A Brief History of The Bear at Home Inn

We are currently short of any history about the Bear at Home Inn. If you have any history, or past knowledge of the Bear at Home Inn. please send it directly to me and I will include it on this page. Email me by clicking here. 

Locals have been having fun in the pubs in North Moreton, since the 15th century. There are stories of locals running around the North Moreton graveyard since 1892 after imbibing too much alcohol. There are tales of Great Western Railway  navvies coming to North Moreton to while away their evenings and their newly-earned wages, drinking too much and fighting the locals. North Moreton had four pubs in those days, The Queen Victoria, The Star, The Victoria and of course the Bear at Home Inn.. The Bear at Home Inn. was the 'posh' pub, being the only pub in the village with a licence to sell spirits. The village has only the Bear at Home Inn. now, as all the others have closed their doors, the Queen Victoria finally closing in 1999 after Morrells Brewery shut down its business.

It is thought that the Bear at Home Inn may have originally been in existence from the 15th century as a local public house serving the village. In the 17th Century the 'Bear Inn' may have been an occasional coaching inn, with coaches travelling from Wallingford to Wantage choosing the turnpike roads that were springing up at that time, rather than the poor quality tracks that they were replacing. With its situation on the Wallingford Road it is more likely that the Star Inn would have benefitted from the passing trade, though coaches travelling specifically through North Moreton would have stopped here for refreshment.

Norman & Doris Mawrey ran the Bear Inn  from 1952 until 1977, so far the longest tenure on record. Norman was an ex-Salford rugby league player. On April 8th 2008 Doris celebrated her 100th birthday; a remarkable achievement, and one the current owners would like to emulate ! The Mawreys also ran the village shop in the adjacent building,  the awning has now been removed and the shop is now a private house. During this period the pub was a tied house owned by Watney Mann & Co. The pub served beers made by Ushers brewery of Trowbridge, then part of the Watneys group but now sadly long gone. These pictures show Norman and Doris during their tenure. In 1971 the Bear became a free house, Norman Mawrey having negotiated the purchase of the freehold of the business for the princely sum of £7,450. Click on the image below right to view the letter from Watney Mann in full. Some long standing residents of the Bear were the Mawrey's pets. Pictured below is the pet Columbian parrot who seems to have been a regular drinker of Squires London Dry Gin, another defunct alcoholic drink. If the parrot's liver managed to survive it is possible that he or she is still with us, parrots being long-lived. At the moment the parrot's name is unknown though some have suggested it might be Ed. (Thanks to Valerie (aka Kiwi), who now tells me he was called Walter)

Norman and Doris Mawrey were very much at the centre of village life being involved not only with the running of the pub and shop but also being involved with the sporting life of the village. In those days the Bear was host to both a good darts and bar billiards team. These days we just have a darts team. Click on each image for a larger size photograph.

Bar billiards championship. Norman Mawrey (second left)

Darts championship photo. Don Buckle (left) Brian Vass of the Queen Victoria (middle)

Bar billiards championship. Norman Mawrey left)

Some of the above information has been kindly supplied by Gerald Howat from his book "A History of North Moreton"

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Famous people who have stayed or imbibed in the Bear at Home Inn

Arthur Hay Stewart Reid was a boarder in the Bear Inn in 1871, he went on to practise law in the North-West Provinces of India, he was  professor of Law at Muir College in Allahabad in 1883-95 becamoming Public Prosecutor and standing Counsel in 1895-6. He was Puisne Judge, 1896-1909 and was Knighted in 1909, finally becoming Chief Justice in 1909-14. Whether his glittering career was a result of staying a short while at the Bear we will never know. In the 20th century, among those who lived in North Moreton were R. G. Collingwood, described in the Dictionary of National Biography as ‘one of the most learned men of his generation’, he wrote on the philosophy of art, metaphysics, political philosophy, the philosophy of nature and, perhaps most famously, on the philosophy of history. He may have enjoyed a quiet pint whilst gathering his thoughts here at the Bear Inn.

A Brief History of North Moreton

The medieval manor of North Moreton is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The manor house, where the Stapleton family lived was situated East of the church but can now only be identified by the remains of a moat. North Moreton retains many houses from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, despite the devastating fire in 1807 which destroyed one quarter of the village including one whole side of the main village street.

The Church

North Moreton church is 13th Century and has been described as the most perfect medieval church in Berkshire, although after the local government county remoulding the chuch is now situated in South Oxfordshire. The church is notable for the St. Nicholas or Stapleton Chapel whose east window contains a superb series of late 13th century stained glass showing fifteen colourful scenes from the lives of Christ, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. Paul & St. Nicholas. The window is among the earliest in the county and supposedly among the finest. The chapel itself was remodelled in the decorated style in 1295 at the foundation of Stapleton's chantry by Sir Miles Stapleton who acquired his Berkshire lands through marriage. By misfortune Sir Miles was never laid to rest in the church as he was killed (with his two sons) at the Battle of Bannockburn whilst serving King Edward I.

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Stapleton's Chantry                                      

Stapleton's Chantry is now a home but was originally a 15th century detached chantry chapel with a priest's hole and a secret underground passage. A chantry was defined as the endowment of one or more priests to say or sing Mass for the soul of the endower, in this case Sir Miles Stapleton. Unfortunately Edward VI's reign resulted in the loss of the chantry during the abolition of Chantries in 1547.

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North Moreton House                                  

North Moreton House is a 17th century building with a cross wing dating from the 14-15th centuries. For many years known as the old Rectory, It was only used by the rector until 1562 when the Archdeacon of Berkshire leased it out to tenants, one of whom was a local resident known as Brian Gunter.

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The Football Match 

North Moreton was the venue for the sole supposed death by violence of two players during a foorball match. Rather than being played on a football pitch as is done today this match was one of many informal street games played at this time. During the game, Brian Gunter's son had apparently stepped in to break up a fight when he was attacked by two local brothers of the Gregory family. Brian Gunter' intervened in the fight and hit them both with the butt of his knife, unfortunately he hit them rather too hard, resulting in their deaths. This led to a long family feud between the Gunters and the Gregory which was to have serious repercussions later.

The parish register for May 1595 states the following about the events at the match:

"Gunter’s son and ye Gregorys fell together by ye years at football.
Old Gunter drew his dagger and both broke their heads,
and they died both within a fortnight after."

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Witchcraft     

In the 17th Century there was a famous witchcraft case in North Moreton. In the summer of 1604 a woman named Anne Gunter,  a member of the old Kintbury family and the daughter of Brian Gunter appeared to fall ill. Her symptoms consisted of having fits, falling into a trance, rolling her eyes, walking on her ankles, vomitting, producing pins from her nose whilst her clothes would fall off spontaneously when people visited her. She also claimed that she saw familiars. At that time it was believed that familars were demons which would propagate the will and message of their master Satan to spread lies and deceit in order to thwart the Kingdom of God. The above manifestations encouraged a large number, from peasants to learned men of the University and Church to make the journey to see for Anne for themselves. During the manifestations Anne babbled about Elizabeth Gregory the sister-in-law of the two dead Gregory boys and also about Agnes Pepwell and her daughter Mary, also members of the Gregory family.

Agnes Pepwell had long been reputed to be a witch and so the story quickly arose that poor Anne Gunter had been bewitched by the three vengeful Gregory women in retaliation for the death of the two boys. The three women were then ly charged with bewitching her, although the case at the Abingdon Assize Courts failed to obtain a conviction. A suit was later filed at the Court of the Star Chamber in London where both the reigning King and the Bishop of Salisbury took a great interest in the case.

The case resulted in Brian Gunter was being locked up for a short while in Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury when Anne admitted that Brian had bullied her into feigning all the illnesses, manifestations and the attacks giving her potions to make her ill. The conclusion to the case is now unknown but  it seems to have dragged on for a long time until it finally the case was dropped.

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Landlords of the Bear Inn to the Present Day

The following information is purely anecdotal and provided by the locals, therefore the information within each anecdote is not  necessarily the opinion of the writers and owners of this website nor the Landlord and landlady of the Bear at Home Inn. The names of the previous landlords are highlighted and their years of tenancy are shown where they are known. If you have any corrections or relevant information please let us know.

Norman & Gladys Mawrey ran the Bear from 1952 until 1977-the longest tenure on record. Norman was an ex Salford rugby league player Gladys has just celebrated her 100th birthday, and her telegram is on its way according to BP  ! Their son Bob brought us some great photos of the pub and village, and we hope to publish some here soon

A regular drinker at the pub during this time was Germaine Greer who despite being a major figure in female emancipation was somehow romatically connected to Brooke Williams, Emelyn Williams son. Germaine and Brooke  were very good friends, supposedly.

Germaine Greer in the 70s		Germaine today

Julian Bear (son of Edward or Teddy Bear), was the Landlord from 1977 to 1980. At this time the Bear was known as a younger person's pub.

Two happy chaps - Julian and Clive, ran the pub and also owned Smith's cottage next door, now known as Claridge's or the Pritchard's house.

Tracy Reid - her claim to fame was that she painted over the original sign which was a bear in chains against a vertical wooden log, replacing it with a "Winnie the pooh" style bear with a monocle. She was supposedly a minor actress who appeared in such TV series as the Professionals.

Robert and Liz Massey, was a  New Zealander who ran the pub for three years. His main claim to fame was that he set fire to himself whilst igniting his own trouser-coughs. His clothes were man-made fibre and he suffered as a result.

Mick Brennan, was a Norman Wisdom-look-alike who supposedly borrowed money from a group of Irish mafia based in Reading. He borrowed money to finance the pub but ran away after one year closely chased by his creditors.

Penny and Paul Juffkins, then took the pub over in association with Reg and Amelia Moody. Reg brought the Spanish hacienda style of architecture to Southern Oxfordshire.

Raymond and Julie, were divorced due to acrimony over the pub. Raymond served all his meals with chili and for some reason hated cooking steak.

Paul Adams then ran the pub. His wife was a make-up artist, she supposedly was a friend to minor celebrities such as Roy Castle. Paul attempted to have a non-smoking pub but managed to only achieve a six month tenancy as a result.

Cynthia and Gordon - Cynthia had previously run a hair-dressing salon. Gordon left quickly leaving Chris in sole charge of Cynthia. During their tenancy the great North Moreton flood occurred which filled the cellar with water, diluting the beer somewhat and resulting in the pub being closed for several months. Shortly after Cynthia left the Bear having finally lost the licence due to a mistake with the rent money. During their tenancy the first "North Moreton real-ale and Earth Wind and Fire tribute band festival" took place.

Mark 'Flanders-Cool-Hand-Luke' Stott eventually ran away to Warwick via East Ilsley having run the pub for two years. We have fond memories of Mark and his fulsome moustache. People still regularly visit the pub requesting Mark's immediate presence.

Tim and Ali Haworth have so far avoided the calamities of previous landlords.

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