SARA-JANE SOCHA
RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF THE HOP POLE INN FROM 1841
Wednesday 25th February 202 7.30pm
FRESHFORD VILLAGE MEMORIAL HALL
We don’t know exactly when the Hop Pole was built but the original building was a single-storey hall house and probably dates from around the 1580s and, if used as an ale house from its earliest date, could be one of the oldest surviving public houses in England. as an inn dating back to 158 origins as an inn dating back to 1580
One of its former landlords, James Male, spiked the Russian guns at Sebastopol during the Crimean War and was so famous that a song, ‘The Midshipmite’ was written in his honour by the Bristol songwriter Fred Weatherly. It was featured in “The Titfield Thunderbolt” and “The Remains of the Day”
Sara-Jane Socha is on Limpley Stoke Parish Council and is also Chairman of our Society. She will be talking about how she tackled research on the tenants of the building through census and newspaper records and also discovered found how the pub evolved over more than 150 years.
Members free Visitors £3.00 Everyone welcome