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Page 1.

Welcome To The present public houses.
The next four page will show the remaining public houses in Tenbury Wells.

This is one of the newer Hotels. The first reference to it being a pub was in 1868 when George Page opened it. He carried on with his normal trade of Builder and Mason as well as running the pub until his death in 1877. His wife (Sarah ) carried on as Innkeeper for a few years until it came up for sale in 1883.

The Bridge and other buildings was bought by Mr. Edwin Tew Dickins in 1883 and were 1892

Then Mr. Dickens pulled down all the buildings and built the present extensive Bridge Hotel. He also renovated his other buildings and turned them into modern shops and residences. He was the Publican of the Bridge Hotel until his death in 1912.

This is basically a 17th century building with many modifications. A major exterior modification was made in 1879 when all the timberwork was faced to give us the present day exterior. This was in response to the coming of the railway and their desire to smarten Tenbury up for the racegoers coming on the railway, to Oldwood Common Races and the opening of the Spa building so that visitors could stay in the Town and visit the Healing Qualities of the Mineral Waters.

The earliest Deeds are from 1791 when James Bodenham of Tenbury, Peruke Maker sold to Morris Powell Everall of Tenbury, Glazer. ( A Peruke Maker is a Wig Maker ). The Ship had been turned into two messuages with barn, garden and orchard. The tenants were John Williams and Thomas Maund and in 1791 were Richard Mail and untenanted

In 1804 Morris Powell Everall sold to George Jukes, Blacksmith for £315. In 1833 it had passed from George to his son William Juke who sold it for £400 to William Langley of Burford, lieutenant of the Royal Navy. In this deed it is stated that one of the messuages is now called The Ship Inn and the was tenanted by Ed Everall but was now in the possession of William Jukes for use as an Iron Warehouse. This sale was on a mortgage so that when William Jukes died in February 1834 The Ship Inn had to be auctioned. It was sold to Charles Williams of Tenbury, Butcher for £506. The next we hear is in 1878 when Joseph Lewis sold to Edwin Tew Dickens of Tenbury, Innkeeper subject to foot and wheelbarrow way of adjoining owner. Mr. Dickens must have spent some money on the place as in 1879 we have a newspaper report saying that the exterior of the Ship had been quite rejuvenated compared with the previous unsightly structure.

The last of the deeds state that it was sold by Edwin Dickens to A Perrell and Co Ltd in 1890 for £1100. In these deeds it rather oddly states that the Wheelbarrow way is preserved down Ship Inn Yard and now called Market Inn to Teme Street House.

The Vaults was established in 1849 by Benjamin Goodhall who opened his grocery business in 1849. When the Vaults was first licensed is not yet discovered but it is said that his first application was refused and that he served beer for a year free of charge. On his second application he told the licensing authorities that he could not continue if they denied him a license - what they said is unknown but he got his license.
It was the only house in town to have a six-day license which was not revoked until it passed out of the hands of the Gough family in 1989.

<< Introduction.

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