Bird in the Hand Pub, Broadwell 1870-1890, Marlin & Blanch (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, August 25, 2016, 19:21 (3022 days ago) @ Jill Tijou

Hi Jill, welcome to the forum & website.

You may know that the pub has closed and is owned by the Salvation Army. Its a shame that yet another local pub has been forced to close, but I do find this twist of ownership rather amusing.

Hopefully you've already searched this site and forum for relevant posts and so found;
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/coleford/pages/page_35.html

This old thread relates to the same road and includes the 1901 Census for the pub when George Niblett was landlord.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=5355

As Mike's posted, probably the best online source for local pub histories is Geoff Sandles' excellent GlosPubs site, luckily it includes a fair amount of history and photos for the "Bird in Hand", the landlady in 1891 was a Mary Marling;
Unusually this particular pub’s page can be accessed direct from a link,
http://www.gloucestershirepubs.co.uk/AllGlosPubsDatabase/RAIGConnection.php?pubid1=1230

Heather Hurley’s reference book on FoD pubs adds nothing to the above, except describing Mary’s 1890s establisment as “a modest beer-house” which probably originated as one of the “beerhouses” listed in the 1841 Broadwell census.
This “official” history for Broadwell doesn’t clearly mention the pub by name,
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol17/pp20-59

The Morris & Co. Commercial Directory & Gazetteer of West Dean 1876 includes this entry under "Broadwell",
"MARLIN Mrs. Mary, beer retailer"
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cbennett/westdean1876.htm

The 1870 Kelly's Directory includes the pub's name in her entry, under Lane End.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cbennett/westdean1870.htm

I cannot find Mary Marling in the 1891 Census using Ancestry's search engine, so instead I've searched out the Niblett family, then browsed the Census images to eventually find her. Ancestry clearly has technical issues with the Broadwell Lane End area, their transcripts are not correctly synchronised with the images, and finding Mary on the 1881 Census was even harder !!??. This isn't helped by the various websites struggling to consider Marling and Marlin as "soundalikes" !

Ah well, here they are;

1871 Census, Bird in Hand, Broadwell Lane End.
Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country
Mary Marlin Head 55 1816 Female Beerhouse keeper Croydon Surrey England
Mary Ann Williams Daughter 16 1855 Female Beerhouse keeper. West Dean Gloucestershire England

1881 Census, Bird In Hand, Lane End, West Dean
Given Name Surname Relationship to Head Marital Status Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Occupation Birth City Birth County Birth Country
Mary Martin Head Widow 65 1816 Female Inn Keeper Croydon
William Blanch Son Widower 41 1840 Male Assistant Inn Keeper Newland Gloucestershire England
Elizabeth Blanch Granddaughter 14 1867 Female Scholar Newland Gloucestershire England
Elizabeth Aston Servant 25 1856 Female Servant Dom West Dean

1891 Census, Broadwell Lane End, West Dean.
Given Name Surname Relationship Gender Age Estimated Birth Year Birth City or District Birth County Birth Country
Mary Marlin Head Female Widow 75 Innkeeper 1816 Clerkenwell Middlesex England
Maria Rann Sister Female 65 1826 Ret Housekeeper Clerkenwell Middlesex England
Elizabeth Blanche Granddaughter Female 24 1867 Barmaid Coleford Gloucestershire England
William J Blanche Grandson Male 25 1866 Roadman Coleford Gloucestershire England
Emma Smith Granddaughter Female 11 1880 Coleford Scholar Gloucestershire England
Emma Roberts Servant Female 20 1871 Ruardean General Domestic servant Gloucestershire England

And from GlosBMD, just prior to Geo Niblett taking charge;

Death Details
Surname Given Names Age Year Died District Register Entry
MARLIN Mary 82 1898 Monmouth, Coleford 28 377