Old George Inn, Mitcheldean (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 22:06 (4471 days ago) @ adlinferris

Hi Linda,
yes there was a very old George Inn right in the centre of Mitcheldean village when I worked there in the 80s, I strongly suspect it will still be trading as it benefitted hugely from the Ranks factory when I worked there and probably still does.

The inn dates from the 1600s I think, very old photos show it as a very tall three storey building, higher than virtually all the village except for the nearby Brewery, but the upper storey was later removed; I presume it therefore had ample lodging rooms.
This photo of the village shows the George directly above the word "General" and behind the white building, behind it and to the left is Wintle's Brewery which became the home of British Accoustic Films in WW2 and from which the massive Ranks site grew, the Brewery buildings still stand.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/mitcheldean/pages/page_30.html

The best website for info about old pubs is the following Easywell site. However I cannot give a direct link, this will take you to the homepage. Don't enter "George" in the search box as you'll get hundreds of hits; instead enter "star pitch" (the pub's address) and it will find it immediately, there is a superbly detailed history and photos old and new.
http://www.gloucestershirepubs.co.uk/AllGlosPubsDatabase/AllGlosPubs_view.php

The Easywell site suggests the Inn may originally have been used to make spherical lead shot balls as ammunition for muskets etc. Here molten lead is slowly poured thro one of variously-sized holes in a metal plate high in the building, landing in troughs of cold water. As each droplet falls it becomes perfectly spherical, then hardens solid when cooled by the water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_tower

Also mentioned here
http://www.fweb.org.uk/dean/towns/mitcheldean.htm

PS reading this history I see the George is yet another traditional inn that has sadly closed in recent years, in fact it may even have been demolished this year. A great shame methinks ....

PPS HOWEVER while Googling "Wintles" I'm absolutely delighted to find this site that shows a new microbrewery is opening this year within the old brewery buildings, great news !.
http://www.bespokebrewery.co.uk/index.php

This recent photo shows the old Brewery buildings, the Maltings as it was called, (but now the Mews rather oddly, which is perhaps reflecting the brewery drays(see post below) but still seems a shame to this old traditionalist, perhaps it was thought non-pc to refer to beer ??).
The building up and behind was the Rank Xerox restaurants and ballroom(yes!), near here was a pedestrian gateway down into the village and the nearby George for lunchtime soft drinks... Immediately to right of the photo view is Mitcheldean's main High Street, the photographer is stood at the gate to the High Street, on which of course the George was built. To the left of this view hidden behind the Maltings is the rest of the sprawling Ranks site.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1663778