Boats, Beers and Boozers, 2018. No.23

We then moved further up the Llangollen Canal and stopped near to the Whitchurch Arm.

It wasn't too long before arrived at the bottom of Grindley Brook Locks. There was a little queue for the first few but we were soon at the 3 lock staircase. I love the lock house at the top. I have always wanted a wrap around stoop or veranda.

At the back of the High Street is this reminder of a time gone by. The site extends through to the High Street where there is a double frontage. One side was the Alexandra Hotel and the other an ironmongers with a central arch between. The hotel was built in 1904.

St Alkmunds Church is well worth a visit. It was built in 1713 after the previous one had fallen down!

I was fascinated by this monument as regular readers of this blog may remember that I was born on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar so I have an interest in all things Trafalgar, Nelson etc. It seems that Lieutenant John Good La Penotiere (That is a bit of a mouthful) brought back the news of Nelson's victory, and death in his little vessel HMS Pickle. There is a replica that is seen in Hull regularly. When I was still at sea my company even named a new ship 'Pacific Pickle'. Not the normal naming style, but did mean there was always something to talk about. He was given a reward of £500 and Lloyds gave him a sabre, as depicted in the tablet, worth £100.

Another of the pieces in the church that make the church well worth a visit.

Somewhere else that is well worth a visit in Whitchurch is the Old Town Hall Vaults pub. It is a Joule's Tap House that has been a pub for a long while after it had been built in the 1830's as a merchants house. It was called the Back Street Inn at first as the lane was called Back Street Then. It later became gentrified and changed to St. Mary's Street and the pub became the Corn Market Inn. In 1862 inn the right hand bar, which was the family accommodation at the time, Sir Edward German was born, obviously not with the title, that was earned when he became a famous composer! Joules's pubs are all very nicely done out with lots of wood and boards plus signs etc. The best thing though is the staff as I have never been in a Joules pub where the staff were not friendly and knowledgeable and interested. It is a about a 25 mins walk from the Whitchurch Arm Junction with the Llangollen and the town and a pint here make it all well worth while.

Joules is one of my favourite beers and as I right this we are moored not far away from their original brewery in Stone, Staffordshire. Beer started to be brewed in Stone, at the Abbey by Monks in the 16th Century and continued through until 1749. In fact Joules had an intense rivalry with Bass, and outshone them for a good few decades. They were the first to export to America, and were on the Titanic when it was lost. Joules won more accolades than Bass beers. The red cross trademark was the fifth beer trademark in the world in 1867. It is based on the sign of the cross made over each barrel by the original monks.. To differentiate from the Red Cross Charity the brewery always place trade mark either side of the cross and never place it on a white lorry. Bass managed to buy a controlling interest in Joules and quickly shut the whole thing down. This obviously caused a lot of ill feeling in the area. In 2009 the right to brew Joules and use the trade mark was enough to make the Joules beers become independent once again. Oh yes with a name like Joules you will be pleased to hear that the Joule, the unit of energy, was named after a member of another branch of the family.

The new brewery was specially designed to brew the Pale Ale that was the beer that brought fame and fortune to the name in the 1900's. 4.1% of pure joy. I have never had a bad pint of this beer, probably as I have only seen it in their own pubs and they really look after their beer. They only use the water from their own bore hole, which is actually on the same strata as the brewery in Stone, but now in Market Drayton! There is a lovely creamy head when it is pulled and it has a biscuity malty aroma. The first sup is like nectar with the malts giving it that sweet caramel taste with a slight bitterness. It really is gorgeous. It was so good, I had another one! It was £3-50 and not during happy hour.