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The Admiral Rodney Inn reputedly dates from the seventeenth century, and was
originally a farmhouse, that also doubled as an alehouse, serving locals and
travellers along the wayside.
Admiral George Brydges Rodney (1719-92) had a distinguished naval career, but is remembered especially for the victory over the French in 1782, at the ‘Battle of the Saints’ in the West Indies. There is a long-standing British tradition of senior naval and military figures financing favoured NCOs to set up in business when they left the service. Often the business was an inn, and the grateful recipient would name the premises after his patron. The number of pubs named The Marquess of Granby suggests that he was especially generous to his men. Brewing and cider making were seasonal, and production fitted the agricultural year perfectly. A form of malty mild was the popular rural Worcestershire drink; heavy dark, sweet and strong. The average gravity was 1060, the second highest in England. Edward VI introduced licensing in 1550, usually from sunrise to 9pm in summer, 8pm in winter. Georgian and Victorian hours were longer, 18 hours a day, 4am to 10pm, seven days a week, closed only during Divine Service, Christmas Day, and Good Friday. As an inn, the Admiral Rodney was permitted to remain open as long as a bed was empty; offering basic accommodation, simple victuals, homebrewed ale, cider and stabling to the lawful traveller. Locally born farmer Daniel Howell held the licence in the early 1800’s; he was recorded in the 1841 census aged 65, with his wife Mary, 70. Living with them was his brother James, 55, nephew, and cooper by trade, William Marks, 35 and his sister Mary Ann, 35. Daniel Howell had died by 1850, and his widow Mary held the licence. Mary Ann worked as a barmaid, and William Marks as a waiter and groom. The estate if the Earl of Dudley appointed Charles Holliday, whose family farmed in the parish, tenant in 1855. He was a farrier, and farmed 20 acres, employing two men and a one boy. The sign had been abbreviated to the Rodney Inn. Charles Holliday’s son, Henry Holliday succeeded him in 1878. Documented in the 1881 census he was 48, innkeeper, shopkeeper, and farmed 43 acres, his wife Jane, 38, two sons lived with them, Henry 15, and Ernest two. They boarded one lodger, and employed three servants. It was Henry Holliday who restored the Admiral Rodney to a full sign in 1878. Henry Holliday is a good example of how difficult it was for a Victorian tradesman to make a living from a single occupation. Running a public house was not then regarded as a profession. Although altered and extended over the years, the Admiral Rodney has retained the ambience, character, and tradition of the old English wayside inn. Back to top |
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