Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
The Three Tuns Inn, Barnstaple: (The oldest pub...?) - Terry Green (Newsletter No 14 2007/08)
If you frequent Barnstaple High Street, it won't have escaped your notice that the Three Tuns Inn has been undergoing 'works'. The familiar Barnstaple pub dosed down some while ago and has been taken over by Pizza Express, who apparently have a good reputation for looking after the old buildings that they acquire. Reopening as a pizzeria will be only the latest change of personality that this building has undergone in over BOO years. In the circumstances, and since the Three Tuns is such a Barnstaple landmark, a brief account of it seems an appropriate contribution to this edition of the NDAS Newsletter.
Firstly, things are not at all what they seem. The half-timbered frontage
with its faintly Elizabethan look is a pastiche created by the Barnstaple
architect and antiquarian Bruce Oliver in 1946. Before that date the Three
Tuns looked quite different, having a plain Georgian frontage with a Victorian
shop window at street level [Plate 1 ]. Nevertheless, the name goes back
to at least 1704 when Thomas Randleis recorded as paying 6.5d Poor Rate
for 'the 3 Tuns'.
In 1948 Bruce Oliver, having, at the request of the owner Harry Dawe/restored'
the inn to what he considered to be its original condition, gave a presentation
to the Devonshire Association, detailing the features that he had found
and the history that he could piece together from Barnstaple records.
The history below is largely derived from his information.
From documentary evidence it is quite clear that urban occupation of the
centre of Barnstaple was well developed before 1066, and such evidence
was backed up by archaeological work in the 1970s and '80s. Investigations
in the Holland Walk and Paiges Lane area under the direction of Trevor
Miles found evidence of timber buildings and tenement boundaries pre-dating
the stone buildings which began to go up in the 14th/15th century. These
buildings had undergone alteration in the 16th to 18th century period
and further radical rebuilding took place in the early 19th century.
The picture emerging from documents of developments in the central High
Street sits quite comfortably in this archaeological context. In 1415
John Hunt bought a property in this location - very probably a merchant's
premises at the time. From John Hunt it descended to his grandson, Henry
who, in 1449, gave it to John Holman, rector of Heanton Punchardon and
Walter Hayne, merchant. In 1459 John Holman granted to John Denys and
23 other feoffees all his properties in Barnstaple, including those which
he had by the gift of Henry Hunt. For his lifetime John Holman was to
enjoy the income of the properties, as was Henry Hunt for those properties
which he had given to John Holman. On their deaths, the feoffees were
to provide for the offices of a priest to conduct service in St Anne's
Chapel for the benefit of the souls of John Holman and Henry Hunt and
their families. Within the agreement of
1459 were clauses for the repair and maintenance of the properties, stating
'Before all other things it
is necessary that all needful outlay be made for rebuilding, etc.'. John
Holman died in 1461.
In 1549, under Edward VI, St Anne's Chapel was secularised and was turned
into a grammar school, while the other associated properties were retained
to the use of the town. From this time the properties bequeathed by John
Holman were administered by feoffees comprising the leading merchants
of the town. The document listing the feoffees provides a schedule of
42 properties among which the (antecedent of) The Three Tuns was in the
tenure of John Wichalse. A century later, in 1647 the tenant can be identified
as a widow, Elizabeth Cooper who was followed by her daughter Mary in
1667 and then by Jane Squire. In August 1669, Christopher Hunt, a bookseller
leased the property from Henry Masson and John Downe, merchants, surviving
feoffees of the Corporation land. Christopher's son John succeeded his
father in the business and tenancy and in 1700 took up afresh lease for
a term of 31
years. Unfortunately tragedy struck and by 1703, John, his wife Mary and
his son John were all dead. In 1704Thomas Randle took over the tenancy
of the property and it is in this year that we first find the name Three
Tuns. In 1747 John Baker bought the property continuing there with his
son until around 1796, when it was sold to William Barbor. In 1826 James
Easton bought The Three Tuns, and Eastons were owners and landlords until
1909. The Eastons were followed by a succession of landlords down to 1946
when Harry Dawe bought it and approached Bruce Oliver to restore it to
what was thought to be its original state, When Oliver stripped away Victorian
studwork, fireplaces and paint, he found what he took to be a late medieval
merchant's premises with shop, workshop and storage on the ground-floor
and a panelled hall on the first floor, the front of which, he conjectured,
would have been originally jettied out over the street. The ceiling beams
were elaborately decorated with acanthus leaf stops, a motif repeated on the lintels of the two fireplaces.
The jambs of one of the fireplaces appeared to have been put together
from salvaged architectural material, perhaps corresponding to the rebuilding
recommended in the late 15th century (Plate 2).The panelling appeared
to date from three different periods, the latest 17th century. The roof
timbers were original. There was a back-block with a large fi replace,
probably representing a detached kitchen which was connected to the main
building by a first-floor gallery on the north side. (Oliver thought this
to be Elizabethan, but there is a problem with this as the Barnstaple
town map of 1843 shows the
back-block connected by a structure on the south side!) One curious find
was a pair of 18th century
lady's shoes inside a cloam oven beside a groundfloor 16th century fireplace,
apparently put there
to dry and then forgotten.
Bruce Oliver left numerous photographs of the building as he found it,
which show a number of principal features, as now seen, to be authentic.
However, it is quite obvious that he remodelled the street frontage completely,
and it is hard to know what other features inside were introduced by him
in order to 'restore'the building. It is known that some architectural
items were brought in from elsewhere in the district. An advertisement
from the 1940s (Plate 3) makes great claims for the age and authenticity
of the Three Tuns, but claims for its great age as a pub have to be treated
with a deal of scepticism.
When did it become a pub? Which bits are oldest? How many changes has
it undergone? It is not alone in retaining features of medieval and post-medieval
Barnstaple building (have a look inside the North Country Inn some time),
nevertheless it probably has more on display than any other.