The Bay Horse: Berwick Hill's Lost Pub

Berwick Hill had its own pub in the middle of the 19th century. It was called the Bay Horse.

Unfortunately, there are no maps showing the exact location of the pub but from examining census returns and the recollections of former residents recalling stories from their youth, it seems to have been located on the southern side of the road leading through the village, opposite what is now No’s 5 and 7 West End Cottages.

In the middle of the 19th century, the road through the village was much wider and formed a village green. The pub would have been set back from what is now the road and the trees and would have overlooked the green.

Berwick Hill was much larger than it is now and had a population of over 100 at that time. The first Innkeeper was Thomas Morrison who seems to have set the pub up around 1848. Around 1867, the pub was taken over by Morrison’s neighbour Thomas Gallon. He looks to have ran the pub until about 1881 when presumably the pub had closed as it was recorded as the “late” Bay Horse and Thomas‘ occupation is given as Agricultural Labourer in the census of that year.

His daughter continued to live on the premises after his death but there is no mention of them after 1901 and the 1913 Ordnance Survey Map shows a much-reduced building on the site which seems to indicate it was already falling into ruin.