Two pubs in search of a landlord .... and a history ……. more stories from Ripley in Yorkshire

Stories seldom turn out the way you expect.

The Boar's Head, 2023

The plan was simple.  Trace a favourite pub and hotel, which was once a coaching inn, explore its history and if the research goes well uncover the lives of some of the landlords.

The place is the Boar’s Head in Ripley, which occupies a prominent position on the old market square just a few minutes’ walk from the equally old Ripley Castle and the parish church of All Saints.

Ripley, 1854

I have written about the village over the years and last week we were back, and I judged it was time to sort out the story of the pub.*

It seemed a simple enough task.  I had been told the pub had been there a long time, was briefly closed by one of Ingilby family who owned the village and later reopened as a lucrative addition to the family’s income.

Choosing to close and then reopen the pub was small beer to the Ingilby’s who in 1830 rebuilt the village in a uniform style derived from French influence and two decades later built the impressive Town Hall.

Coaches from the Star Inn, 1841

So to the story ….. which is twisty, with unexpected surprises and more than a few unanswered questions and starts with the odd discovery that the Boars Head Inn was not where it is now. 

It was a little to the south at the edge of the village but was important enough to be marked on the map with its name prominently displayed on the 1854 OS map of Ripley.

Meanwhile the pub in the market square was the Star Hotel which appears the more interesting, given that it was also the location for the Excise Office and acted as the coaching station for coaches travelling to and from Leeds, Rippon, York, and Newcastle

Added to which it survived into the 1880s while its rival is missing from the Directories.

Just why the Boar's Head is missing from the list is unclear.  I do know that it was still there in 1855, along with the Star and four rivals in the surrounding villages and hamlets.  

Of these “alternatives” my favourite is the Ass in a Band Box in Nid which is just a mile from Ripley. 

And at present that is about it, leaving me to pursue the landlords of the Star and Boar’s Head, who in 1841 were George Wood and Stephen Broadbelt.  Of these Mr. Broadbelt has revealed more of his life because he combined his time between offering beer and cheer with farming.

Ripley Church, Castle & Cross, undated

In 1851 he described himself as “Inn keeper [at the Boar’s Head] and farmer of 60 acres employing 2 labourers."  

The census return for that year has him in Ripley living with his wife Margaret, two children, a lodger and two servants.

Stephen and Margaret were married in 1834 and there is a wide age gap between the birth of their daughter in 1835 and their son in 1849, which may suggest some of their children died prematurely.

At present the records are silent, but there is more on Mr. Broadbelt and his father.  

We have their tax records going back into the 1790s for Ripley as well a license granted in 1781 for a premise in the neighbouring village of Killinghall. Its unclear if this was for “a common Alehouse”, “Victualling house” or "Tipplinghouse", all of which appear on the document granting the license**

Playing with numbers, Ripley, 1841

Equally fascinating are the entries for the Poll Books for the 1830s through to the 1840s.  

These were essentially electoral registers, but with the added bonus that in a general election year they recorded the way electors voted.

Voting was still not secret, and the Poll Books published the voting preferences of those who voted.

So, in 1841 in the tiny village of Ripley the seven men entitled to cast their vote overwhelmingly went for the two Tory candidates. Just one elector opted for the Whigs, while five voted Tory with one not voting.

Mr. Broadbelt was one of the Tories and was in the company of Edward Burnett, John Robinson, George Tateson, and William Thorpe along with Sir William Ingilby of Ripley Castle, who as we know owned Ripley.

Sir William Amcotts Ingilby, undated

Voting intimidation was common in the 19th century and even if electors were not “leaned on” it would a brave man in a “company” village who voted against the political preference of their landlord.  And in the case of Mr. Broadbelt it is as well to remember he ran the Boar’s Head also owned by the Ingilby’s.

Not that the majority of Ripley had much say anyway.  

In 1841 there were 296 inhabitants, of these 148 were over the age of 21, and 83 were men.  Those qualified to vote represented just 8% of the total number of men and just 4% of the entire adult population.

As for the Star Inn it may have hit lean times when Ripley got its own railway station which may have done for the its coaching business.

But didn't finish it off.  

In 1911 it is still there under the direction of a Thomas Lister Smailes, who ran the 15 roomed hotel with his wife, and described himself as a "Farmer and Hotel keeper", and was the son of George Smailes who was doing the business at the Star thirty years earlier.

Looking out from the Boar's Head, 2023

But all good things must come to an end and in 1919 according to one account Sir William Ingilby closed the Ripley pubs on Sundays, which in turn lead to all three closing permanently.

The Boar's Head formerly the Star Inn, 2023

This state of affairs lasted until 1990  when Sir Thomas Ingilby opened  the present Boar's Head in the former Star Inn.  In the intervening 71 years the building had variously "been  houses, storage for car parts, a skittle alley, a village youth club, and a talking newspaper studio", with the last occupant leaving in 1990.***

Location; Ripley

Pictures; The Boars Head, 2023, Sir William Amcotts  Ingilby, undated looking out from the Boar's Head, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Ripley 1854, from the OS map of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1854, Coaches to and from the Star Inn 1841, Piggott's Royal National and Commercial Directory, 1841, Ripley Church, Castle and Cross, undated , Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/

*Ripley, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Ripley

** An Alehouse sold ale, a Victuallinghouse was a commercial establishment at which food and beverages were served, and a Tippling house was where liquors were sold in drams or small quantities, to be drunk on the premises.

***17th-century beer and Virginia creeper: discover The Boar’s Head, Chris Clissitt, May 28th, 2021, YAYUK,  https://www.yayuk.com/style/food-drink/17th-century-beer-and-virginia-creeper-discover-the-boar-s-head