Time Gentlemen Please - Madeley's lost pubs and the survivors
S - Z
SIX BELLS
In Church Street. Included in Borough Council list of ‘buildings of local interest’. First licensed in 1821
Named after the peal of six bells in St. Michael’s Church tower (although this was later increased to eight). The right-hand end was once a shop. At one time owned by the Wrekin Brewery, Wellington.
THREE FURNACES closed
Named after the three blast furnaces of the nearby Madeley Court Works, which from 1843 to 1902 produced thousands of tons of iron. The site is now occupied by the Court Works industrial estate, there is still a small foundry on the site.
The Three Furnaces, photographed circa 1910/12 (obviously during the winter with snow lying in the background).The picture shows Charlie Morris (the butcher from nearby Aqueduct) on horseback, then (l to r): Margaret, Mrs Emily, Emily and Mr Joseph Clarke (landlord), and their married daughter and son-in-law Louise and William Hunter.
1901: Three Furnaces
Licence: Full
Granted: 1841
Owner: B. Williams, Wrekin Brewery, Wellington. Occupier and Licensee, Samuel Hyde, Manageress Miss Mercy Hyde
Value: £21 5s
Rooms: 5 rooms up and 4 rooms down
Nature of any proceedings:
- 17/5/1873: Permitting drunkenness, fined £5 and costs 12s 4d.
- 4/8/1874: Permitting drunkenness, fined £5 and costs 11s 4d.
- 15/5/1894: Selling adulterated gin, dismissed
- 25/4/1899: Selling adulterated whisky, fined 10s and £1 11s costs
- 21/11/1899: Selling liquor to a drunken person, withdrawn
- 21/11/1899: Drunk on his own premises, withdrawn
Stabling: 4 horses
Condition: Good
Trade: Mining & roadside
Proximity to other licensed houses: 60 yards
Position of house with regard to Police: Good
General Remarks: Tied to owners for beer
Three Horseshoes Closed
Once the largest pub in Madeley, the Three Horseshoes was demolished in 1968 to make way for the "improvements" to Madeley Centre. In his 'History of Madeley', printed in 1880, John Randall describes the Three Horseshoes thus - "The oldest sign in Madeley, and one of the oldest houses in Madeley, the walls being made of rubble, mud and plaster. The sign is one of the oldest in the kingdom. The tenant is Joseph Robinson." In the 19th Century the Three Horseshoes was not just a public house but also a commercial and family hotel.
This hand coloured postcard, postmarked 1905, shows the Three Horseshoes, at the junction of High Street, Court Street, Church Street and Park Avenue. The headquarters and practice room of the Madeley Band were located at the rear of the pub. The pub once had its own bowling green, the site is now occupied by the Anstice car park
Publicans had long been associated with the Madeley Board of Guardians, who among their other duties were charged with the duty of "protecting innocent people from the dangers of the drinking of alcohol". The Shrewsbury Journal of March 1869 reported that William Page of the Three Horseshoes was serving on the Board, alongside James Page, a wine & spirit merchant and brewer of Ironbridge. In 1872 William Page became president of the local Tory society, he remained as landlord of the Three Horseshoes until 1877, later becoming a butcher.
We also know that the landlady between 1922-1937 was a Mrs Dimelow.
This photo from the mid 1960s shows how little things had changed in over 60 years - within just a few years all the buildings shown had been demolished. Scroll down to see the same scene today.
A photo taken shortly before demolition in 1968, looking towards the junction with Court Street and High Street. The sign over the door and the brackets for hanging baskets, visible in the picture above, have been removed. The building on the right is the former Pooles Sadlers (immediately to the left of the present day Jubilee House, home of Madeley Parish Council). In the background you can just see Moores bakers shop.
1901: Three Horseshoes
Licence: Full
Granted: 1749
Owner: Maun, Crossman & Paulen, Brewers. Leased to Salt & Co., Burton.
Value: £39 5s 0d
Rooms: 8 rooms up and 6 rooms down
Stabling: 10 horses
Condition: Good
Trade: Works and roadside
Occupier and Manager: Edward R Gough
Proximity to other licensed houses: 50 yards
Proximity to other dwellings: Surrounded
Position of house with regard to Police: Good
The site of the Three Horseshoes summer 2000. The building in the background, centre right, is the Anstice Memorial Institute, all that remains of the old centre of Madeley. Once again the whole area is the subject of plans for redevelopment - let's hope they get it right this time, although at the time of writing (February 2001) it doesn't look too promising.
TURNERS ARMS Closed
Park Street. Recently used as a Bookmakers, now up for rent. First licensed in 1861.
The most famous landlord was John ‘Stumpy’ Brown who had lost both arms above the elbows in a gunpowder accident at the Lloyds Pit (apparently he poked the office fire with a can of blasting powder)!
This proved no handicap as he learned to write clearly and became a schoolmaster, a Sunday School teacher and a preacher.
Most famously he became a wood turner of bedsteads and children’s dolls. Some of his turning can be seen on the stairs in the Anstice Memorial Institute.
(No larger photo).
While landlord of the Turners Arms he sometimes brewed his own beer which he was licensed to sell but which could not be consumed on the premises. At one time owned by Cooper & Co of the Crescent Brewery, Burton-on- Trent.
TWEEDALE INN Closed
Cripples Hill. Became a private house in 1959 and was demolished 1967-8. Now the site of a garage on the Madeley to Shifnal Road at Halesfield.
First licensed in 1859.
