We moved on the next morning to find a new pub and different beer, well not really, we were moving on to get to our destination for the main years events. Roving on the rivers!
The Crown has been tarted up a bit, but the food still looks good, although we decided not to eat. Helen was disappointed there was no Aspell's cider but we stopped anyway. I was disappointed with the choice of beer but it is a comfortable places and always seems friendly with folk willing to chat. Parts of the building date back to the 16th Century but mostly to over three hundred years ago. In the past it has been a coaching inn and a post office. Now it has plenty of wood and two room have been knocked into one L shaped room, but the small strangely shaped snug remains.
Disappointingly for me the tyhe range of beer was restricted to more or less a Marston's range, with a Theakston's on hand pump too. Theakston's were started in 1827 by R. Theakston and J. Wood in Masham (Massham). By 1832 Theakston was the sole owner and in 1875 he gave it to his son. In 1919 they bought out the other local brewery Lightfoot's and closed it down. In 1974 they tried to expand by buying the Government owned Carlisle Brewery but this became such a drain on resources that they were forced to a sale to Mathew Brown Brewery. They in their turn were bought by Scottish and Newcastle Brewery and this may have lead to the managing director leaving and setting up the Black Sheep Brewery in the old Lightfoot Brewery in 1988. By 2004 four Theakston brothers had bought a controlling interest in Theakston's and it was independent again.
I had the Best Bitter. At 3.8%, a session beer, pulls well with a nice thick head. It smells hoppy, but not of citrus and is a nice orangey brown in colour. To me there was a sweetness but not over played as it was countered by the dryness of the hops. All in all a very nice pint to quaff at any time. The badge on all Theakston's beers denotes the 'Seal of the Official of the Peculiar of Masham'. In time past the Lord of the Manor went on the Crusades but was taken captive and kept for seven years. he was so grateful when he was exchanged that he gave the living from the church of Masham to the Archbishop of York. Travel to and from York was such a problem that the Archbishop made Masham a Peculiar and appointed an Offical to administer it for him
After stopping for water we passed Spode House and were then ready for the Armitige Tunnel. It is extremely narrow and was a tunnel until they took the top off, but didn't make it any wider. We have never meet another boat here yet, but we thought that it could be our day for that to change so Helen decided to get off and walk ahead.
There are some lovely stretches of canal on the way to Fradley. The leaves are just ready to burst so the sun is still able to filter through the branches. I noticed the rape in the fields was flowering but didn't spot any snowdrops.
Here we are waiting to descent Junction Lock at Fradley. The Swan to the left. Actually we moored just below the lock as we had visitors coming to see us. As it happened we didn't head to the pub so this blog needs to continue onwards!
The next day we headed down hill some more and then stopped in Alrewas. It always seems to be busy here but there was plenty of space today.
The Crown has been tarted up a bit, but the food still looks good, although we decided not to eat. Helen was disappointed there was no Aspell's cider but we stopped anyway. I was disappointed with the choice of beer but it is a comfortable places and always seems friendly with folk willing to chat. Parts of the building date back to the 16th Century but mostly to over three hundred years ago. In the past it has been a coaching inn and a post office. Now it has plenty of wood and two room have been knocked into one L shaped room, but the small strangely shaped snug remains.
Disappointingly for me the tyhe range of beer was restricted to more or less a Marston's range, with a Theakston's on hand pump too. Theakston's were started in 1827 by R. Theakston and J. Wood in Masham (Massham). By 1832 Theakston was the sole owner and in 1875 he gave it to his son. In 1919 they bought out the other local brewery Lightfoot's and closed it down. In 1974 they tried to expand by buying the Government owned Carlisle Brewery but this became such a drain on resources that they were forced to a sale to Mathew Brown Brewery. They in their turn were bought by Scottish and Newcastle Brewery and this may have lead to the managing director leaving and setting up the Black Sheep Brewery in the old Lightfoot Brewery in 1988. By 2004 four Theakston brothers had bought a controlling interest in Theakston's and it was independent again.
I had the Best Bitter. At 3.8%, a session beer, pulls well with a nice thick head. It smells hoppy, but not of citrus and is a nice orangey brown in colour. To me there was a sweetness but not over played as it was countered by the dryness of the hops. All in all a very nice pint to quaff at any time. The badge on all Theakston's beers denotes the 'Seal of the Official of the Peculiar of Masham'. In time past the Lord of the Manor went on the Crusades but was taken captive and kept for seven years. he was so grateful when he was exchanged that he gave the living from the church of Masham to the Archbishop of York. Travel to and from York was such a problem that the Archbishop made Masham a Peculiar and appointed an Offical to administer it for him
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