edwards, a fellow pub historian, has identified a Castle Inn – a beer house – at 1, Chapel Street in 1844. Chapel Street is off New Street, just to the south of the Lower High Street. Chapel Street is to the immediate rear of Ambrose Street and the western side of the street has a row of terraced houses.
A pub called the Hole in the Wall was at 5 Chapel Street in a 1878 reference and there was also a licensed premises in Chapel Street called the Express Inn, as recorded in the petty sessional divisional licensing books of 1891 and 1903.
Landlady:
1844 Ann Whitehead
The following notes are kindly provided by Alan Jones.
Castle Inn, 1 Chapel Street. 1844 landlady Ann Whitehead. I found listed under “Beer Retailers” in the 1850, 1851 and 1852 Edwards Directories “Carter, J. 1 Chapel Street” And for 1847 (Hunts & Co.) and 1848 (Edwards) J. [John in one] Mann, just “Chapel Street” no number – but I think he goes here too.
It must have been on the east side near the junction with New Street, because in the 1878 Royal Directory there is a listing for the Sudeley Arms at 4 New Street. In the same directory’s listing for Chapel Street, William Prosser, Mason occupied no. 1. I think they must have split up the property into 2, or leased out part. (I know, it is confusing, because of the Sudeley Arms up near Portland Square, and this is the only listing I have ever come across of this one in New Street, so I guess it didn’t last long. J. Wheeler was the landlord in 1878. But I guess it makes sense of the Castle Inn tying in with the local Sudeley Castle at Winchcombe.
The Hole in the Wall was referenced as at no. 6 Chapel Street in 1844, no. 7 in the 1870s, but looking at later directory listings this would seem to put it on the eastern side of Chapel Street too, just a few numbers along from the Castle Inn. You already have W. Chadwick as a landlord in 1844, and I found him listed under “Beer Retailers” for Chapel Street in the 1847 Hunt & Co. directory and the 1848, 1850, 1851, and 1852 Edwards directories. (This is why I think J./John Mann must be for the Castle).
In the 1857 Harper’s Cheltenham Directory there is a listing for “Chadwick, William, Hole in the Wall, Chapel Street.”
You already have James Daniels as loandlord in 1870, and in the 1872-3 Royal directory I found under Chapel Street “5 J. Daniels Hole-in-the-Wall” so that ties-in nicely. There was a slightly confusing anomaly though, in part 2 of that same directory listed under Inn Keepers it said “Allen, ——, Hole in the Wall, Chapel Street”, which was intriguing.
You already had J.A. Morris listed as landlord in 1878 and I found him listed under Inn Keepers in the part 2 of the 1878 Royal Directory. (No landlord name, just the pub name in the listing under Chapel Street in part 1 though. that runs:
1 William Prosser,
2 Thomas Chaplin, groom
3 Henry Floyd, wood turner
4 Augustus Holtham, mason
Hole in the Wall
7 Esther Webb.”
I quoted this in full, because some of the names crop up later too.
Intrigued by the name Hole in the Wall and where it came from, I got to wondering (now I knew it was on the east side) if there might have been a passageway or alleyway through to it from Ambrose Street, the next street over that runs parallel (maybe a bit like some of the alleyways through to New Street from the lower High Street etc). Anyway, searching a bit wider, I found on the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub website a listing for a “declaration of ownership of a house on Chapel Street known as the Hole in the Wall beerhouse 28th August 1847 by William Hodges of Ambrose Street, plasterer.” So I looked him up in the directories, and found a W. Hodges at 29 Ambrose Street listed in the 1850, 1851 and 1852 Edwards directories under the listings for Plasterers and Slaters. (They didn’t list by streets back then).
Looking at Ambrose Street (in a later directory which did list by street and in order) I found it in the 1872-3 Royal directory. The section running down to the junction with New Street ran:
“28 Samuel Cowley, plumber and glazier
29 ———– Chaplin
32 G. Alderslade, bill poster
33 Mrs. Vines
Flushing cottage, William Bayliss, salt merchant
New street intervenes”
No. 29 is occupied by Chaplin by this time, but is just a few buildings south of New Street, so the alleyway idea would be distinctly possible, depending on the relative size of the buildings etc.
Now to the Express Inn. You wonder whether this might have been on the same site as the Hole in the Wall, as it appears after the Hole in the Wall seems to have gone. You have landlords for 1891 Augustus Holtham and 1903 Charles Wellan.
Well if you remember that earlier listing of names in Chapel Street from 1878, Augustus Holtham then lived at no. 4. This might seem to suggest that the Express Inn might have been at no. 5/6 where the Hole in the Wall had been. But a couple of things made me doubt this.
First, doing searches in old directories for Charles Wellan, I found a listing in the 1902 Built-Leonard directory for Express Inn – C. Wellan, only it wasn’t under Chapel Street, but Ambrose Street. I guess this could tie in with the Hole in the Wall if they had joined the properties in Ambrose Street and Chapel Street to make one that ran through and could therefore have listings under either street. But a couple of things threw potential spanners in the works for that idea.
Here is a section of the Ambrose Street listing from the 1902 Built-Leonard directory:
“7 & 8 MacVitie, Sanitary plumber, decorator &c.
Express Inn – C. Wellan
9 W. Colling
10. Mrs. Chaplin”
First, the numbering of Ambrose Street had changed by then, making it difficult to compare with the earlier listing.
Second, If the Mrs. Chaplin at no. 10 equated to the Chaplin at the previous 29, then the Express Inn was a couple of buildings/plots along (further south) and would probably sit in font of no. 7 or 8, rather than no. 5 or 6 Chapel Street.
And third, I actually came across another name in Chapel Street listed under Beer Retailers in the 1848 Edwards directory. His name was George Allberry. And this might suggest that there were in fact 3 beer houses in Chapel Street at the time. That’s not as preposterous as it now seems, because at the time, Ambrose Street was narrower, less important. A lot of foot traffic went down Chapel Street, which led from the Bethal Chapel established in Manchester Walk in 1807 to the High Street.
Anyway, on Gloucestershire Heritage Hub website again, I found a bundle of documents relating to “leases between the Cheltenham Original Brewery Comapny Limited and the Bethal Chapel Trustees concerning 6 – 8 Chapel Street, Cheltenham. Leases dated 6 April 1807 – 25 June 1886.” There were also “extracts from conveyances to the trustees of the late John Gardner listing deeds dating from 4 April 1838 to 29 March 1847” for premises which included “3 messuages called 6,7 and 8 Chapel Street.” A messuage is a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned for its use. So there were three plots and buildings in a row.
I therefore think that, given Mrs Chaplin was still living in the house in Ambrose Street that likely was in front of where the Hole in the Wall would have been at no 5 / 6, and the Express Inn had a separate listing a couple of buildings along (which ran right through from Ambrose Street to Chapel Street) it must have sat in front of what was no. 8 and was probably created specifically to capture trade relating to the new, larger narrow gauge GWR railway station which was to be opened fronting onto St. James’ Square. This was why they widened Ambrose Street too – to enable carriages to access the new station from the High Street, which would have increased the flow of foot traffic also.
There is some speculation there, to be sure – it it does put the various pieces of the puzzle together in a way that is possible and fits with the various snippets of data.
Alan Jones