TIMBERSCOMBE’S PUBLIC HOUSES
Alesellers were recorded in Timberscombe from 1407 and two provided beds and stabling for three guests in 1686. By 1688 there were four licensed premises but from 1690 only the Spurrier family held licences. In the mid 18th century two licences were again issued for a short period but the Davis family of butchers were convicted of illegal ale-selling in 1756 and 1779. The statement that there was no public house in the 1780s was probably not correct but the old inn had closed by the early 19th century. Later the village had two inns for about a century and in the late 19th century a cottage on the old Exford road at West Harwood was briefly a public house called the Travellers Rest.
RED LION and LION
The alehouse in the village near the church was kept by the Spurrier family in the late 17th and early 18th century. It was known as was the Red Lion by 1724. It had closed by the early 19th century when it was a private house opposite the present Lion. By 1820 a new house had opened opposite the former Red Lion and was known as the Boot. It was rebuilt not long afterwards and renamed the Lion before 1841 and remains open.
ROSE AND CROWN
By 1825 a new public house known as the Rose and Crown had opened at the north end of the village on the Dunster road. In the early 20th century the Rose and Crown belonged to Hancocks’ Brewery, Wiveliscombe. In 1914 renewal of its licence was referred on the grounds that to have two public houses in a parish of 314 people was excessive. Also the Rose and Crown was not easy for the police to supervise as customers could slip in and out at the back unseen. Its trade was largely among local labourers but was occasionally used by travellers on the main road. Neither the licensee Edmund Palmer, who had only recently taken over, nor the owners raised any objection to its closure and in 1915 renewal of its licence was refused. It continued in business for a short time as refreshment rooms but presumably had little business and eventually became a private house.
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Mary Siraut Page 2 Somerset Reference