Pam Daw, who lived in the Darell Arms in the 1940’s and 1950’s, contacted me through the Gloucestershire Pubs website with this query:
I lived in the Darell Arms 1940s to 1950s and during lockdown made a file of my memories and tidied my photos. Then I discovered the Stroudwater Archives now on line as well as in the Glos Archives where I have become interested in Richard Hall who allegedly had the New Inn on the banks of the river Frome at Upper Framilode, before the Stroudwater came about. Richard Hall married Elizabeth Cullis daughter of Thomas Cullis who had the Passage House etc, he died 1765. Mary the widow apparently kept the inn & coal business going. I think canal people may not have known this connection. Richard Hall moved onto the Thames and Severn Canal where he went on surveying land for the proprietors & arranging to buy land from owners on the route. This is where I am now and just getting back to research again! I love the past, the future being uncertain!! Thanks again. Pam Daw.
In February 2024 I received an email from Vanessa Simpson who wrote
Hi Geoff, I just saw a question about the New Inn, Framilode from Pam Daw and I think this is what my cottage, now Fromeside Cottage, in Upper Framilode, used to be. It was referenced in the 1st edition of the Stroudwater Canal by Michael Handford. The cottage is a timber frame build and dates back to the 1600’s when coal was sold from the bankside of the River Frome which runs along the rear of the property. We still have a couple of hooks on the front of the house where I believe the public house sign would have hung at some stage. There is still an original bread oven and some of the original fireplace in situ. The original New Inn was split into two parts, my neighbours house being one part of it, which was originally much smaller. Apparently the gable end of my cottage was once the “Tap and Jug” part and the New Inn was where the first Directors meetings of the Company of Proprietors of the Stroudwater Canal took place around 1720-30’s. Hope this helps a little.
Pam Daw
