The Horn Inn

The Horn Inn

Map of 1899

‘The Horn Inn’, closed c1945 Maud Ody recalls celebrating VE Day in The Horn so it is most likely 1945, was just next to and south of ‘The Chequers Inn’ and is now a residential property, ‘Hillside’.

The building dates from the mid to late 18^th Century and is made from coursed limestone rubble with a late C19 tile roof. The name and sign (photo below) derived from the legend of The Pusey Horn.

There was a hatch (‘the pop hole’) in the wall where children or anyone not wanting to go into the pub could get served. The Inn served as a kind of off-licence, also selling cigarettes, sweets and crisps.

The Horn had an entrance facing The Green and also access from Buckland Road and Chapel Lane.

Maud Ody notes on P20 of her book that (in 1924-1930) ‘the sign was one of a bullock’s horns hanging on a cord and was quite a pleasing picture when swaying in the breeze‘. And also on P43 that ‘the room used as the cellar and the room above it had once been a separate cottage and so I’ve been told. was where for many years the village ‘snob’ (shoemender) lived, but at his death was converted into the cellar for the Horn Inn.’

Around 1944 Morlands decided that it was not feasible to run two pubs in the village and The Horn was sold and became a residential property ‘Hillside’.

Owners of The Horn Inn

Date	Owner	Source
Soon after 1806	James Crowdy owned the Manor House, a great deal of the village ‘including the two inns’	A history of Charney Manor, by Harriet Salisbury, 1989
1920	Wantage Brewery Company	Faringdon Advertiser 6th March 1920: Alteration Plans
Up to 1944	Morlands Company. Around 1944 Morlands decided that it was not feasible to run two pubs in the village and The Horn was sold and became a residential property ‘Hillside’.	Uncertain

Publicans of The Horn Inn

Date	Name	Source
1841	Richard Woodbridge	Census
1851	Richard Woodbridge (b.1806 est) Charlotte Woodbridge – Wife Ann Eliza Woodbridge – Daughter Rebecca Woodbridge – Daughter Richard Woodbridge -Son, Scholar Matilda Woodbridge -Daughter, Scholar at home James Woodbridge -Son Edwin Woodbridge- Son Charlotte Woodbridge – Mother/Grandmother, Parish Relief aged 73 Mary Ann Belcher/Servant	Census
1861	-	No Census entry
1865	Mrs Charlotte Woodbridge	Reading Mercury - Saturday 02 September 1865
1871	Charles Woodbridge	Census
1881	William Pembroke	Census
1883, 1887	William Pembroke	Kelly’s Directory of Berkshire, 1883 & 1887
1891	Isaac King	Census Aberdeen Evening Express - Friday 21 December 1894
1901	Eliza King (Isaac's Widow)	Faringdon Advertiser, Petty Sessions, 2 July 1901. Census
1907-1939	Mr and Mrs Charles Henry Rutland	Mentioned in Faringdon Advertiser 12 July 1913 and in Maud Ody's book and the Census for 1911 and 1939.

There are various newspaper clipping mentioning The Horn given in the Newspaper Clippings section.

And which pub is this highlighted for sale?

The Horn at Pendon Museum

This superb model of The Horn was created by Jane Britton and many thanks to the Pendon Museum for providing the first three photos and allowing their inclusion, the ‘aerial’ shot was provided by Trevor Brown. Please visit the museum if you can and see The Vale as it used to be. The museum preserves the idyllic rural scene and transport of the 1920s and 30s in a miniature form for future generations to enjoy, it is a real gem! Pendon Museum, Long Wittenham, Abingdon, Oxfordshire. OX14 4QD. https://pendonmuseum.com/ Their The Horn specific webpage is here.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Information on The Horn provided by The Pendon Museum from their researches in making this model

The village was for many years served by two public houses, The Horn and The Chequers, which were situated next to each other in the centre of the settlement opposite the village green.

By the early 1800s James Crowdy, an attorney and commissioner for enclosures, owned the Manor House and much of the village including the two inns until the Wantage Brewery Company Limited bought both The Horn and The Chequers public houses which they ran until the company was taken over by the Morland Brewery of Abingdon.

The Horn was situated between Main Street and Chapel Lane. Its principal entrance was off Main Street facing The Green and there was a side access off the lane. The Inn originally consisted of three buildings. The main structure dates from the early to mid-18th century, built of local rubble-stone with a late 19th century tiled roof. There are signs that parts of the structure were the remains of an earlier 17th century building. It was at some time extended on the lane side by a single storey rubble-stone wing which was raised to two storeys using brickwork under a tiled roof in the mid-19th century and, probably at the same time or soon after this work, all the rubble-stone elevations were lime-washed. A single storey wing off the front right-hand side of the main building comprising stables/barn is built of rubble-stone under a slate roof and was renovated, probably in the 19th century, with the rear and end walls being re-built in Flemish bond brickwork. The third part of the building was situated at the end of the lane-side extension, furthest from the main building. Built of boarding and rubble-stone with brick quoins under a corrugated roof it may originally have been built to house a trap, although for a time served as a cobbler’s shop before being incorporated into the Inn.

After the Second World War Morland Brewery concluded that the village would no longer support two Inns and sold The Horn as a dwelling house. It remains as such today, named ‘Hillside’. The building outline is essentially as it was although the part that was a cobbler’s shop has been demolished to give access to the rear of the property and garaging.