The Old Gate’s exterior has been lovingly restored to reflect its 1800s charm, when it first became an inn. Thanks to Sam and Ben, the original signage is now shining once again, welcoming visitors just as it did all those years ago.
Here you can explore the story of The Old Gate, tracing its history up to 1988, just as it’s told in the framed document proudly displayed inside The Old Gate Heathton.
OLD GATE INN
HEATHTON, CLAVERLEY, SHROPSHIRE. WV5 7EB.
TEL: (01746) 710431
On 3rd May 1784, yeoman Arthur Hidson sold a cottage and land at Heathton to John Plimley. Adding a parcel of land in 1801, bought from the Rev. John Charles Beckingham, paying £61,19,0.
In his will dated 12th May 1818, he bequeathed his estate to “……John Plimley, son of my late nephew John Plimley”. A mortgage was arranged in November 1830 to secure £100.00.0 and confirmed at a Court Baron held at the King’s Arms, Claverley.
‘Young’ John Plimley is recorded in the census 1841 aged 31, a publican, married to Mabel aged 28. They had a family; John 6, Ann 4, Eliza 2, and Emma, 6 months.
John Plimley opened his beerhouse in the late 1830’s, taking advantage of the Duke of Wellington’s Beer House Act, 1830, which permitted a householder on payment of two guineas to the Excise, to turn his private house into a public house, calling it The Wicket.
A short distance from The Wicket stood the Swan Inn, an alehouse owned by Thomas Lloyd. It had closed by 1860, but the house still stands on the corner of Swan Meadow.
Referred to both as The Wicket and The Gate, the latter eventually replacing the former. By 1859 The Gate had achieved inn status, permitted to remain open as long as a bed was empty, offering basic accommodation, food, homebrewed ale, and stabling to the lawful traveller.
In 1892, John Plimley the younger, defaulted on mortgage repayments, and as a consequence The Gate Inn was passed to farmer Charles Bannister, who sold on later that that year to Wolverhampton Maltster and brewer William Maddox. A brewer, Charles Hanes Chater, he paid £619.0.0.
Local Magistrates inspected the ‘Old’ Gate Inn, 23.07.1896, and were satisfied, finding the premises fair and clean, with 3 rooms upstairs, 4 rooms on the ground floor and stabling for 4 horses. Managed by Albert Pritchard and rated at £13.6.2.
In June 1899, Charles Chater sold the Old Gate Inn to Bloxwich brewers J & J Yardley, paying £850.0.0. They merged with South Staffs Breweries becoming Old Wolverhampton Breweries, Ltd in 1910, selling to Frank Myatt of Wolverhampton in 1920, for £2000.0.0.
Frank Myatt and 94 licensed houses were acquired by the Holt Brewery, Birmingham in 1927. Who in turn were absorbed by Ansell’s Brewery, Aston in 1934. In 1961 Ansell’s merged with Tetley Walker Ltd. & Ind Coope Ltd.
The Old Wicket has seen many changes over the past 156 years (1993). But remains as originally intended by ‘young’ John Plimley, a social and convivial centre of a community.
LICENCEES
HOMEBREW/BEERHOUSE
- c 1837 John Plimley 1881
- 1881 William Hall 1891
- 1881 Rebecca Plimley 1895
- 1895 Alexander Hyatt 1896
- 1896 Albert Pritchard 1909
- 1909 Sidney Thomas 1913
- 1913 Mary May 1924
- 1924 Alfred Owen Cunniold 1929
- 1929 Charles Harry Brettell 1934
- 1934 Albert Edward Wood 1971
- 1944 Charles S. Jones 1953
- 1953 David L.W. Law 1968
- 1963 Ethel Renshaw 1977
- 1977 Harold Roberts 1979
- 1979 William Hammond 1984
- 1984 Peter Husbands 1988
- 1988 Jamie Roderick Atkins