The Black Lion, Brockweir, in 1801 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, July 16, 2016, 14:39 (3053 days ago) @ fredb

A guy on the Monmouth Facebook page bought some old deeds on ebay for a public house called The Black Lion, the date is 1801. It's been a while since I went to Brockweir so I'm not sure if a pub is still there. I found publicans in census but not that pub name, I just thought I'd post as somebody might know more of the history of the village.

Hi Fred, always good to read about an old pub, altho in this case there seems to be very little I can offer !. I've searched both Geoff Sandles' excellent Glos Pubs website, and my books, and cannot find any reference to it. However both these clearly rely on old census returns etc, and as you've found the Blacl Lion doesn't appear in them, or at least not under that name. Similarly the various history websites don't mention it, including the British History site, but they all do carry a common story abt Brockweir c1800, the Wiki entry says

"For centuries Brockweir had a thriving shipbuilding, fitting-out and repair industry. Brockweir was the highest point reached by a normal tide on the Wye, and a key transhipment point where the cargoes of sea-going ships of up to 90 tonnes were transferred onto barges to be sent upstream, and the products of Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean were sent back to Bristol and beyond. In 1587, one resident, John Gethin, was killed on his boat in the Bristol Channel in an affray with Bristol merchants.

According to some sources, in the early 19th century the village was thought to be one of the most lawless places in the country. Its reputation was earned by having about 16 public houses, to cater for the stevedores who were employed to load and unload the ships at the quayside. Only one narrow road led into the village, and goods were usually carried by donkeys or by water, with a ferry taking travellers to and from the Welsh bank of the Wye. In 1833 the Duke of Beaufort issued an edict for the Moravian Church to be set up in the village because of its lawless reputation, and the church was built on the site of a former cock fighting pit. The first minister was Lewis West, who drew congregations of up to 200 people. The minister described the life of its watermen as being centred on beerhouses, skittle alleys, and cockfighting, and said that it had the reputation of a "city of refuge" for lawless elements."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockweir
http://overlookingthewye.org.uk/index.php/river-connections/brockweir-quay/brockweir-qu...
http://www.thebrockweirinn.co.uk/

So clearly Brockweir c1800 was a very different place than nowadays, hard to imagine !. However the arrival of the Church meant that by the time the first Census was taken in 1841 the village had been "cleaned-up", hence less pubs and cider houses. although it was still apparently a regular focus for the various Temperance Movements into the early 1900s. Nowadays I believe there's just one pub left in the village, the Brockweir Inn, which was called the New Inn, GlosPubs site shows this was trading since at least 1890. Near this is the oldest building in the village, the Malt House, which dates in part from the 15th century and probably formed part of a grange owned by Tintern Abbey.

Hoping this is of interest, thanks again. Hopefully wherever you are the sun is also shining, I cannot think of a better place to be this afternoon than supping a cool drink on the Wye !