I received a message from Derek Bond relating to a pub called the Drybrook Inn. Derek’s 3rd Great Grandfather, George Taylor, was landlord of the Drybrook Inn between about 1851 census and 1868, when the licence passed to John Hatton.
I am reproducing Derek’s notes on the Drybrook Inn below, information he gleamed from British Newspaper Archives:
The Drybrook Inn was just outside the Gloucestershire County boundaries at Walford, a few miles south of Ross on Wye in Herefordshire.
17th July 1847: William Lerigo assigned personal assigned estate to Charles Weaver of Lydbrook in trust for himself and the creditors.
21st July 1847: William Lerigo of Drybrook Inn assigned his estate to pay his debts to creditors.
18th March 1848: talks about the surveyor of Walford and a case about Charles Matthews, butcher of the parish, who refused to put a certain road into a proper state of affair leading from Drybrook Inn to a place called the Dam, and thence to Ruardean.
11th June 1853: A sale by auction at the inn on 22-06-1853 of 10 acres of mowing grass by William White.
19th August 1854: 3rd anniversary of the Walford Union Benefit Society took place at the inn with about 80 members, who then proceeded to All Saint’s church at Bishopswood… They returned to their clubroom and partook of an excellent dinner, provided by the host and hostess, Mr and Mrs. Taylor. The members spent a very pleasant and agreeable evening, and all returned to their respective homes at a reasonable hour.
7th October 1857: Sale by auction of pasture, orchards and woods at Oxlet in the parish of Walford taking place at the Royal Hotel, Ross on 9-10-1857. Mr George Taylor, of Drybrook Inn, will show the Premises.
28th July 1858: George Taylor, of Drybrook inn, Walford, was charged with having in his possession, four quart and eight-pint measures, deficient in quantity, for which he was fined £5 and expenses.
Sophia Taylor, cider-house keeper, Walford, was charged with having three pints and one half-pint deficient in measure – fined £2 and 10s expenses.
29th July 1858: The 7th anniversary of the Walford Union Friendly Society was celebrated. The members assembled at their club-room, at the Drybrook Inn…The dinner was served up in Mr and Mrs Taylor’s usual style and gave great satisfaction. We need hardly say that the appetites of the members were much improved by the walk to church and back, which was evinced by the rapid disappearance of sundry well-cooked joints. After the removal of the cloth numerous toasts were proposed and the evening spent in the usual manner.
8th October 1859: A case of pig stealing against John Ball, butcher, English Bicknor and John Cooper and George Fox, shopkeepers, Gayford, held in the Magistrates room Coleford. James Griffith, a collier, once owned the pigs and he gained intelligence at Cat’s-hill turnpike-gate that they were missing. He went on to Mr. Taylor’s at Drybrook, near Kerne bridge, where he got further information from Mr Taylor. Ann, wife of Richard Taylor, said: I live with my father-in-law at Drybrook, near Kerne bridge; he keeps a public-house called the Drybrook inn; on Thursday, 22nd September I went to see Temperance Dew, my sister-in-law, who lives about half a mile nearer Kerne bridge. Martha Powell said: I live as servant at the Drybrook inn; yesterday week I went to Mrs Temperance Dew’s, and on returning I met Mrs Taylor going up.
2nd August 1866: The Drybrook Friendly Society celebrated their anniversary at the Drybrook Inn. After the church service the members, numbering about 150, sat down to an excellent dinner served up by Mr Taylor at the club house. After which, various sports and games took place in a meadow near the inn, where the band played a variety of tunes, and the whole passed off in a quiet manner.
7th September 1867: A charge of drunkenness against John Taylor, hawker, with being drunk and riotous at Walford. Police-constable Phillips had been called into the Drybrook Inn, where the defendant and another were fighting. Defendant was very drunk and quarrelsome.
21st September 1867: Continuation of drunkenness case. It says John Taylor, of Ross, denied being drunk. One witness Alfred Taylor deposed that he wrote the letter put in by the defendant at the former hearing; he wrote the letter by the direction of Mr Taylor, the landlord of the Drybrook Inn, who could not write himself…he had only written what Mr Taylor dictated.
19th September 1867: Amongst several other articles on the same case – this one adds the name of Eliza Prosser, servant at the Drybrook Inn, being a witness.
3rd September 1868: Licensing day: – renewal of licenses: John Hatton, Drybrook Inn
20th February 1868: The licence of the Drybrook Inn, Walford was transferred from George Taylor to John Hatton.
5th August 1869: Richard Wyson charged with being drunk and refusing to leave a beer house when requested to do so by the landlord. John Hutton deposed: I keep the Drybrook Inn at Walford. The incident took place during a club meeting and the magistrate said “It was a great pity that clubs of this description were held at public-houses, for when people got there, the drink flowed about like water, and thus the clubs were abused, and their members got themselves into a scrape”
28th August 1873: Mr W Sillett of Goodrich, applied for a spirt and ale licence to be transferred or removed from a house at Drybrook called the Drybrook Inn, in the parish of Walford, to a house near the Kerne Bridge station of the Ross and Monmouth Railway”. There was opposition by Edward Jones of the Albion Inn, Walford because the alehouse was very close to his, however as Mr Partridge had taken down a licensed beer house close by, called the Kerne Inn, the magistrate decided there would not be additional competition and granted the application.
24th July 1875: Report of case of Philip Jones, butcher, Redbrook v Richard Robbins, labourer, Drybrook Inn, Lydbrook. Claim £7 7s 2d for meat. To pay £1 a month.
22nd November 1877: Death notice of John Hatton, late of Drybrook Inn, Walford at Pencraig, bear Ross after a long and painful illness.
