The Scotch Piper Inn in

Lydiate Lydiate is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside (historically in Lancashire), England. It is located north of Maghull, with which it has a common history. At the 2001 Census the civil parish of Lydiat ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England, is the oldest

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

in the historic county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. The building dates from 1320 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. It is located on the A5147, from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and from

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in the ceremonial county of Merseyside. It stands close to the site of

Lydiate Hall Lydiate Hall was a 16th-century hall in Lydiate, Merseyside, England. The hall was a black-and-white half-timbered house, and was similar in design to Speke Hall. The hall was accompanied by a private chapel. It was a known Catholic house durin ...

and next to the remains of St Catherine's Chapel.

History

The fabric of the building is thought to date from 1320, but most of the current building is probably from the 16th century. It was originally known as "The Royal Oak". According to local legends it was renamed "the Scotch Piper" in honour of an injured Scottish piper connected with the Jacobite Rebellion in the 18th century, who visited the inn. The Moorcroft family were the landlords from the 1880s until 1945.

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

once visited the Scotch Piper, in 1999 during his first term as prime minister. The Admiral Taverns pub suffered severe fire damage to its thatched roof on 6 December 2016. The main structure of the roof and fabric of the building were saved. The pub re-opened in April 2017.

Events

The Scotch Piper Classics is a popular car meet held at the pub every Monday evening and every third Sunday of the month. There is also a bike meet every Wednesday.

Architecture

The two-storey cruck framed whitewashed brick building retains a

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

roof. It is in three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

. The left two bays are in a single storey, and contain at least two

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

trusses; it was encased in brick in the 17th century. The right bay was rebuilt in the 18th century, using fabric from

, and is in storeys. On the front are four

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es, and the windows are horizontally-sliding

sashes A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the human body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else encircling the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, ...

, with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

References

* *

External links

{{commons cat, Scotch Piper Inn
A Short History of the "Oldest Inn in Lancashire"

Scotch Piper Website
Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Pubs in Merseyside Grade II* listed buildings in Merseyside Grade II* listed pubs in England Thatched buildings in England

History

Events

Architecture

See also

References

External links