THE BCH ARCHIVE

LOCAL HISTORY FOR

BIRTSMORTON

CASTLEMORTON

HOLLYBUSH

And The Surrounding District

The Robin Hood

Public Houses

On the Gloucester Road is an authentic black and white country pub, the

Robin Hood, with the original part having been built in 1562 and once used

as the l<ing’s hunting lodge when Castlemorton Common was part of Malvern

Chase. Today, the pub is open plan but the old part is a square room by the bar counter. Although miles away from Sherwood Forest, the Robin Hood name for inns became popular in the 19th century when the Ancient Order of the Foresters, a Friendly Society, opened new lodges or meeting places, often in Inns.

Before the Second World War it was known as Ye Old Robin Hood and

sold Royal Well Brewery ales. In the Malvern Gazette of 1958, the Editor’s

Notebook column was full of praise for the Robin Hood, saying it had been transformed in the previous seven years from a ‘rather ordinary little place into a showplace’. The editor went on: ‘Probably the oldest inn anywhere around— it was once a woodman’s hut mentioned in Malvern Chase [published in 1880] — the house is full of fine old black timber beams, a magnificent collection of old brass and copper assembled by the hostess and even, to add period charm of another kind, a King Charles spaniel, Nelson.

Parties of Danes make it a regular place of call; other visitors this summer included Americans, South Africans and French.’

Pat and Barty Smith were licensees for at least l5 years until 2005 when

the present landlords, Rob and Mary Biddle, took over. The owners are Punch Tavems. The pub is also well known for its food, has a large garden with views of the hills, and provides camping and caravanning facilities.

Almost opposite the Robin Hood is New Road, down which the first

turning on the right is a lane known as Eight Oakes leading to the common

and Hangman’s Hill. On the left is Plough Farm with a white cottage which

used to be the Plough Inn, set in six acres of land.

According to local historian Heather Hurley a cottage inhabited by the

Lewis family stood on the site of the present Plough Fann from the early 1700s

Few changes since the 19th C

The Hunt outside the Robin Hood