Some of Gedling borough’s pubs have some really interesting names so we decided to explore their origins.
This week we have uncovered the history of a number of watering holes in Carlton, some still with us, others long gone, and found out how they came to get their titles.
BLACK’S HEAD – Burton Road, Carlton
A pub of this name has stood on this site for at least one hundred and sixty years – but many believe it was probably longer.
Originally the sign of the ‘Blacks Head’ or ‘Black Boy’ was used by tobacconists.
Historians believe the ‘Black Boy’ used on inn and tobacconists signs was a reference to Charles II – a nickname given to the King because of his dark complexion, and was displayed to defy Oliver Cromwell by referring to their exiled leader.
Another possibility is that the sign of the ‘Black’s Head’ is, in fact, as old as the Crusades, and is thus door of the Soracen’s Head’ (as at Southwell).
The pub’s name and sign was been changed and the pub is called Beacon Hill in a nod to the town’s historic roots as a beacon signalling point in the 17th century.
CAVENDISH – Cavendish Road
The pub sign displayed has a portrait of William Cavendish (1592-1676), the first Duke of Newscastle-upon-Tyne and was a relative of the Duke of Portland who lived at Welbeck Abbey.
Cavendish was a dedicated Royalist and became known as the ‘Loyal Duke of Newcastle’ and commanded the Royalist forces in the north during the outbreak of the Civil War.
EARL OF CHESTERFIELD – Carton Hill
An Earl of Chesterfield pub is thought to have occupied this site for over three hundred years and is thought to have been the haunt of highwaymen at one time.
The pub appears in the 1853 directory as the ‘Earl of Chesterfield Arms – but the ‘Arms’ most likely disappeared when the later building was constructed on the old site around l905.
The pub was known locally by its nickname ‘the Bruno because they held bear bating there.
The story goes that the Earl of Chesterfield was very fond of bear-baiting and spent much of his time here drinking with friends, leaving his favourite bear tethered in the stables outside but on occasions would bring the bear into the bar, where it soon acquired a taste for the landlord’s fine ale and downed many pints.
ELWES ARMS – Oakdale Road
The Elwes Arms was opened on June 8, 1962 by the late Sir Richard Elwes, a former High Court judge. The pub was named after his family to commemorate their long connections with Nottinghamshire.
Known as the lawyer poet’ Sir Richard, the son of an opera singer, the late Gervase Elwes, and a brother of the portrait painter Simon Elwes, was called to the Bar of the inner Temple in 1925. He retired in 1965 due to ill-health. His daughter, Polly Elwes, once a BBC television personality, was married to BBC sports presenter Peter Dimmock and was voted
TV woman personality of the year in 1959.
The coat of arms of the Elwes family, whose motto is ‘Deo non fortun’ (Through God, not by chance), are reproduced on the signboard outside this pub.
Back in June I983 the ‘Elwes Arns’ temporarily changed its name to The Lodge,’ before reverting back to its present sign in 1992.
INN FOR A PENNY – Burton Road
The pub appeared in White’s Directory of 1832 and was listed as the ‘Royal Oak’.
The Oak changed its name to the Inn For A Penny’ in 1984.
When the pub changed its name, some cheeky locals spread the word that that this unusual new name derives from the fact that visitors to nearby playing fields would often drop into the pub just to ‘spend a penny!’ The brewery confirmed this was ‘nonsense’ and said the name was thought up in their office when they decided to make it a fun-pub’ and has no significant meaning.
OLD VOLUNTEER – Burton Road
The existence of this pub is recorded in White’s Directory of 1832 as the Volunteer.
During the English Civil War many inns served as recruiting offices. The premises were visited by mostly local men, eager to volunteer their services to whichever cause they supported.
The name here may be a reference to the Old Contemptibles, a nickname of the British Expeditionary Force which fought at Mons (France) in 1914.The name was adapted by the soldiers themselves after they learned that the German Kaiser had supposedly referred to them as General French’s contemptible little army’
The sign outside the pub now depicts a soldier in full battledress, but used to show an ‘Old Contemptible’ wearing a chest full of medals.
PUNCH BOWL – Porchester Road
The pub was converted from a private house and opened in October 1961.
It’s believed the word ‘punch’ may derive from the Hindi word pac: meaning ‘five’ suggesting five ingredients are used to make up this alcoholic beverage (water, sugar, lemon-juice, spice and spirits).
It may also be a shortened form of “puncheon” which was a large cask containing over one hundred gallons. Either way, punch is usually ladled from a bowl – hence the name.
THE NEW ENGINE HOUSE – Carlton Hill
When it opened in December 1969 as the ‘Engine House, this pub had one of the most unusual inn-signs of al time – a full-sized horizontal steam engine.
The engine, made by ‘Tangyes’ of Birmingham in l850, was first used at a colliery in Nottingham before being purchased by the Notingham Patent Brick Company in 1867 for £659.
Near to what is now the site of this pub, it used to drive mills and agitators, processing and working raw clay into a suitable consistency to make bricks -helping to produce 450 million of them (using 225,000 tons of coal in the process), before it was retired in 1966 and donated to Shipstones Brewery.
The engine was incorporated in the design of the pub and housed in a long
glass-fronted lounge.
When the premises were refurbished in June 1982, the brewery decided to donate the engine to the City of Nottingham Industrial Museum at Wollaton Park and, due to its immense size and weight, the lounge roof had to be removed to allow it to be hoisted out. It was at this time that the pub changed its name to the Steam Engine.’
In 1989 the brewery decided to rename the pub, yet again, and ran a ‘name-a-pub competition. The winning selection was the Thorn Bush’ – after the plant that once grew profusely round about this area.
It has now been renamed the New Engine House.
TOBY JUG – Carlton Hill
Opened in June 1958, this pub is probably named after the jug of the same name.
The jugs, also known as Toby fill-pots, are traditionally formed in the shape of a stout old man wearing 18th- century costume, comprising a long, full-skirted coat and a three-cornered hat – an example of which was portrayed on this pub’s colourful sign.
The name of the jug itself derives from a poem written in 176l about a certain Toby Philpot upon whom a popular drinking-song was based: ‘A thirsty old soul as e’er drank a bottle or fathom’d a bowl…”
