The Welney WebsiteThe Three Tuns, Bedford Bank Eastpage created 1st July 2010; last updated Wednesday, 22 August 2018 |
The Welney WebsiteThe Three Tuns, Bedford Bank Eastpage created 1st July 2010; last updated Wednesday, 22 August 2018 |
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IntroductionA much-missed, dearly-loved, down-to-earth, old-fashioned fen pub on the north-west bank of the Old Bedford River just a few yards from Welney Bridge and Main Street sadly closed in 2001 on the death of the last licencee, John Waring MBE. It offered Elgood's beers and a friendly greeting to all, not just locals but to the campers & caravanners on the site behind the pub and anglers from all over England, particularly from Yorkshire and Essex. Many of those visitors came to Welney year after year and became part of the community. Boaters visited whenever river conditions allowed, mooring just a few paces from the pub. The Tuns remained empty and deteriorating from 2001 until 2008 when the Brewery had it demolished prior to planned redevelopment of the site, since postponed and now in 2014 seemingly cancelled. John and his wife Mabs, who was licencee before him, and the old pub itself, are irreplaceable, and very sadly missed. But there are tuns-full of happy memories and tales of the fun and laughter for which "The Tuns" was widely renowned, and I hope to bring some of those to you in these pages. |
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This photo of John kindly provided by Pete Young, a fisherman from Essex who was a regular visitor to Welney for many years. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tom Fisher's "Tale of a Pub" - and Hogmanay on New Years Eve!(This article by Tom Fisher was first published in the Welney News issue 43, Feb-Mar 2005.)"ln the Travel Section of the lndependent on Sunday, 21 Nov 1993, there appeared a full page article by Jill Crawshaw, entitled "ln Search of Swans". lt was a eulogy about Fenland and in particular the area around Welney and Ely. |
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Narrow BoatsNarrow Boaters were regular visitors and those doing so between 1968 and 1997 recorded their details and comments in an untitled old note book referred to as "the Boat Register". I don't think it was co-incidence that the register started shortly after John Waring arrived at the Three Tuns in 1967/68 from the Middle East to join his wife Mabs who became the licencee in 1966, nor that the first entry was by the then Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), Lionel Munk, who arrived in NB 'Sheerwater II' on 14th May with other members of the IWA.Access into the Old Bedford was either from the Tidal River at Salters Lode or from the Forty Foot River at Welches Dam. Both could be difficult, and at times impossible. At Salters Lode entry was through Old Bedford Sluice which has two sets of doors like a lock, but for anything other than a very short boat access could only be achieved when river levels were equal and both sets of doors open. Boats then had to pass under Welney Gate, a single vertical sluice gate just north of the Tuns. From the Forty Foot River, boats had to pass first through Horseway Lock (at the point where the 40 Foot changes from Middle Level Commissioners (MLC) to NRA/EA control) then via Welches Dam lock. No visits were recorded between July 1977 and March 1991, possibly due to lock problems on the Foty Foot and siltation at Salters Lode. Horseway was re-opened by MLC in July 1985, but it wasn't until Welches Dam Lock was rebuilt by NRA in 1991 that navigation into the Old Bedford became possible again. To mark that event, seven NBs came through and moored up at the Three Tuns on 29th March that year. Many more visits are listed between then and Dec 1993. Unfortunately, the Forty Foot leaked out into surrounding lands and became more and more difficult to navigate, and later EA restricted access to just a few times a year. No more visits are shown until 29th March 1997, when five NBs moored up. NBs Barnaby, Warrior, Molly, Tekapo and Whimbrel (not necessarily in that order) in March 1997. Photo by the late Patrick Barry, courtesy of his wife Helen, who both lived then at Welney Hotel. After that, the next - and last - recorded was on the 29th Dec 1997 when NBs Warrier, Barnaby and Angiller (Upwell) made the trip. The Register is now kept at Fox Narrowboats in March, Cambs, and PDF versions are held by members of the Peterborough branch of IWA and available online on this website. NB Frogmoore managed, just, to get through from the Forty Foot in 2001 but by then the Three Tuns had closed. By 2005, Welches Dam Lock was sealed off, leaving the only access into the Old Bedford via Salters Lode. In this wintry scene in December 1999, the boat moored is about the maximum length that can use the "Lock" at Old Bedford sluice. |
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Mary Dockerty recalls teenage life as a publican's daughter"In 1998 Mary, then living in Tipps End, wrote an article for issue 3 of the 'Welney News' recalling life as a teenager in Welney in the 1950s. The following extracts cover her time living in The Three Tuns."I moved to Welney in 1952, having been born and raised at One Hundred Foot Bank in Pymore. My father was Will Kent who lived as a boy at the Welney Hotel. My mother had been a local midwife before marriage, so most of the Welney people knew the family well, if not directly related. |
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The Punt GunEvery visitor to the Tuns will remember the huge Punt Gun above the bar fireplace. I often wondered what happened to it when the pub closed in 2001 but it wasn't until October 2009 that I found out. Chatting to Tom and Cath Fisher one day, the Tuns almost ineviably cropped up, and I asked if they knew. They did, of course. They said it belonged to Thomas Mott, and when the Tuns closed his son, a farmer at Dairy Houses, Bells Drove, took it away. |
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Owner/Brewery
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Licencees
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Acknowledgements:
see right
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Acknowledgements:Picture top rightBrewery and licencee details from the excelent Norfolk Pubs Website (Richard Bristow); Tony Smart; and from 'Downham Market and Around...' an excelent book by Chistopher Shaw, published 2009. Text, design and layout: Peter Cox, © 2010-15 Welney Website |
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