This week we take a look at two pubs within a mile or so of each other, one in the picturesque village of Great Budworth and the other just down the road in rural Comberbach.
Comberbach takes its name from the Early Welsh for ‘small confluence’, having approximately 950 residents, and is nestled not far from Marbury Park, the Anderton Boat Lift, and Budworth Mere.
Its only existing public house is the Spinner and Bergamot, dating from the early 1700s, and was at one time owned by the notable and aristocratic Smith-Barry family of Marbury Hall.
The origin of the name is thought to be from a spinning loom located somewhere between Pickmere and Wincham.
Although history also tells us that it may have initially been called the Kings Head Inn.
Some years later John Smith-Barry named one of his horses after it, the Spinner, a successful filly over a three-year period in the early 1760s, winning four races before retiring to stud in 1764.
Smith-Barry was so delighted with the success that he then bought the pub for himself.
James Smith-Barry took over his father’s pack of hounds and stables in 1784 on his father’s death.
He had been elected to the Tarporley Hunt Club in 1769 before he went on the Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East.
He chose to wear the colours of the club: a scarlet velvet coat, green velvet cape, gold braided green waistcoat, green breeches, and gold buckled shoes.
On his return from the Grand Tour, James continued to race but not as much or as successfully as his father.
Probably his best horse was Burgamotte (Bergamot), born in 1787 of a strong pedigree, whose last race was at York in 1794.
The name Bergamot was added to the name of the inn shortly afterwards.
When James’ racing stud was advertised in 1802, a year after his death, the Chester Courant listed 24 horses for sale, including Burgamotte.
There are fascinating tales of the landlords at the Spinner and Bergamot, and we may return to these in a later issue.
We now move down the road to Great Budworth, a village steeped in history and retaining its old-world charm that brings film crews regularly looking for a village 'frozen in time'.
The name originates from old Saxon; ‘bode’ meaning dwelling and ‘wurth’, a place by water.
There are two bodies of water close by, Pickmere and Budworth Mere. It was formally a part of the Arley Estate and in the latter part of the 1800s Rowland Egerton-Warburton undertook the role of making the village the most picturesque.
He commissioned John Douglas, a famous Cheshire architect to undertake the work.
The George and Dragon, an inn from the 1700s was at that time a simple three-bay Georgian design, Douglas added tall, rubbed chimneys, mullioned windows, and a steep pyramidal turret.
The cut-out inn sign was from Nuremberg, whilst its ornate iron bracket was made by the estate blacksmith.
Fences around the porch were inscribed with a number of sayings placed by Egerton-Warburton.
Earlier and dated 1772, there is a stone within the pub inscribed Nil Nimium Capito translated as 'I desire nothing in excess'.
Other drinking establishments of the 1800s in Great Budworth included the Ring O’ Bells at 50 Church Street until 1857, the Saracen’s Head at 20 High Street (formally the Turk’s Head in 1841) until 1856 and the White Hart at 24 High Street – the first two owned by the Arley Estate.
Both villages and these hostelries are well worth a visit and will take you back in time to an earlier and some say perhaps more sedate era.
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