The Boat Inn Penalt, near Redbrook (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 18:16 (4409 days ago) @ Roger Griffiths

Hi Roger,
yes you're correct in this respect, apologies for not making myself clearer. Although Redbrook village is on the Glostershire side of the Wye, the Boat Inn is somewhat isolated across the river under the wooded hillside of Penalt, Monmouthshire, Wales. I presume it was named The Boat as the old ferry was needed to access it in pre-railway days, as I suspect most of it's custom would be industrial workers from Redbrook.
Nowadays it is sometimes considered "within" Glostershire as it's carpark and main access route for most of it's custom is still from the Redbrook village side of the river, but to get from there to the pub means a walk across the disused railway bridge across the Wye. This walk can be a little "tricky" on a winter's night particularly if returning from "a while" in the pub, although thankfully there is a safe footpath and no trains of course, and clearly considerably safer than in Caleb Brown's day !.

This old panoramic photo of the village shows the Boat and nearby cottages at the extreme left end of the rail bridge, the majority of the village houaing etc cannot be seen as it's beside/behind the photographer's viewpoint on his (Glos) side of the River.
http://www.forestprints.co.uk/chapel_lane.htm

Some good recent photos of the bridge here
http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/bridges/gallery/penallt.html

The map within the aforementioned Burgham website shows the area's layout.
http://www.burgumfamily.com/pages/pl%20redbrook.html