Our family (the Jelf family) has run the pub for over 350 years; here is a little bit of our history.
Legend has it that when King Charles II was fleeing from his enemies after the battle of Worcester in 1651 a royal subject called Jelf ferried him to freedom across the River Severn at Ashleworth. In gratitude, the monarch granted to Jelf and his descendents the right to Ashleworth ferry crossing alongside their old farmhouse-turned-inn. However, other records suggest that these privileges may have been given to the Jelfs even earlier, by Prince Edward of March (later King Edward IV) when we was fleeing from his enemies of the House of Lancaster in about 1460. Certainly the family was in the village at a time when one John Jelfes was identified as an Ashleworth leaseholder in 1450. Six of his male descendents were listed as being military age in 1522.
The pub was passed down from father to son until the early twentieth century when sisters Irene and Sybil Jelf inherited it. Spinsters they ran it together for over 25 years until the death of Sybil in 1990 and then Irene ran it alone with her niece Jaqueline Nicholls. Jaqueline was passionate about Real Ale and worked hard to create a reputation for serving good beer, wining numerous CAMRA awards.
Nowadays, we (Jacquie’s daughters Elisabeth and Louise) own it and we run it with the kind help of our Father Ron.
BBC Points West recently featured us in a piece about the smoking ban in England. Click through the link below to see the story online at bbc.co.uk.
