The Harp Inn, Glasbury

The Harp Inn, Glasbury

This building is thought to date from 1720. In 1796 it was sold at auction. The auction details confirm that the building was in use as a public house by that time.

The passing trade at the time would have been considerable, thanks to the long-established river crossing at Glasbury, originally a ferry and later a bridge. By tradition the river Wye is the boundary between Breconshire and Radnorshire, and today the village of Glasbury lies in both shires. In the past the village has been allocated at times to one or the other, but today both shires are part of the county of Powys. The Harp Inn is on the Breconshire side of the village.

One evening in July 1866 an injured man called John Williams was taken to the Harp Inn after being struck in the chest by a piece of timber near Glasbury railway station. Mr Williams, of Hay-on-Wye, worked for a timber merchant and was unloading a timber carriage when the accident happened. A Talgarth surgeon who was in the neighbourhood rushed to the Harp Inn to help, but Mr Williams died.

Inquests were sometimes held at the Harp Inn. In 1913 the jury returned a verdict of accidental drowning on five-year-old Oscar Morgan, second son of Mr and Mrs Jenkin Morgan of Glasbury. The child had been “playing ships” with another boy at a pool on the Grove when he over-reached and fell into the water. He was buried at St Peter’s Churchyard.

Licensing records from 1909 show that the pub’s registered owners were Arnold Perrett and Company, of Wickwar, Gloucester, and the licensee was William Curtis Morgan. In 1919 he was fined £2 10s for selling spirits in the bar without displaying the maximum price, and the same amount again for selling spirits for more than the “maximum controlled price”.

Postcode: HR3 5NR    View Location Map

Website of the Harp Inn

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