More Room At The Inn

As an addendum to the last post, I give you The Wheel & Compass public house at Weston by Welland. Not just because they serve an excellent pint of Banks or Pedigree but because of its connection to the railway nearby. As you can see, it has a slightly odd upper storey that is obviously an addition. Originally this was a two storey ironstone pub with a thatched roof. But the arrival of surveyors in the adjoining fields in the mid-nineteenth century meant that life was to be as upturned as the Welland Valley pastures that surround it. An extra storey was added to the pub as a long dormitory for navvies working on the line. One can only imagine the scenes here on a Friday night. The drunkenness, the brawling, the lusting after women. Actually....