The New Hall Inn, also known as the Hole in t'Wall, is the oldest

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Windermere and Bowness, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Lake Windermere and the town of Wind ...

, and is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building.

History

The building, located on Lowside, Bowness, dates from around 1650. Thomas Longmire, a noted

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

of his era, was landlord of the inn between 1852 and 1862. The New Hall Inn gained its pub licence in 1866. The New Hall Inn was acquired by John Booth of the Old Brewery,

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...

, in 1880, and numerous changes to the pub were made. The pub was one of the largest in Bowness by 1890, by which time it was known locally as the "Hole in the Wall", or "Hole in t'Wall" in regional

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

. The origin of the name is not entirely certain; there may have been in a literal hole in the wall of the building to pass drinks to the neighbouring

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and ostlers. The inn was the oldest licensed house in Bowness by 1907, and appealed to a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

clientele, particularly

boatmen A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

. A 1931 account describes the pub as a place where

dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called ''Pip (counting), pips ...

and

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

could be played, and where

mild beer Mild ale is a type of ale. Modern milds are mostly dark-coloured, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter-hued as well as stronger milds, reaching 6% abv and higher. Mild originated in Britain in the 17th century ...

was served. The building gained its

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listing in 1973.

Robinsons Brewery Robinsons Brewery is a family-run, regional brewery, founded in 1849 at the Unicorn Inn, Stockport, Cheshire, England. The company owns around 250 pubs, mostly in North West England. History William Robinson purchased the Unicorn Inn from Sam ...

acquired the pub in 1982.

References

Tourist attractions in Cumbria Grade II listed pubs in Cumbria Windermere, Cumbria {{pub-stub