Home » The long history of The Tiddly
Community

The long history of The Tiddly

history of the tiddlyThomas Jenkins opened a pub in ‘Low Freystrop. in 1811 and ran it for a couple of years. It was called the New Inn, and the landlady from 1813 to 1827 was Martha Cozens; the address was sometimes given as ‘Mutton Hall’. Joseph Phillips took over, but nothing more is known about this pub. It appears that when she left the New Inn, Martha Cozens opened the Lamb and Flag nearby and she carried on running this wayside inn until 1841. Coalminer Owen Jenkins was landlord from 1851 to 1861 and James Yea was in charge in 1867. The pub, which was in Lower Freystrop near the junction with the lane to Little Milford. was converted into a grocery shop shortly afterwards. It may have been the building now much modernised and called ‘The Old Manse’.

The closure of the Lamb and Flag left a gap in the market which was filled by the Travellers’ Rest at the foot of the hill; quite possibly the licence was transferred. This pub was up and running by 1869 when it was kept by William Gwilliam, a mariner, and his wife Martha. lowever she died that year, aged 26, and coal miner and publican Absalom James ran the Weary Traveller (sic) in 1871 — presumably an error in the census. George Russell was landlord of the Travellers’ Rest in 1874 and John Russell was in charge.

In 1880. George Morgan held the licence from 1891 to 1917 when the pub was better known as ‘the Tiddley’, which it still is — perhaps a throwback to the days when beer- houses were known as `Kiddleywinks’.

George Morgan was followed by William Cousins and his wife Sarah who were there for 40 years – he was always known as ‘Billy the Tiddley’. Thomas Maxted was landlord in the early 1960s followed by Freddie Holder who later ran the New Anchor in Hook. Former navy man Ron Pitt, who was there in the 1970s, played host to the pub’s most famous visitor when Prince Charles dropped in for a drink one evening with a few naval officers while he was staying at Brawdy. The Pitts were succeeded by Neville and Jane Lewis, and when they left to run the Cottage Inn at Llangwm the `Tiddley’ was taken over by Brian James.

John Fry & Adrian Price both had periods in charge before licensee, Angela Jarvis took over in 2001. The new millennium brought it’s fair share of landlords and ladies, working hard to keep the quaint, country pub alive during a stifling recession and a country being consumed by a commercial market.

On 16 November 2013, The Tiddly will re-open in the hands of husband and wife, Matt & Ang Baker. The ambitious couple plan to bring life back into the pub and the community with delicious home-made food, an array of drinks and live entertainment that will be offered every week. Come and make history at the Tiddly.

online casinos UK

Author