RED LION INN, Holt

A public house, in addition to the Fleet, is mentioned as being present in Holt before 1760. The position of the Red Lion is indicated on a map of about 1800. Thomas Miotts Jun. described himself as a victualler in 1781. He held a piece of land known as the Three Tuns in addition to Gatley. There is a close association between the latter land and the Red Lion so it is probably safe to assume that at that time Miotts was the innkeeper at the Red Lion. There is no mention of the Red Lion in 1793 rent book.

The Holt Enclosure Act meeting of 1810 was held in the Red Lion, this being it’s first mention by name. Edward Carter who also had land at Gunley tenement appears to have been in residence at the time. That the inn was used as a meeting place is evident from a transaction that took place there in 1814, when John Goddard of Eckington received 500 apple trees at 1/6 each, from William Smith of Eardiston.

William Morris was at the Red Lion when he prepared his Will in 1836. He had held the Three Tuns and possibly the Red Lion since 1830. On his death he left various properties associated with the Frog Pool in Shrawley to his wife Mary. His sons William Jun. and John were to inherit the properties on Mary’s death. His daughter Rebecca Winnall of Little Witley is also mentioned, as is Thomas Tombs of Hollingshead. Widow Mary Morris had the inn in 1839 along with 6 acres known as the Three Tuns. William Jun. took over the inn and five acres in 1847, for which he paid an annual rent of £41.14/-. William had married Elizabeth Hopper Hammond in Little Witley in 1845. He described himself as an innkeeper and farmer, but in 1854 began making bricks and tiles, a sideline that continued until William Thomas Evans became the innkeeper around 1870.

Evans stayed for about ten years, then Thomas Pitt moved in. As well a being a pub1ican at the Red Lion, Pitt farmed and milled at Holt Mill. He lived at the Inn and so a labourer lived at the mill. Thomas and Mary Pitt had ten children before Mary died in 1911 William, their oldest son, held Holt Mill for a time around 1902. Thomas appears to have purchased the Red Lion at the 1920 sale, for he stayed on there until the mid-l920s.

Subsequent occupants have included Waldegrave Ingram (1928-1932), Thomas G. H. Thompson (1936) and Reginald Garrod Thould (1940).

The Red Lion