Following the two recent blogs about the Town Wall Tavern, CovSoc member Malvern Carvell has sent us a comprehensive history of this much-loved pub. Malvern writes…..
The Land along the lane known as the Town Wall was marketed for building between 1825 and 1827 and it appears that the pub was built and opened in early 1828. There were severe concerns at the time about the state of the muddy lane and as the area became busier calls were made for it to be properly surfaced.
The first landlord was James Shilton, a ribbon weaver born in Coventry, who ran the pub until his death on 24th July 1848, age 56, after a short illness, and on 10th August 1848 the licence was transferred to his widow and then on 6th July 1849 the pub was transferred from Mary Shilton to Sylvester Penn who went on to run the pub until 1864.
Sylvester Penn was from Bridgnorth and a baker by trade, the son of Isaac Penn, a gun maker. He did not however keep a particularly orderly house. In September 1849 only three months after taking over he was charged with assaulting Elizabeth Stanley. Mrs Stanley was at the pub when an argument began between Mr Penn and his wife [Betsey née Harvey]. His wife exited the building to go to her mother’s house in Spon Street. Mrs Stanley went with her, however Penn followed and again quarrelled with his wife and after he had hit her swung round and knocked Mrs Stanley down. He was fined 10s with 12s 6d expenses. In September 1850 Penn had his licence suspended for a year, but in 1858 he was in the news again when two of his customers assaulted John Bevin, who was walking down Bond Street past the Town Wall. In November 1863 the pub was put up for sale and in February 1864, the licence was transferred to George Ingram.
There then appears to have been a bit of pub swapping going on – In 1864 Elijah Morton took on the Old Half Moon in Hertford Place and the following year he swapped pubs, with George Ingram moving to The Old Half Moon and Elijah moving to the Town Wall. George’s stay at the Old Half Moon was relatively short and by 1868 he had become the licensee of the Punchbowl in Spon End, which he ran until his death in 1891. Also, in 1867 Elijah Morton transferred the Town Wall to John Parsons. Elijah was a watchmaker and returned to that trade, living in Albert Street, Hillfields. However, two years later in 1869, his wife Harriett died at home, after climbing up onto a chair to retrieve some items from a high shelf and falling. The jury at the inquest held at the Ivy Cottage, “returned a verdict that the deceased died from injuries received from an accidental fall.” She was only 35. Elijah remarried to Susannah née Barnacle from Harbury in 1870. He continued as a watchmaker whilst Susannah became a midwife.
Through the 1870s there was a churn of landlords with John Parsons passing it on to Henry Barton, followed by Alfred Evans and then Joseph Hewins.
In June 1883 the freehold of the pub came up for sale. The notice reveals that this was owned by Thomas Beech, with Joseph Hewins, the sub-tenant “at a low annual rental.” Thomas Beech (1825-1896) was born in Coventry, the son of Joseph Beech, a watchmaker and he initially followed his father into the watch making industry. However. he switched to brewing becoming a maltster and wine and spirit merchant operating from 78 Spon End. It appears that he did not sell directly to the public but owned a number of properties and public houses through which he sold his beers and ales. In 1869 he was elected as a councillor for Earl Street Ward replacing John Gulson, who had been elevated to Alderman. He served on the council until the early 1890s when deafness and failing health forced him to step down. He died at his home at 137 Spon Street in 1896, leaving a widow [Emma], two daughters and a son who had emigrated to Brisbane, Australia. He was also an honorary member of the licensed Victuallers Association and a trustee of the Freemen’s Inclosure No. 1 Charity.
Joseph Hewins was born in Coventry in about 1827. He too trained as a watchmaker and having married Frances (Fanny) née Barber they moved to Bond Street a few doors down from the pub where they were living in 1851 and then Riley Street in 1861, before taking over at the Town Wall. Joseph died on 17th June 1884 at the Town Wall Tavern and the licence passed to Fanny and then their son, also Joseph. In 1892, the license was transferred to William Hewins, who was also the landlord of the Mechanics Arms at 30 Spon Street. I’m unsure about the exact relationship of William to the others but I think he was Joseph sen’s step nephew.
In 1908 the licence transferred again, to Samuel Windridge (1876-1915). Samuel was born in Radford, the son of John, a carpenter, and Elizabeth. He is later described as a mechanic and an engineer. He married May Gobbett, the daughter of Scarlett Gobbett, a maltster working for Atkinsons Brewery in Cox Street, on 19th May 1905 at Holy Trinity. The freehold of the pub was by this time owned by Atkinsons Brewery, who had built their Coventry brewery in Cox Street in 1900. In 1914 Samuel was summoned on a charge of permitting William Johnson to be drunk on the premises. The case was dismissed as there was insufficient evidence.
Samuel died in the autumn of 1915 aged 39 and the license passed to his widow and then when she re-married to her new husband, Francis Albert Murphy (born in Birmingham 1877-1936) in 1917. May had three daughters, Elizabeth (known as Bess), Barbara, and Doris with Samuel and two further daughters, Norah and Alice with Francis. However, tragedy struck again when May suffered a stroke and died in March 1922, aged just 40. She was buried at London Road Cemetery on 6th April 1922.
Francis continued to run the pub with help from his daughters until his death on 21st October 1936. A Requiem Mass was said at St Osburg’s. Francis’s estate was valued at £4,150 2s 9d (around £330,000 today). The licence then transferred to William Nobes who had married May and Samuel’s eldest daughter Elizabeth/Bess in 1929. They continued to run the pub until their retirement in March 1959 when they moved to Bell Green where William died on 1st December 1978. Elizabeth died in 1987. They had four children. As well as running the Town Wall, William Nobes also worked for the Alvis and was a keen fisherman and secretary of both the Plough and Rising Sun Angling Societies.
Malvern Carvell