Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging , and usually, food and drink . Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accommodation for horses .
47-702: Kinver is a large village in the District of South Staffordshire in Staffordshire , England. It is in the far south-west of the county, at the end of the narrow finger of land surrounded by the counties of Shropshire , Worcestershire and the West Midlands . The nearest towns are Stourbridge , West Midlands, Kidderminster in Worcestershire and Bridgnorth , Shropshire. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal passes through, running close to
94-544: A Second World War shadow factory for the Rover car company and were used to manufacture aircraft engine components for the company's main supply factory in Birmingham and its shadow factories at Acocks Green and Solihull . They were also intended to act as a backup facility if either of the main shadow factories was damaged by enemy action. Part of the underground facility was also used as an RAF stores area. During
141-459: A hill just south of the village. Several hamlets lie in the parish of Kinver, including Dunsley , Compton, Stourton and Whittington. The neighbouring village of Enville is in its own parish. Kinver is served by the 242 service from Kinver to Stourbridge and 580 TUES/THU/FRI Twice a day to Kidderminster Kinver has, at various times in the past, been spelt on maps and documents as: Kinfare, Kynfare, Chenfare, Chenevare, Chenefare (as listed in
188-497: A largely rural area lying immediately to the west and north-west of the West Midlands conurbation . The neighbouring districts are Stafford , Cannock Chase , Walsall , Wolverhampton , Dudley , Bromsgrove , Wyre Forest , Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin . The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . The new district covered two former districts, which were both abolished at
235-480: A panther may roam the woods and fields of Kinver. It is believed this so-called 'Beast of Kinver' was once kept as a pet but was released into the wild when new laws restricting the keeping of wild animals were introduced in the 1960s. A former policeman who saw the creature described it as resembling a European Lynx . The larger Witch's Tree at the base of the Edge is also renowned for various visions and sightings. This
282-399: A particular kind of image. Inns were like bed and breakfasts , with a community dining room which was also used for town meetings or rented for wedding parties. The front, facing the road, was ornamental and welcoming for travelers. The back also usually had at least one livery barn for travelers to keep their horses. There were no lobbies as in modern inns; rather, the innkeeper would answer
329-408: A resting place to those traveling on foot or by other means. These inns were built between towns if the distance between municipalities was too far for one day's travel. These structures, called caravansarais, were inns with large courtyards and ample supplies of water for drinking and other uses. They typically contained a café, in addition to supplies of food and fodder. After the caravans traveled
376-419: A seat and a barrel which were emptied every morning. Beds would accommodate more than one man, sometimes even a dozen. During the 19th century, the inn played a major role in the growing transportation system of England. Industry was on the rise, and people were traveling more in order to keep and maintain business. The English inn was considered an important part of English infrastructure, as it helped maintain
423-550: A shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: The leaders of the council since 1982 have been: Following the 2023 election the composition of the council was: The next election is due in 2027. Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 42 councillors representing 20 wards , with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. The district covers
470-734: A similar geographic area to South Staffordshire parliamentary constituency , although the north of the district is covered by the Stafford constituency . Sir Patrick Cormack of the Conservative Party held the South Staffordshire seat, and its predecessor, Staffordshire South-West, between 1974 and 2010, when he retired and the seat was won by Gavin Williamson for the Conservative Party. The council
517-473: A smooth flow of travel throughout the country. As modes of transport have evolved, tourist lodging has adapted to serve each generation of traveler. A stagecoach made frequent stops at roadside coaching inns for water, food, and horses. A passenger train stopped only at designated stations in the city center, around which were built grand railway hotels . Motorcar traffic on old-style two-lane highways might have paused at any camp, cabin court, or motel along
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#1732790949491564-518: A stop on the great "Irish Road" from Bristol to Chester (until the 19th century, the port of embarkation for Ireland), the 'White Hart' being the oldest and largest inn . There was a brief cavalry melee on the Heath during the English Civil War between " Tinker Fox " the local Parliamentary commander and local Royalist forces. Fox retired to Stourton Castle which was briefly invested by
611-618: A while they would take a break at these caravansarais, and often spend the night to rest the human travelers and their animals. The term "inn" historically characterized a rural hotel which provided lodging, food and refreshments, and accommodations for travelers' horses. To capitalize on this nostalgic image many typically lower end and middling modern motor hotel operators seek to distance themselves from similar motels by styling themselves "inns", regardless of services and accommodations provided. Examples are Comfort Inn , Days Inn , Holiday Inn , Knights Inn , and Premier Inn . The term "inn"
658-586: Is also retained in its historic use in many laws governing motels and hotels, often known as "innkeeper's acts", or refer to hôteliers and motel operators as "innkeepers" in the body of the legislation These laws typically define the innkeepers' liability for valuables entrusted to them by clients and determine whether an innkeeper holds any lien against such goods. In some jurisdictions, an offense named as " defrauding an innkeeper " prohibits fraudulently obtaining "food, lodging, or other accommodation at any hotel, inn, boarding house, or eating house"; in this context,
705-675: Is based at the Council Offices on Wolverhampton Road in Codsall. The building was purpose-built for the council shortly after it was created, opening in 1976 to replace buildings in Penkridge and Wombourne that the council inherited from its predecessors. The whole district is divided into civil parishes . No parish in South Staffordshire has been declared to be a town by its parish council. None of South Staffordshire's settlements are classed as post towns either; postal addresses in
752-421: Is on a very ancient site, and the current church, dedicated to St. Peter dates from the 12th century. The village High Street was laid out as the burgages of a new town by the lord of the manor in the late 13th century and was administered by a borough court, separate for the manorial court for the rest of the manor of Kinver and Stourton (known as Kinfare Foreign). The main pub, The White Hart, dates from
799-486: Is twinned with: South Staffordshire South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire , England . Its council is based in Codsall . Other notable settlements include Brewood , Cheslyn Hay , Coven , Essington , Featherstone , Four Ashes , Great Wyrley , Huntington , Kinver , Landywood , Penkridge , Perton , Wedges Mills , Weston-under-Lizard and Wombourne . The district covers
846-590: The Cold War the tunnels were turned into a Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ). In the event of Nuclear War Government officials, VIPs and heads of the regional military and emergency services would be housed here safely away from falling bombs and the effects of radiation and nuclear fallout . After the Cold War ended, the Drakelow site was decommissioned and sold in around 1993. Planning permission
893-517: The Domesday Book ) and Cynefare. The earliest form of the name is Cynibre, in a charter of 736 AD. The first element may be assimilated to cyne 'royal', but may come from a Celtic root cuno- 'dog'. The second element -bre refers to a steep hill, probably Kinver Edge. The ancient Hill Fort atop the Edge is of possible Bronze-age and certainly Iron Age origin. A Roman presence at nearby Greensforge Fort dates from around 47 AD. The hilltop church
940-620: The 14th century, and the Anchor Hotel (now developed as housing) from the 15th century. The grammar school opened in 1511, the first teacher being a priest paid by local men, and functioned as a school until closure in 1916. School accounts from the 1700s are held at the University of Birmingham. Kinver was known for making sturdy woollen cloth, using the flow of the Stour for fulling mills and dyeing. The village also profited from being
987-476: The 242 will be operated by Diamond Bus . The National Trust -owned beauty spot of Kinver Edge lies to the south-west of the village at 52°26′59″N 2°14′31″W / 52.44985°N 2.24205°W / 52.44985; -2.24205 . There are notable rock or cave houses on Kinver Edge , carved from the sandstone , some inhabited as late as the 1960s. Some of the rock houses have been restored to their former inhabited states. Such rock houses were
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#17327909494911034-571: The Royalists. During his flight from the Battle of Worcester King Charles II made his way over Whittington Heath into nearby Stourbridge . Later, the river was used to power finery forges and from 1628 slitting mills , including Hyde Mill which has been claimed (incorrectly) as the earliest in England, though it certainly was among the earliest. There were five slitting mills in the parish by
1081-548: The South Staffordshire district, for example the village of Wombourne has the Wom Brook Walk and the Bratch Locks on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in the nearby village of Bratch. Other sites include: Bunkers Tree Wood is also in the area and contains a large Corvid roost . In terms of television, the area is served by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central . Television signals are received from
1128-588: The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, built by James Brindley . In Victorian and Edwardian times Kinver was a popular Sunday day out for people from Birmingham and the Black Country, via a 1901 pole & wires tram extension that ran across the fields, the "Kinver Light Railway". The nailshops and forges ceased work around 1892, and local ironworks are thought to have all closed in about 1912 or 1913. According to local eyewitness accounts,
1175-466: The Whittington Inn was formerly Whittington manor house , built in 1310 by Sir William de Whittington, a knight at arms and grandfather of Richard Whittington , upon whose life the pantomime character Dick Whittington is based. These claims are in fact unfounded: Dick Whittington (q.v.) came from Gloucestershire . The Whittington Inn was merely a farmhouse belonging to a freeholder of
1222-587: The course of the meandering River Stour . According to the 2011 census Kinver ward had a population of 7,225. The village has three schools: Foley Infant Academy , Brindley Heath Academy and Kinver High School , now part of the Invictus Multi Academy Trust. During normal times, the Infant school rings the home time bell 20 minutes before the junior or high schools. This is to allow the parents collecting children from both sites to cover
1269-549: The district therefore all include the name of a post town outside the district, the main ones being Cannock , Stourbridge , Stafford , Walsall and Wolverhampton . The district's parishes are: At the 2021 census the Office for National Statistics identified three built-up areas in the district with a population over 10,000, being Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay with 17,640 people, Wombourne with 12,815 and Codsall (including Bilbrook) with 11,865. There are many beauty spots within
1316-563: The door for each visitor and judge the people whom he decided to accommodate, it was up to the visitors to convince the innkeeper for accommodation. In some English towns, bye-laws would require innkeepers to offer all visitors a bed. Many inns were simply large houses that had extra rooms for renting. In 14th-century England, the courtyards of the inns were often not paved or cobbled but rather flattened earth or mud. These inns would be made of two-story timber framed buildings with steep shingle roofs. Stable boys were in charge of stabling horses at
1363-714: The either Sutton Coldfield or Wrekin TV transmitters. Radio stations for the area are: Local newspaper is the Express & Star . 52°37′33″N 2°11′30″W / 52.6258°N 2.1918°W / 52.6258; -2.1918 Inn An Innkeeper is the person who runs an inn. Inns in Europe were possibly first established when the Romans built their system of Roman roads 2,000 years ago. Many inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for
1410-559: The functions of traditional inns. Economy, limited service properties, however, lack a kitchen and bar, and therefore claim at most an included continental breakfast .) The lodging aspect of the word inn lives on in some hotel brand names, like Holiday Inn , and the Inns of Court in London were once accommodations for members of the legal profession. Some laws refer to lodging operators as innkeepers . Other forms of inns exist throughout
1457-544: The late 18th century, more than any other parish in Great Britain. These slit bars of iron into rods to be made into nails in the nearby Black Country . Stourton Castle figured notably in the history of the English Civil Wars. It was the birthplace of cardinal Reginald Pole , last catholic archbishop of Canterbury, who came within a whisker of the papacy. In 1771 the area was opened up to trade by
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1504-406: The manor of Whittington. The 18th century manor house was undoubtedly Whittington Hall (now Whittington Hall Farm). This belonged to the lords of the manor, and probably had done so since the mediaeval period. Kinver Light Railway , an innovative electric light tramway opened on 4 April 1901 and helped establish the local tourism industry. However, as buses became more popular during the 1920s, it
1551-502: The mid-1850s but escaped her captors only to be chased over the Edge before her footprints mysteriously disappeared from the snowy track. Other famous hauntings include the spirit of Lady Jane Grey , (who, for nine days, was intruded as Queen of England immediately prior to Queen Mary Tudor ) whose ghost has been reported at the Whittington Inn, and the infamous William Howe, a footpad who murdered Benjamin Robins of Dunsley Hall and became
1598-508: The needs of travelers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. Historically, inns provided not only food and lodging, but stabling and fodder for the travelers' horses, as well. Famous London examples of inns include The George and The Tabard . However, there is no longer a formal distinction between an inn and several other kinds of establishments: many pubs use the name "inn", either because they are long established and may have been formerly coaching inns , or to summon up
1645-542: The penultimate person to be gibbeted at nearby Gibbet Lane in the early 19th century. A famous story goes that Richard Foley (known as "Fiddler Foley") had carried out industrial espionage in Sweden by posing as a wandering musician. By this stratagem he was said to have gained the knowledge necessary to instal his slitting mill at Hyde. The former iron foundry there was one of the places where Dud Dudley attempted his revolutionary innovations, and it has been shown that he
1692-475: The public. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal which runs through the parish is popular with boaters, particularly in the summer months. The village has a number of events throughout the year, including open gardens, beer festivals at various venues and concerts at the Community Centre and St. Peter's Church. St. Peter's Church, the village and parish church sits in a prominent position on
1739-423: The rear yard of the inn where they are watered and fed. Usual foods served included pottage, bread and cheese with ale for drinking. In some towns, innkeepers are only allowed to offer food and drinks to guests. The better managed inns would place fresh rushes on the floor, mixed with rose petals, lavender and herbs. Lighting would be dim, as candles were made of tallow. For toilet facilities, inns would simply provide
1786-553: The same time: The new district was named South Staffordshire, reflecting its position within the wider county. South Staffordshire District Council, which styles itself "South Staffordshire Council", provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Staffordshire County Council . The whole district is also covered by civil parishes , which form a third tier of local government. The council has been under Conservative majority control since 1976. The first elections were held in 1973, initially operating as
1833-562: The setting of a book and silent film, Bladys of the Stewponey (1919, Sabine Baring-Gould ), but most of this has since been lost. The "Stewponey" refers to an ancient inn (now demolished and replaced by flats) at Stourton in Kinver parish. Just outside Kinver are Drakelow Tunnels . The tunnels were used for various purposes by the MoD for many years. The tunnels were originally built as
1880-474: The three-quarters of a mile journey. During lockdown and as the return to school was phased-in, times were staggered and year groups arrived and left at different times to reduce the number of people at the gates at any one time. Kinver Edge , which incorporates the former Kingsford Country Park in Worcestershire, comprises approximately 600 acres of land owned by the National Trust and open to
1927-605: The way, while freeway traffic was restricted to access from designated off-ramps to side roads which quickly become crowded with hotel chain operators. The original functions of an inn are now usually split among separate establishments. For example, hotels, lodges and motels might provide the traditional functions of an inn but focus more on lodging customers than on other services; public houses (pubs) are primarily alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants and taverns serve food and drink. (Hotels often contain restaurants serving full breakfasts and meals, thus providing all of
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1974-565: The world. Among them are the honjin and ryokan of Japan , caravanserai of Central Asia and the Middle East, and jiuguan in ancient China. In Asia Minor , during the periods of rule by the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks , impressive structures functioning as inns ( Turkish : han ) were built because inns were considered socially significant. These inns provided accommodations for people and either their vehicles or animals, and served as
2021-404: Was an ancestor of Abraham Darby who later perfected the smelting of iron with coal (research by Carl Higgs). There is a long-standing tradition that Wulfhere King of Mercia (succeeded 657) dedicated the parish church of St Peter in memory of his sons, Wulphad and Ruffius, who he had killed in anger when they converted to Christianity (Seisdon Council Guide, 1966). According to local claims,
2068-462: Was believed to be the central location for the witch trials in the area and several women were believed to be hanged for witchcraft and heresy. Other myths and legends include the sightings of many ghosts and spirits, especially around the area of the Scout camp which is situated between the Edge and St Peter's Church. Ghosts here include the mysterious Lottie who was kidnapped from the nearby village in
2115-551: Was connected to Wolverhampton as part of the South Staffordshire bus routes at one time numbered 580-589 and which served a number of rural communities in South Staffordshire. These connections were withdrawn in 2017 as part of cuts in funding a number of bus services in the county of Staffordshire. Service 242 was previously operated by The Green Bus Company but due to a shortage of drivers, was awarded to Select Bus in September 2021 as an emergency replacement. From 1st September 2024,
2162-457: Was eventually closed on 8 February 1930. Transport today is provided by Select Bus service 242 from Stourbridge to Kinver which departs Stourbridge at xx40 Mon-Sat daytime. (There are no journeys at 1540 from Stourbridge or at 1510 and 1610 from Kinver due to the bus being used on a school route.) Diamond Bus 580 operates one journey each way to Kidderminster on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday only. The 580 service number dates back to when Kinver
2209-745: Was granted in January 2021 for the tunnels to be developed into a wine warehouse and distribution centre, with around 19,000 sq ft (1,800 m) of the tunnels being renovated to museum standard. Kinver Brewery was established in 2004. The brewery won the Champion Beer of Britain Gold Medal at the National Winter Ales Festival 2014 for "Over the Edge" in the Barley Wine and Strong Old Ale category. Kinver
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