Wintles Brewery - Station Inn Publicans (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, February 25, 2019, 21:26 (2135 days ago) @ Mike Pinchin

I think the 1871 Census entry reads “Crooses or Railway Inn”. Since CROOSE is a genuine surname I wonder if it refers to a pre-railway name for the establishment.

AND that makes better sense of the rather odd-sounding location in the aforementioned 1856 Trade Directory, "John Skinner, cider retailer, Cruse Farm", who may well be Susannah Skinner's husband at the time.

Thanks Mike !

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Just looked at the old maps hoping to find a Cruse/Croose Farm marked, hopefully near the Railway Inn. Sadly no such luck whatsoever. The nearest I can find is a Croose Farm still at Woolhope, north of Ross on Wye.

???

I then remembered the hamlet of Aston Crews just a few miles north of Lea - cannot find any history about the placename, but as Mike says the PRs show there were a few people surnamed Croose in Lea village in the 17th and 18th Centuries, and no doubt before that too. By the time of the 1841 Census the nearest I can see was a Charles Croose in Littledean, and in 1851 a John Crews and family in Ross.

Ah well...