PUBS WITH EERIE PASTS

Pubs with eerie pastsWith Halloween on the horizon, Samantha

Priestley dares you to book a stay in one of these historic inns with horrible histories

This image: The Jamaica Inn was rst made famous by Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name Right: The Daphne du Maurier suite is available for guests to book

BRIAN JANNSEN/BRITPIX/ALAMY Britain has a bounty of historic pubs that date back hundreds of years, and over those years many of them have accumulated some unusual and sometimes disturbing stories.

While some people love the idea of a haunted old pub, others might imagine dingy rooms with cobwebs and draughty windows. However, at these four pubs that couldn’t be further from the truth.

These old inns with tragic tales and spooky sightings are now beautifully renovated places to stay, perfect for an autumn getaway. From converted barns to loft rooms in historic pubs, you can soak up the atmosphere of a scary story while relaxing in luxury.

JAMAICA INN

Launceston, Cornwall

Jamaica Inn, high up on Bodmin Moor, was made famous by Daphne Du Maurier in her book of the same name, and it has long been associated with smugglers and dodgy deeds. However, this former coaching inn also has other dark stories to tell.

Back in the inn’s days of hiding smuggled contraband in its cellars, a man was drinking at the bar when he was called outside. He left his half-drunk pint on the bar and went outside. He never came back in to finish that pint. Instead, his body was found the next day out on the moor.

Who killed him, why, or when, was never discovered – but from 1911 on, visitors to the inn began to talk of a strange man sitting outside on the wall who never responded to anyone. Could it be his ghost? If you visit Jamaica Inn today, you’ll find a much warmer welcome.

Rooms are beautifully furnished, some retaining original features, with fantastic views of the moor. There are selected dog-friendly rooms and a new disabilityfriendly room with wheelchair access, wet room and inter-connecting room.

The Daphne du Maurier Suite has a luxurious 7ft emperor bed and roll-top bath. The majority of the food at the Jamaica Inn is homemade and includes pies, fish and chips, steak, and surf & turf. You can enjoy a traditional Cornish cream tea or settle down by the fire with a pint of Cornish ale. On-site at the inn there is also a smuggling museum, a gift shop and a farm shop. jamaicainn.co.uk

Right: A luxurious bedroom at the Crown and Garter Far Right: Corpses for gibbeting were taken to the Crown and Garter after they’d been hung to be measured for their irons

THE CROWN AND GARTER

Combe, Berkshire

Back in 1676, Britain indulged in the gruesome post-hanging practice of gibbeting. Reserved for murderers, highwaymen, and pirates, gibbeting was the re-hanging of the dead bodies of criminals in a metal body cage for all to see.

These corpses were often left hanging from the gibbet posts for so long only an old rattling skeleton was left. In Combe, near Hungerford, there still stands today the only gibbet post ever used to gibbet a woman in the UK.

George Broomham and Dorothy Newman were hanged and gibbeted here for the murder of George’s wife, Martha. After hanging, the couple’s bodies were taken down to the nearest pub, the Crown and Garter, and laid out in the barn behind the inn to be measured for their gibbet irons. Locals were so intrigued, the landlord of the pub started charging entry to the ‘gibbet barn’ for onlookers. That barn is now a set of beautifully renovated rooms where visitors can stay. The Crown and Garter is a charming English country garden pub with a menu of flavoursome dishes using locally sourced produce.

Breakfast in the garden on a sunny day is peaceful and at odds with its position in the valley below the gibbet on the hill. The barn rooms border a pretty courtyard, a world away from its former life as the ‘gibbet barn’. crownandgarter.co.uk

THE OLD RAM COACHING INN

Tivetshall St. Mary, Norfolk

Elijah Snelling was already well known to police and locals for being a violent man when, in 1890, he brutally murdered his mother-in-law, Maria Brown.

Elijah had been at The Old Ram since 7am on the day of the murder, and by 12 noon he’d had his share of drink. It was no accident that he was in The Old Ram though, as he knew his mother-in-law, Maria, would be passing right by the door at around 1pm on her way to take her husband his lunch at work.

Having previously attempted to murder his wife, Elijah was now moving on to her mother. As Maria passed by the door of the pub, Elijah went outside and beat her to death. It was a vicious attack and once she was dead, he threw her body over a hedge and into the next field. She was found soon after and her body was taken back inside the pub while the police went to pick up Elijah, who confessed immediately.

Today The Old Ram is a family-run inn with rooms that include original features for an atmospheric stay. Choose from a four-poster bed, garden view rooms, or loft rooms with sloping ceilings and old wooden beams. The Old Ram offers an impressive menu, with a range of vegetarian and vegan options, and at lunchtime you can order a picnic to take on a walk around the village. theoldramnorfolk.co.uk

Left: The Old Ram was the site of a murder in 1890 Above: A loft room at The Old Ram

CRASTER

Northumberland

Queues are likely at L Robson & Sons. This fourthgeneration family smokehouse has been oak-smoking salmon and kippers here since 1890 and rumour has it that the British royal family are among their regular patrons. The business typifies this hard-working, traditional yet picturesque fishing village, while a warm welcome can also be had at The Jolly Fisherman inn, whose low ceilings and open fires recall a time when whisky smugglers worked this stretch of Northumberland coastline.

Either side of the village are two popular day trips: the ruined Dunstanburgh Castle to the north and Howick Hall to the south, the ancestral home of the tea-loving Earl Grey.

Above: The Drover’s Inn was used by Highland Drovers who used to drive their cattle down the side of Loch Lomond to the markets Right: Enough to make your hair stand on end, the inn’s cupboards of curiosities include stu ed animals

THE DROVER’S INN

Loch Lomond, Scotland

In the winter of 1792, a year that would become known as ‘the year of the sheep’, sheep farming around Loch Lomond was a lucrative business and one landlord realised that he could make more money from farming sheep than he could from charging rent to the family living on his premises.

So, he threw them out into the cold night to find their fate. The family headed straight for the Drover’s Inn. It was a bitterly cold night and they just needed to find shelter until they could figure out what to do. Sadly, the weather deteriorated and before they made it to the door of The Drover’s each one of them froze to death.

Many visitors to the inn since have reported seeing the ghosts of this poor family in the grounds, trying to find the door. This traditional inn makes for an atmospheric stay today. Rooms are simple but come with antique furniture, and the ground floor is crammed with curiosities charting its 300-year history. Room 6 – the haunted room – is for the truly brave, while the bar downstairs is lively and stocked with different kinds of spirits. n droversinn.co.uk

© J IM GIBSON/KAY ROXBY/ALAMY