THE BULL at Wargrave was the subject for a local history club’s January meeting.
Jayne Worrall, the pub’s present landlady, spoke to members of Wargrave Local History Society about her ‘three lives’ at The Bull.
The tavern is around 600 years old, and was originally a 15th Century coaching inn where travellers could rest, and their horses could take a break.
In 1779, club members learnt, it was purchased for the then substantial sum of £850.
Jayne became its landlady in 1980 and says The Bull was very different then.
None of its timber frame could be seen, and the ladies’ toilet was at the bottom of the garden.
Jayne and her husband Graham stayed at The Bull for about four or five years until Graham became the landlord of The Rising Sun, Witheridge Hill, at which point Jayne left the hospitality trade.
For 18 years she worked in the world of IT, but eventually returned to the Wargrave pub in 1998.
Working to restore its original character, she also took the opportunity to place a time capsule behind its timber beams for future generations to discover.
In 2008, Jayne left The Bull for a four year period, and returning in 2012, felt that something had changed.
The ‘characters’ who had frequented the pub when first she came to Wargrave were no longer there.
Many of them had been born and lived all their life in the village, but with the growth in the village population, that was no longer the case.
In previous times, the village High Street had been thriving, with a variety of shops including a post office, Weatherlake’s small supermarket, Tony Shaw the fishmonger, and Mrs Gemsa’s electrical and household items shop.
Jayne has made several changes to The Bull over the years, including opening up the pub’s fireplaces and removing false wall coverings to expose its ancient timber frame.
But beams aren’t the only things to have been revealed; there are resident ghosts, she says, that sometimes make their presence felt.
Wargrave History members then heard about some of the ghost stories associated with The Bull.
‘Expert’ ghost hunters have been more than once to visit, and say they can sense where the ‘presence’ is, however few customers say they have actually heard anything.
Any ghosts that do reside at The Bull appear to be friendly, says Jayne.
One is said to date from the 1820s; the wife of the landlord at the time.
Having found out that she had had an affair, her husband refused to allow her to see their baby, and she was forced to leave.
It is claimed that she died of a broken heart, and can be heard crying sadly in one of the bedrooms.
Jayne shared with the group another occasion when she was in the pub with a resident guest standing in front of her.
Desite the fact that nobody else was with them, the guest suddenly spun round.
Somebody, they said, had just tapped them on the shoulder.
Jayne ‘keeps an open mind’ about such experiences.
Being the owner of a tied house (as The Bull) rather than a free house, is a ‘way of life’ she said.
For information about the society, visit: wargravehistory.org.uk
For more about The Bull go to: bullwargrave.co.uk
