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Six Village Alehouses!
Almost 400 years ago there were no fewer than six pubs, inns
and alehouses in the village! These were probably called the Ferry Boat (or Ferry House), The Bay Horse, Waterside Inn, the Ship Inn, the Three Horse Shoes and the New Mown Hay.
By 1792 three alehouse licences to unnamed establishments
were issued, and by 1823 there are records for the Ferry Boat (Ann James), the Bay Horse (William Bell) and the Three Horse Shoes (John Holmes). By the time of White’s 1842 Directory the
names of the Inns were the Bay Horse, The Ferry House, and the Ship! If that were not confusing enough, it appears that the Bay Horse as we know it, was the original site of the Ferry Boat Inn -
being purchased in 1818 by John Burkill and apparently renamed the Bay Horse ... hence if, as is likely, Dick Turpin stayed at the inn at Gate End, it would be known as the Ferry Boat at that time!
Anopther famous person to have stayed at one of the village Inns was Dr William Stukely in 1724.
The Ferry Boat and the Bay Horse were frequently the scenes of
major village events and celebrations, and it was ironically the building of the Temperance Hall, which saw many of these functions taken to that building in West End. The Court Leet was
often held at the Ferry Boat, including one occasion in October 1827, as were many of the meetings concerning the enclosure of Winteringham and the buildings of the Haven drain, the banks, the clough, and the roads in the 1790s.
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