Some history of the Old Two Gates Inn at Cradley in the county of Worcestershire.

Worcestershire | Cradley | Old Two Gates Inn

This old tavern was located on Two Gates Lane at Parkside, at the top of the steep climb from the old tannery, the road from which is now known as Tanhouse Lane. The locale was formerly bundled in with the area known as Windmill Hill. These structures were mentioned in an advertisement dated 1828 when a parcel of land was offered for sale near Cradley Windmills. There were two windmills operating at Cradley, located on the higher land near to the modern road junction of Holcroft Road. One of the mills was erected around 1720 by Thomas Millward of Wollescote Hall.

In this advertisement that appeared in Aris's Birmingham Gazette during June 1828 interested parties were invited to enquire at the Two Gates public-house where they would find Richard Beach. This is almost certainly a typo as, during this period, the house was kept by Richard Bache. To paraphrase Eric Morecambe, they printed the right letters but not necessarily in the right order!

The house was formerly known as the Two Gates Inn. The 'Old' prefix was added when an upstart beer house opened along the road in later years. As a result the 'Old' prefix was added to the inn sign in order to distinguish the tavern from the New Two Gates Inn.

Two Gates is said to be named after the two gates placed to stop sheep and livestock straying onto the open farmland of Cradley Fields. Marked on early maps of the area, the 'bottom' gate was located close to this tavern, whilst the 'top' gate was close to the junction of Why Not Street. Foxcote Lane was once used by drovers who were paid by Cradley's butchers to deliver livestock bought at Hagley Cattle Market.

The advertisement dated 1828 is the earliest reference I have found for the Old Two Gates Inn. The house was already trading by this date so could have opened a little earlier. Licensee Richard Bache kept the public-house with his wife Ann. Richard Bache is listed as a victualler in the Worcestershire General and Commercial Directory published in 1820 but the name of the house is not given. It could be this tavern but more evidence is needed for confirmation.

Ann Bache was a key witness in a court case heard in March 1836 when William Tibbetts, a patron of the Two Gates Inn, was assaulted and robbed on his way home from the pub. He knew his assailants, Samuel Jones and Richard Norris, who he accused of the crime. The two men were both found guilty during the subsequent court case. In his summary, the judge stated that he would follow the wishes of the jury who recommended the men to mercy. However the Worcester Journal recorded a verdict of death. Indeed, the criminal records for Worcestershire recorded the sentence of death for both men.

What did for the men was the fact that Richard Norris had previously been to prison for a previous offence. However, I was rather surprised at the harsh sentence. This led me to search for the men in the criminal records. However, the same register does reveal that the sentences were commuted to that of transportation. Samuel Jones was sentenced to 14 years but Richard Norris was given a life sentence. The Worcester Journal stated in May 1836 that the men, along with other felons, were "directed to be conveyed to Woolwich, to be placed on board the receiving ship there, preparatory to their being removed to the penal colonies."

As can be seen from this notice for an auction held in May 1849, the tavern, known as the Old Two Gates Inn, was occupied by Thomas Davis. The notice records the name of Richard Bache in a cottage across the road. This could have been the son of Richard and Ann Bache as I suspect the publican and widower had removed to Oldswinford.

Not long after the auction, with Thomas Davis still in charge of the house, there was an incident in which Thomas Homer was stabbed by Samuel Cox. In the subsequent court case Homer, a resident of Rowley Regis told the Bench that he looked into the Old Two Gates Inn on May 28th when he saw Cox quarrelling with his brother. He told his sibling to get out of the way and confronted the 33 year-old nailer. Cox said that he would give him some of the same treatment before throwing a jug of ale at him. Homer told the magistrates that the jug missed his head before he tangled with Cox. He knocked him down but the nailer got up and took out his knife and, despite being held by his mother and sister, made a stab at his face. He deflected the knife but was stabbed in the hand, the finger being cut to the bone. Cox threatened that he would "loose out his guts" but ran off before the constable arrived. He was subsequently arrested in Lye by Police-Constable Turner. The was some contradictory evidence during the hearing at the conclusion of which Samuel Cox was acquitted.

Within a year of the auction for the Old Two Gates Inn the premises were offered in the local newspapers. The rent was fairly low and the incoming was moderate. It would seem that widow Leah Edmonds was tempted to make the move up the hill from Cradley Heath where she had, for some years, kept the Five Ways Inn with her husband Jesse. She was 69 years-old when she moved into the Old Two Gates Inn. However, she was accompanied by her son David, along with his wife Hannah and their children. The licence of the tavern was transferred from Thomas Davis to Leah Edmonds on October 16th 1850. The elderly landlady would die seven years later in June 1857.

Simeon Finch was the licensee of the Old Two Gates Inn by 1860. Born in Oldswinford during the Napoleonic Wars, he married Sarah Cooper in November 1832. The couple initially lived at Lye Waste from where Simeon worked as a miner. He found work above the surface when becoming a labourer in a chain works, a period when he worked his way into retailing by trading as a huckster and provision dealer. He and his wife Sarah seemed to do well at Two Gates and he remained as licensee for over two decades. Sarah, however, predeceased the publican. He continued to run the pub as an elderly widower. The house would be acquired by the Finch family in the 19th century.

In a cottage further down Two Gates, towards the turnpike road, there was a murder that made the national newspapers in 1874. The press described the event as an "inhuman act that created the greatest excitement in the neighbourhood" following the death of a young boy at the hands of his mother. The woman, described as a "wretched mother," living in the second of a row of small cottages on Two Gates was named Sarah Ann Liddell, aged 38. It was reported that the young boy's head was well nigh severed from its body by her hands. Her husband, a nailer named Samuel Liddell, had abandoned her around a decade before the tragedy. By the time he had deserted her she had given birth to four children, two of whom had since died. She had two surviving daughters, the one aged 15 and the other 18. The child, who was so "barbarously slain," was an illegitimate boy. She had given birth to him during a period when she went out to service.

Sarah Ann Liddell was living with her mother and eldest daughter Eliza in the cottage. On the day of the murder they had left her in the house to undertake their charring duties. It was stated that the little boy, Walter Liddell, aged two years and eight months, "whose fair complexion and pleasing manners had endeared him to the neighbours, was seen by them playing in the yard in the early part of the morning, and about midday the mother was seen to leave the house without the lad, a circumstance which it was said she was not in the habit of doing, as she appeared remarkably fond of the boy."

"About two o'clock, Phoebe Banner, sister-in-law to Sarah Liddell, went to the house, and, finding no one in the kitchen, called out, but receiving no reply, and seeing some of the boy's clothes on the grate in that room, she went upstairs, and there saw the horrible spectacle of the murdered child. The corpse was partially lying on a bed which was placed on the floor, its legs being stretched along the boards of the floor saturated in blood, and surrounded by a large pool of human gore, with its head half off, the gash extending from ear to ear. A case knife and penknife were found in close proximity to the child. She immediately raised an alarm of murder, and the neighbourhood in a few minutes manifested signs of the greatest excitement."

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"Police-Constable Heath, stationed at Cradley hastened to the spot, and found the body as indicated by Mrs. Banner. From inquiries made he learnt that when the mother left the house she was seen walking in the direction of Lutley, and he once set off in pursuit, overtaking the woman in a lane near Lutley, slowly walking alone in a meditative attitude with her neck bleeding, having attempted to take away her own life by cutting her throat. He took her in charge, and had her removed the nearest public-house, the Wood Colliers's Arms, where Dr. Kerr attended to her and dressed the wounds, which were not regarded as dangerous, and were unlikely to result fatally."

The police remained at the public-house during the whole of the evening for the purpose of keeping her in safe custody. Rumours were prevalent that after the deed had been discovered a neighbour asked the prisoner how she could have committed such a frightful act, to which she replied, "That it was a good job, for the lad was now better off in Heaven."

The newspapers commented that there was "a touch of the romantic connected with the melancholy affair. For some months Tom Williams, a widower in the district had been in love with the prisoner, and arrangements were made for the marriage of the pair to take place on the previous Sunday. On Saturday evening the would-be husband went to the house of the prisoner, and, after a long conversation, endeavoured to induce the mother to allow her daughter to leave home that evening, but to such a proposal gave blank refusal. Sarah Ann Liddell did leave her mother's house, and on the Sunday morning, instead of the wedding taking place, Tom Williams demanded that she should leave his premises. It was rumoured that he made threats to her if she entered his house again."

"Poverty did not appear to have been the cause of the crime, for all the neighbours testified to the kindness of the mother, both towards Sarah Ann Liddell and her child, and what could have induced her to destroy her own child remained a mystery.

Sarah Ann Liddell appeared at the Worcester Assizes in December 1874 where she was sentenced to death. However, the Home Secretary commuted the sentence to one of imprisonment during her majesty's pleasure. This was reportedly a term of 15 years. This was in response to a petition raised by James Perry and signed by all the principal residents of the locality. The people of Cradley expressed some sympathy for Sarah Ann Liddell, on account of the hard treatment to which she had been subjected, which was attributed to her state of madness at the time she killed her son. Only one person refused to sign the petition - the vicar!

As a holder of an old licence, Simeon Finch was determined to uphold the interests of his business. During the 1870s he put the mockers on the efforts of the publicans running the neighbouring Why Not Inn and New Two Gates Inn when they attempted to upgrade their beer house licences in order to retail wines and spirits.

Simeon Finch re-married to Mary Millward in July 1881. The publican died in August 1884, following which the licence was transferred to his wife Mary. She remained at the helm for much of the 1880s but, by the time of the 1891 census, William Walters was the licensee. He kept the Old Two Gates Inn with his wife Ann. The Bromsgrove-born publican had lived next to the pub at the top of Tanhouse Lane, his wife Ann being Two Gates born-and-bred.

William Walters decided to give up the pub in 1896, the above notice for an auction of the household furniture to be sold by auction on June 6th. William Henry Finch, son of Simeon and Sarah Finch, had to step in at this point to run the pub himself. He was the owner of the premises so the licence was transferred to him. Whether he would have followed his father in serving a long stretch behind the counter will never be known as he died in August 1897. Consequently, the Old Two Gates Inn was put on the market a couple of months later in November.

The notice for the auction of the Old Two Gates Inn provides a good deal of information regarding the internal layout of the house. The sloping nature of the site may have resulted in two cellars being at different heights or steps from the one to the other. As this sale was for the freehold of land and property, the rights to coal beneath the surface were also being offered. The premises came on to the market at a time when the regional breweries were on the lookout for houses to add to their tied-estate. It is likely that a number of brewery representatives were sent to the Talbot Hotel in order to place bids on the Old Two Gates Inn. I suspect that the successful bidders were Thomas Plant & Co Ltd. of Netherton. The company were certainly listed as owners in the licence register. However, the name of Thomas Homer crops up later as proprietor.

The sale notice dated November 1897 mentions that the Old Two Gates Inn was on the junction of five thoroughfares. To illustrate the position of the premises I have included an extract from a map drawn up in 1884.

The main thoroughfare at this time was along Two Gates Lane which disappears off to the right of this extract. Today, this is a narrow lane with a one-way traffic restriction. The main route to Colley Gate nowadays is along Toy's Lane, a thoroughfare named after William Toy who once held land in this locality. The Toy family name appears frequently in early 18th parish registers when Cradley formed part of Halesowen parish. Here one can see that, in former times, those travelling along Toy's Lane would have negotiated a squeeze past the corner of the Old Two Gates Inn. The road junction was re-aligned when the house was demolished and now forms the main route from Oldnall and Wollescote. The road heading north-west from the former pub is Tanhouse Lane where, close to the junction of Tregarron Road, there was a tannery operating in the 19th century. The narrow lane heading roughly southwards from the Old Two Gates Inn survives in the form of a footpath leading to Fatherless Barn.

This is how the five ways road junction looked during the early Edwardian years. The photographer, possibly Edwin Beech, would have been stood in Toy's Lane and the Old Two Gates Inn would have been to the right. You can just see a wall to the right of this photograph - this is the corner where the former Broadstone stands. Two Gates headed off behind the shop on the corner. This grocery store was operated for generations of the Perry family. At the time of this photograph Harry and Kate Perry were running the business. That is probably them on the doorstep of the premises, along with Lilian, the youngest of their two daughters. The shop has long gone but the houses seen here have all survived into the 21st century.

At the time of the above photograph the licensee of the Old Two Gates Inn was Arthur Auden. He was a manager for Thomas Plant & Co Ltd. He was publican when a right old ding-dong kicked off in the house, the troublemaker being Samuel Beasley, a loose cannon of a drinker who was constantly appearing in front of the magistrates for fighting and general mayhem in licensed houses.

The son of a fireman, Arthur Auden was born in Cradley in 1872. He was working as a fitter and turner when he married Lottie Dillard in 1893. In 1904, when running the Old Two Gates Inn, he stood for election on the Parish Council. A strong Liberal, he was successful in securing his seat and served in this capacity until his death at the end of October 1910, by which time he and his wife Lottie were running the Fish Inn on the High Street. His younger brother Harry was also a publican.

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I am not sure if the Old Two Gates Inn had a bowling green during the Victorian era. However, certainly in the Edwardian period the pub had a very active bowling team. The brewery [or the aforementioned Thomas Homer] may have financed development on the plot of land adjoining the tavern in order to foster more patronage from local residents. This facility would have been a very pleasant place to be on a sunny evening with the backdrop of the open fields below the Old Two Gates Inn. The Park, as it was once known, was largely a green space until the inter-war years when new housing started to emerge on the north-eastern side of Tanhouse Lane. Further development was probably put on hold due to the Second World War but during the 1950s new-builds popped up on the opposite side of the road. An elderly resident once told me that there was a stream running down the hill and each house had a small bridge to walk or drive across the stream and access their front drive. This could be why the pavement on the north-eastern side is particularly wide, suggesting an infilling of this aspect. In later years large scale social housing, including three blocks of high-rise flats, occupied the area between Two Gates and the main road to Stourbridge. Some of this remains but much was redeveloped in the late 20th and early 21st century. Two of the tower blocks, Byron House and Kipling House, were blown up in 1999.

A journalist from the County Express would regularly be despatched to report on games featuring the Old Two Gates Inn. In July 1909, when the tavern was kept by Thomas Savage, the first annual bowling club supper was held at the Old Two Gates Inn. Around thirty club members rocked up for the bun fight, following which battle was waged on the bowling green between the captain's team versus the vice-captain's team. During the evening the players piled back into the pub for a smoking concert during which many songs were performed to the accompaniment of Thomas Hill on the piano. This type of social gathering fulfilled the hopes of those responsible for the bowling green. As a genteel diversion from the antics of the Beasley bruisers, the formation of the bowling club engendered loyal patronage from those seeking a pint of beer amid amicable company.

After his short spell at the Old Two Gates Inn Thomas Savage married the school teacher Mabel Dudley at Stourbridge in October 1912. He went on to have a successful career in engineering and manufacturing. The couple would later live at Bryn Mawr at Ham Lane in Pedmore.

At the end of the Edwardian period the Old Two Gates Inn was kept by George and Theresa Botfield. Born in 1877 at Hampton Loade, George Botfield had moved to the Black Country where he married Theresa Meredith in October 1896. Prior to entering the licensed trade George worked as a coal loader in Old Hill. The couple had four children but all had died at an early age. Following their spell at the Old Two Gates Inn they moved to the Salutation Inn across the river at Lomey Town, where they remained for many years.

The bowls team at the Old Two Gates Inn was still part of the Old Hill and District League. The bowlers had an average season winning half of their fixtures - but a whole lot better than the poor form of the Castle Inn who only picked up eight points during the entire season. The Duke William Inn at nearby Furlong Lane enjoyed a tremendous season, finishing runners-up to the White Horse.

The name of Thomas Homer appears briefly in the list of licensees during the Edwardian period. This was almost certainly a temporary arrangement whilst a tenant or manager could be found to run the house. The Old Two Gates Inn certainly formed part of the estate of Thomas Homer sold following his death in 1927. He was in residence of The Limes, a grand pile that once stood on the site of the car park for the Labour Club on Colley Gate. Thomas Homer was a solicitor, admitted to the Law Society in 1867. He was said to be the oldest practising solicitor in the country when he died at The Limes, aged 89 years of age. He enjoyed very good health and was known to walk to his office and back home, a distance of some 8 miles. He died after he fell down the stairs at The Limes in March 1927.

The estate of Thomas Homer including a large number of shops and properties in Brierley Hill, Quarry Bank, Cradley Heath and here in Cradley. One fascinating element of the auction was that his residence, The Limes, was sold to the chainmaker and trade unionist Alf Westwood who, in turn, sold the house to the Labour Party.

Again, the sale notice provides a good description of the premises. The tenant at the time of the sale was James Albert Leonard, a former carter to the building trade. The son of a collier he had grown up on Two Gates. He married Sylvia Bache at Lye in March 1906. Following the sale of the Old Two Gates Inn the couple moved to Banners Lane. However, with a couple of years they were back living near the tavern when they moved into Fairview on Tanhouse Lane. Indeed, they may have been the first occupants of that house.

The Old Two Gates Inn would later become part of the tied-estate of Ansell's Brewery Ltd. However, it may be that the pub fell under the umbrella of the old Holt Brewery Company that, although acquired by Ansell's, enjoyed a degree of autonomy for some years.

Taken towards the end of the life of the Old Two Gates Inn, I am not sure if this photograph is by Geoffrey Grove or Peter Barnsley but I hope it is OK to use it here as fair exchange for the information provided on the pub. The van to the right of the image belonged to the grocery shop run by the Auden family. All of the buildings in this image have disappeared, except for the inter-war semi-detached house in the distance. Today, that house is No.64 Two Gates Lane. Interestingly, the Old Two Gates Inn had seemingly retained the old wall-painted sign from its days as a Plant's house. Well, that it was it looks like to me. I can only see the T and S but it looks similar in font and design to the sign that once endured on the house in which I grew up!

Following the sale in 1927, Thomas and Mary Ann Edge moved into the Old Two Gates Inn. The son of William and Louisa Edge, Thomas was born in Cradley Heath in 1885. He grew up in Newtown Lane where his parents both worked as chainmakers. Indeed, most people who lived in that part of Cradley Heath worked in the chain trade. Thomas, like his many siblings, started working in the chain shop at an early age.

Following their marriage in the mid-Edwardian period, Thomas and Mary Ann Edge moved to Two Gates where they both worked chain, probably in their own yard. They produced chain for separate chain masters. Thomas was allied to John Green of Lodge Lane, whilst Mary Ann was working chain for Hickton's. The couple took in a lodger to augment their household income. Nancy Royals, a woman of similar age, also worked as a chainmaker. This is the environment in which the couple's young daughter, Winifred, would grow up. Thomas and Mary Ann were evidently of tough stock and grafted hard for what they had. Prior to moving into the Old Two Gates Inn, for two years they kept the Robin Hood on the High Street.

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When Thomas and Mary Ann Edge took over the reins of the Old Two Gates Inn they had a young daughter named Mavis. She is the source of the tavern check featured here for which I am grateful to Simon and Jill Lane who allowed me to reproduce it for this page. Jill, a native of Cradley, is a niece of Mavis Edge who moved to mid-Wales in later years. More prevalent in the Victorian years, this tavern check is unusual as it was used during the 1920s and 1930s. Simon was told by Mavis that her parents would issue these to hard-up locals at the start of the week so that it would appear they were paying for their ale rather than suffering the indignity or embarrassment that they were having it on tick. When they were paid they would settle up and possibly repeat the cycle when funds were low. This was quite often during the depression and at times of industrial disputes.

Born in October 1926, Mavis Edge was given a most unusual gift by her father around 1938. The young woman was presented with a Capuchin monkey. The simian was given the name of Chicka and was a great source of amusement for the locals. Consequently, for a period the Old Two Gates Inn gained the colloquial name of The Monkey House. This was not unique in the Midlands or beyond. I have come across other examples of pub monkeys and the nickname applied to the house. Unfortunately, some of the patrons plied the monkey with ale which caused the poor thing to get drunk. Some callous men would also taunt the animal. This upset Mavis so she sold the monkey to some travellers. She related to Jill and Simon that the new owners suffered a burglary and, during the criminal act, Chicka became extremely distressed and was making a right racket so the robbers killed the poor creature.

Thomas Edge died in August 1941 but, with the help of her daughter Mavis, Mary Ann remained at the Old Two Gates Inn. Following the war, Mavis married Leslie Taylor in October 1947. Her mother remained at the Old Two Gates Inn until 1950 when the licence was transferred to Noah Dunn.

The Old Two Gates Inn closed in September 1957. Eleven years earlier Holt's had applied to transfer the licence of the house to new premises at Drews Holloway, at the junction of Stourbridge Road and a new road to be constructed. This was the first proposal for the Belle Vale, a building that stands on the corner of Huntingtree Road. A provisional licence for that new-build was granted in February 1948, subject to the surrender of the Old Two Gates Inn. It was some eight years later that another provisional licence was granted to Ansell's Brewery Ltd in respect of new plans. This was declared final on September 3rd 1957.

"Samuel Jones, 29, nailor, and Richard Norris, 28, labourer, were indicted for having, on the 2nd of January last, assaulted William Tibbetts, on the King's highway, at the parish of Halesowen, in this county, and stolen from him two half-crowns and three shillings. By the evidence of William Tibbetts it appeared that on the evening of the 2nd of January, he had been drinking at a public-house called the Two Gates, in the parish of Halesowen. He left that house at a quarter before 12 o'clock, and in going down a lane he was met by three men, two of whom were the prisoners at the bar. It was a moonlight night, and snow was on the ground. Jones struck him on the face and knocked him down, observing that if he attempted to get up he would serve him worse. Norris assisted in the assault. After the prisoners had left him he got up and found his money gone - the amount stated in the indictment; his pocket was turned inside out. He immediately went back to the Two Gates, a short distance only from the place of the robbery, and mentioned what had occurred. In the cross-examination of Tibbetts many questions were put to him respecting conversations which he had with a person named James Bartlett; but Bartlett was not called to swear to those conversations. Tibbetts deposed that he had not taken more than three pints of beer at the Two Gates, on the night in question, and that he had not been fighting, but that the blood and bruises on his face, sworn by two witnesses, Ann Bache and Mary Collins, the former of whom kept the Two Gates public-house, were occasioned by the blow which he received from the prisoner Jones. He had known Norris two years and Jones about twelve months; their persons were therefore familiar to him, though he could not positively swear what clothes they had on when they robbed him. He was sure it wans a quarter to 12 when he left the Two Gates, and the robbery took place in about twenty minutes afterwards. Mrs. Bache gave the same representation as to the time; and Mary Collins said Tibbetts was in her house at a quarter past 12, his nose and mouth bleeding. She had just before this time heard a cry of 'Murder,' and on hastening to the lane she saw two men running away. Tibbetts then came up and complained of the robbery. All this, Mr. Justice Alderson remarked to the Jury, confirmed the evidence of Tibbetts that an assault and a robbery had been committed; the identity however of both the prisoners rested on the evidence of Tibbetts alone; and the question was, whether that was sufficient to satisfy them. The fact of the persons of the prisoners being well known to Tibbetts should have great weight on their decision. If he had only seen them for the first time on the night of the robbery, the case would have been very different, his testimony not near so strong. As to remembering their clothes, that, his Lordship conceived, was not a material point; persons who were known were easily recognised by their walk, by their manners; and Tibbetts' evidence was very clear on those points. The Jury took nearly a quarter of an hour to consider their verdict; they then found both the prisoners Guilty, but recommended them to mercy. The Judge said he would attend to the recommendation of the Jury, and he had no doubt that the lives of the prisoners would be spared; but as Norris had before been convicted of felony, some distinction would doubtless be made in his punishment. Death recorded."
"County Kalendar"
Worcester Journal : March 10th 1836 Page 4.

"An inquest was held yesterday, at Mr. S. Finch's, the Two Gates Inn, before R. Docker, Esq., on the body of Richard Weaver, who met with death at Cradley Fields Colliery, the particulars of which have already appeared. After hearing the evidence the jury returned a verdict of "Accidental Death."
"Inquest"
Cradley Heath & Stourbridge Observer
February 17th 1872 Page 4.

"William Lee, labourer, Cradley, was charged with being drunk at the Old Two Gates Inn, Cradley, on the 1st inst. Police-Constable Gillian proved the case, and defendant was fined 5s. and costs, or 14 days' hard labour."
"Drunk on Licensed Premises"
County Express : July 7th 1883 Page 8.

"Noah Cartwright was charged with being drunk and refusing to quit the [Old] Two Gates Inn, on the 2nd inst. Mrs. Finch said defendant was in the house drunk and using bad language. She ordered him out and he refused. Defendant was further charges with assaulting Joseph Kirklon on the same date. Complainant stated that he went into the house and sat by the defendant. Witness went to leave the room because defendant was making a noise. Just as he got to the door defendant threw two cups, one hitting him on the head and the other on the hand. Defendant was fined 5s. and costs; in default 14 days' for refusing to quit, and for the assault 10s. and costs; in default 14 days, consecutive."
"Inquest"
Cradley Heath & Stourbridge Observer
February 17th 1872 Page 4.

"Joseph Beasley, Stambermill, and Samuel Beasley, Cherry Orchard, Old Hill, were charged with assaulting Isaac Taylor on December 3rd inst. Mr. Waldron prosecuted, and Mr. Ward defended. The case for the prosecution was that Isaac Taylor went into the Old Two Gate Inn, Cradley, on the evening on the day in question. Some one used the word 'Robin' which Samuel Beasley was sometimes known by, and this appeared to excite him, and he began to take his coat off. Isaac Taylor advised him to take no notice, and at that moment the landlord came in and told Samuel Beasley he should have nothing of that kind in his house and ordered him out. As he went out, and passed Isaac Taylor, he struck him a most violent blow in the mouth and upon the nose, making them bleed very much. Taylor got up to defend himself, and on Beasley striking him again, he tried to leave the house. In the passage both Joseph and Samuel Beasley assaulted him, and he was for three weeks afterwards in the doctor's hands. Arthur Auden, the landlord, John Taylor, and Albert Taylor gave corroborative evidence. Dr. White deposed to Isaac Taylor having been under his treatment. The defence was a denial of assault, and defendants and two other witnesses were called in support. There were over twenty convictions against Samuel Beasley for assault and drunkenness. He had been to Worcester and served two terms of imprisonment. Joseph Beasley had not been previously convicted. The Bench sentenced Samuel Beasley to six weeks' hard labour, and fined the other defendant 20s. and costs, or one month's imprisonment."
"Assault in a Public-House"
County Advertiser & Herald for Staffordshire and Worcestershire
January 5th 1901 Page 5.