Pub Heritage Rugglestone Inn
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Devon - Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Two star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic interest
Listed Status: II
Widecombe-in-the-Moor
TQ13 7TF
Tel: (01364) 621327
Email: vanessamasonhill@gmail.com
Website http://www.rugglestoneinn.co.uk
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rugglestoneinn
Real Ale: Yes
Real Cider: Yes
Lunchtime Meals: Yes
Evening Meals: Yes
Public Transport: Near Bus Stop
Bus: Yes
View on: Whatpub
A pub since 1832, and named after a local logan stone (a rocking stone), the Rugglestone remained unspoilt until 1992 but retains much of interest. The original layout comprised a passageway from the front door to a hatch from where you ordered your drink (and where you can still stand to get served) plus the small tap room on the front right; the present public bar, front left, was a meeting room and not in regular use. A counter was installed there in 1993 by knocking a hole in the wall to the side of the cellar. Beer is still served from casks on an old stillage. The tap room has a concrete-screeded floor, old window shutters and a 1930s fireplace. Note the illustrations of Widecombe Fair on the wall. The small rear-right room, formerly the landlady’s parlour, came into pub use in the late 1990s.
18th or early 19th century building which has been a pub since 1832 and is named after a local Logan Stone. It remained unspoilt as it was owned by Miss Audrey Lamb, who lived here all her life up to August 1992 (she died in 2009 aged 79). The original layout of passageway from front door to a hatch from where you originally ordered your drink and the small tap room on the front right; the present public bar on the front left was not in regular use - it was just a meeting room for the Sick Club that met monthly and meetings relating to the Widecombe Fair (held on the 2nd Tuesday in September and made famous in the folk song with its phrase 'Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all'). You can still stand at the door to the servery to get served where in 1993 a piece of elm was added to to create a flap across the doorway to place drinks on.
A low doorway (all doors removed in 1993) on the left leads to the small main bar where in 1993 a bar was installed by knocking a hole in the wall to the side of the cellar and a piece of elm added as a counter top and modern panelling below. Beer is still served from casks on an old stillage - in Audrey's day only Draught Bass was served (and cider and wine) and the floor has been scarred from rolling the casks prior to placing them on the stillage. Within the servery/cellar the main shelf is modern as are some other additions. The floor of the public bar is a pitted concrete screed one and there is an old stone fireplace at the end of the room that until 1993 was covered up. The benches were added in 1993.
The front right hand room also has a concrete screed floor and old shutters on the windows. The brick and wood surround fireplace replaced an older one in the late 1930s - Audrey recounted to the locals that she helped her grandfather build it! One wall that backs onto the staircase to living quarters is completely panelled - now painted blue. On the wall is a set of 12 illustrations by Pamela Coleman Smith as her interpretation of Widecombe Fair - 500 copies were printed by hand in 1898 by Lamson, Wolfe & Company, Boston, New York & London - this is set number 138. The small rear right room was originally Audrey's Parlour and brought into pub use in the late 1990s. It has a bare boarded floor but no old fittings. The pub still retains its outside gents' and ladies', but they have been modernised. A garden is accessed across a footbridge over a stream. The car park is in a field just south of the pub and across the other side of the road.
Full Description
A low doorway (all doors removed in 1993) on the left leads to the small main bar where in 1993 a bar was installed by knocking a hole in the wall to the side of the cellar and a piece of elm added as a counter top and modern panelling below. Beer is still served from casks on an old stillage - in Audrey's day only Draught Bass was served (and cider and wine) and the floor has been scarred from rolling the casks prior to placing them on the stillage. Within the servery/cellar the main shelf is modern as are some other additions. The floor of the public bar is a pitted concrete screed one and there is an old stone fireplace at the end of the room that until 1993 was covered up. The benches were added in 1993.
The front right hand room also has a concrete screed floor and old shutters on the windows. The brick and wood surround fireplace replaced an older one in the late 1930s - Audrey recounted to the locals that she helped her grandfather build it! One wall that backs onto the staircase to living quarters is completely panelled - now painted blue. On the wall is a set of 12 illustrations by Pamela Coleman Smith as her interpretation of Widecombe Fair - 500 copies were printed by hand in 1898 by Lamson, Wolfe & Company, Boston, New York & London - this is set number 138. The small rear right room was originally Audrey's Parlour and brought into pub use in the late 1990s. It has a bare boarded floor but no old fittings. The pub still retains its outside gents' and ladies', but they have been modernised. A garden is accessed across a footbridge over a stream. The car park is in a field just south of the pub and across the other side of the road.
