A day trip to Hooky - re-living our youth

To help Trevor and Steve celebrate reaching the age at which free bus passes become available to them, they arranged a splendid tour around Hook Norton brewery. The day went so well that it certainly proved that you can organise a p*** up in a brewery.

We met in the Reindeer Inn at 11am. However I arrived in Banbury an hour or so beforehand and took the opportunity to re-visit some old haunts. Here are a few of the places that brought back memories of the Banbury we grew up in some 40-50 years earlier.

This used to be The Crown

This used to be Lampreys - a seed and corn merchant

This used to be The Bear

This still is The Unicorn

This has been a Hooky pub for years. In our younger days it was a friendly but fairly empty pub - hence the reason for our name for it "The graveyard with lights"

The White Lion Hotel - we used to frequent the front lounge, frequently

The Swan was a Hockey Club pub - Frank & Sylvia Ginger were mine hosts for years

Jolly Weavers, just up from The Swan, another Hockey Club haunt

The Horse and Jockey - memorable for its bar billiards table

Affectionately known by us as the Three Pigs

The Woolpack is now closed

In our day this was The Flying Horse

and this was Bennetts

This became our second home, in the days when Dave and Pam Williams ran it

and was our meeting place today

We caught the midday bus to Hook Norton and alighted outside the Sun Inn about half an hour later.

A short walk to The Pear Tree

The "birthday boys"

Someone just had to have a go on the swing

After a picnic lunch in the garden of the Pear Tree – suitably washed down with some of the finest ale in Oxfordshire – we ventured forth to the Brewery itself.

The Brewery is one of only a few surviving independent family run breweries. The building itself dates back some 150 years – the main building is a listed Victorian tower brewery.

 

The 25 horse power steam engine to power the brewing process. Although it is still in full working order, the engine is only used occasionally.

The grist mill

Shire horses still make some local deliveries

Monty, our guide for the day, explaining some finer points

An excellent day - thanks to all who came but especially to Steve and Trevor

Richmond and environs

View of the Swale

The old railway station

Richmond station was the terminus of the now closed Eryholme-Richmond branch line. In 1845, the Great North of England Railway (GNER) was granted powers to construct a branch line from Coopers House near Dalton, 6 miles south of Darlington, to Richmond. While construction of the line was underway the GNER was reconstituted as the York & Newcastle Railway, and it was this company which opened the line on 1846. Although the line opened on 10 September 1846, the present station at Richmond was not opened until 9 April 1847, a temporary wooden platform being provided in the interim.

It is now the end point of a bridleway to Easby

The Swale

Easby Abbey

Easby Abbey or the Abbey of St Agatha is an abandoned Premonstratensian abbey on the eastern bank of the River Swale on the outskirts of Richmond in North Yorkshire.

It was founded in 1152 by Roald, Constable of Richmond Castle. The inhabitants were canons rather than monks. The Premonstratensians wore a white habit and became known as the White Canons. They undertook preaching and pastoral work in the region (such as distributing meat and drink).

Like most northern monasteries, Easby suffered from frequent Scottish raids during the Middle Ages. In the late 1530s Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. The abbey was abandoned and left to fall into ruins. 

Richmond Castle dominating the town