Stonebench is to the east of Elmore on the southern bank of the River Severn. It is a popular place to watch the Severn Bore. The Stonebench Inn dates back to 1729 and was once used by traders travelling up the river to Gloucester.
Gloucester Citizen, Saturday 28th August 1886 – Special notice!! Severn Bore: A very high tide to be seen over the Rocks near the Stonebench Inn, Elmore, on Sunday Evening at eight o’clock and Monday morning at 8.30 o’clock. A brake will leave Barton Mews, Barton Street, Gloucester, at 6.30 Sunday Evening. Fares there and back 1s. each. This is one of the highest tides of the season.
Gloucester Citizen, Saturday 2nd June 1894 – A riotous character, refusing to quit: Alec Spires, a labourer, was summonded for being drunk and disorderly and refusing to quit the Stonebench Inn, Elmore, on May 26th. Mr Langney-Smith appeared for the complainant, and said that between seven and eight o’clock on Saturday night defendant came into complainant’s inn and walked direct into the kitchen, and applied for some beer. Henry Arnold, the landlord, seeing that the defendant was drunk, refused to serve him, whereupon he became violent and abusive, and struck an old man, a customer, in the face, making his nose bleed. He was eventually got out of the house, but returned again with a stick, and behaved in such a manner as to cause complainant to temporarily close his house. Subsequently he was induced to go home by his brother. – Defendant, who had a long list of previous convictions standing against him, was fined £2.10s., and 9s. costs, or in default one month’s imprisonment, with hard labour.
Gloucester Citizen, Tuesday 25th September 1900 – £1 Reward: Missing from Gloucester since September 5th, 1900 – A WOMAN, about 42 years of age, 5ft.3in. high; wearing black velvet mantle, feather trimmings, black dress, and white sailor hat, with black band. Anyone giving information as to her whereabouts will receive the above reward. Henry Arnold, Stonebench Inn, Elmore, near Gloucester.
The Gloucester Journal, 14th February 1903 – Landlord charged with drunkeness: At the Gloucester County Police Court on Saturday afternoon, before the Reverend C.E. Dighton and other magistrates, Henry Arnold, innkeeper of the Stonebench Inn at Elmore, was summoned at the instance of P.C. Clement Timms for having been drunk whilst in charge of a horse and trolley at Quedgeley on January 30th 1903. P.C. Timms stated that at quarter past three on the afternoon of Friday 30th January he was in Rea Lane when he saw the defendant driving a horse and trolley. The defendant, who was drunk, was sitting on a barrel from which he rolled onto the trolley and thence to the ground. P.C. Timms followed the defendant to the Stonebench Inn and when he got off the trolley he could hardly stand. Mr Arnold staggered about so much the witness was obliged to get someone to assist.
The Stonebench Inn called ‘last orders’ for the final time in 1948. Over 50 years later the red brick inn was still standing but in an advanced state of dereliction – the tiled roof had partly collapsed exposing the timbers and the wooden window frames had rotted away.
In 2003 the land surrounding the inn was purchased for the construction of a new residential property and the owner expressed his wish to renovate the old Stonebench Inn for possible use as a museum dedicated to the Severn Bore. However, part of the planning agreement stipulated by Stroud District Council was the removal of all the standing buildings on the site.
Map Reference: SO 798148
Licensing Details:
Type of licence in 1891: Alehouse
Owner in 1891: John Arnold, High Street Brewery, Wickwar
Rateable Value in 1903: £29.0s.0d.
Type of licence in 1903: Alehouse
Owner in 1903: Arnold Perrett & Co. Ltd., Wickwar Brewery
Closing time in 1903: 10pm
Landlords at the Stonebench Inn include:
1856 J. Lane
1878 (Dec) Licensed transferred from the executrix of Samuel Vick to Mary Vick.
1885,1906 Henry Arnold
1919,1927 William James Keen
