Sir Francis Drakes House / Sloop Inn Gatcombe (Photo Gallery)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Thursday, January 15, 2009, 20:35 (5823 days ago) @ admin

Gatcombe's most famous inhabitant was the famous Elizabethan mariner Sir Francis Drake, who stayed at the port whilst in the area visiting Sir William Wintour, a Vice-Admiral in Elizabeth is navy who lived at Lydney. Drake reputedly lived at the house which though known today as Drakes House, was once a riverside inn called The Sloop.

The riverside hamlet of Gatcombe, from which a busy trade was once carried on, (fn. 47) stands by a pill at the end of a long wooded coombe. There was at least one dwelling there by 1495, (fn. 48) and in 1583 it was a hamlet of six or seven houses, which size it has remained. In the 1580s its only wealthy resident was said to be a 'Mr. Borough', (fn. 49) presumably a successor of Richard Barrow who had a house there in 1547. (fn. 50) Barrow's house was possibly on the site of that on the east side of the hamlet, close to the riverside, which became known as Drake's House from a tradition, uncorroborated and recorded only from the late 19th century, that Sir Francis Drake visited Gatcombe. (fn. 51) In 1763 the house was probably the inn called the Gatcombe Boat (fn. 52) and by 1792 it was certainly an inn, known then and in the 1830s as both the Sloop and the Ship. (fn. 53) It remained open as the Sloop inn in 1879 but closed before 1901. (fn. 54) Drake's House was built c. 1600 as two floors with attics which were later raised to make a full third storey. (fn. 55) The ground floor may originally have been used for storeage, and the upper floors are reached by a newel stair next to the main doorway. The plan of the upper floors is a large central room with one or two smaller rooms at each end. All the internal walls are of well-finished plank and muntin. In the early 19th century another inn, also having the sign of the Ship, was kept at a house which stands on the west side and slightly higher up the hamlet.

From: 'Awre', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 14-46. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23250 Date accessed: 16 January 2009.

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