We continue this week with an Oswestry inn

How did the Oswestry inn, The Coach and Dogs, come by its name? In 1643 a certain Edward Lloyd from Llanforda was the son of the man in command of the Royalist forces in the Oswestry area.

It has been assumed Edward Lloyd was in charge of the building of the Coach and Dogs. Apparently, he was seen regularly around Oswestry in his carriage of four wheels being pulled by no less than a team of dogs.

At the aforementioned Llanforda is a very old farm. Its house called Pentreshannel has an excellent view of Llanforda Woods. Generations of a certain Hughes family were tenants of this farm for 105 years, apparently until 1953. The very first generation of the Hughes to move into this farm in the mid 1800s were previously farming Tinkers’ Green at nearby Whittington. Not much is known about the tenants preceding the Hughes family, although records suggest they may have been known by the name of Evison but this is not known for certain.

Inscribed on the many gates on the farm were the initials WWW (Watkins Williams Wynne). These inscriptions obviously represented the landlord of Pentreshannel, part of the Sir Watkin Estate. Apparently, the old farm was once heavily involved in cheesemaking with the old cheese presses which had long been redundant by the 1950s.

How did the Oswestry inn the Coach and Dogs come by its name? In 1643 a certain Edward Lloyd from Llanforda was the son of the man in command of the Royalist forces in the Oswestry area. It has been assumed Edward Lloyd was in charge of the building of the “Coach and Dogs”. Apparently, he was seen regularly around Oswestry in his carriage of four wheels being pulled by no less than a team of dogs.

At the aforementioned Llanforda is a very old farm. Its house called Pentreshannel has an excellent view of Llanforda Woods. Generations of a certain Hughes family were tenants of this farm for 105 years apparently until 1953. The very first generation of the Hughes to move into this farm in the mid 1800s were previously farming Tinkers’ Green at nearby Whittington. Not much is known about the tenants preceding the Hughes family although records suggest the may have been known by the name of Evison but this is not known for certain.

Inscribed on the many gates on the farm were the initials W.W.W. (Watkins Williams Wynne). These inscriptions obviously represented the landlord of Pentreshannel part of the Sir Watkin Estate. Apparently the old farm was once heavily involved in cheesemaking with the old cheese presses which had long been redundant by the 1950s.

Arthur Conan Doyle and a boxer from Shropshire

During the summer of 1878, while being used in some sort of a display etc, an old cannon misfired and disintegrated at a country house in the vicinity of Ruyton.

One of the many spectators who caught one of the fragments was injured quite severely on his head. The local doctor by the name of Elliot was sent for but unfortunately was not available to attend the wounds of the unfortunate person concerned.

Fortunately, all was not lost.

The doctor’s aide was close at hand. He just happened to be on a break from his studies at Edinburgh University.

The aide had little experience at that time, only working as a dispenser in Sheffield and by his own admission, mainly reading books at other times.

This student of medicine tended to the cuts and grazes of the aforementioned casualty. Later, when the doctor eventually came on the scene, he appeared to be satisfied with the medical ability of the young assistant and surmised he had made a start in a hopefully successful medical career.

However, it appears an occupation in medicine was not in store for this young medical undergraduate by the name of Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the Sherlock Holmes fictional mysteries!

As regarding Conan Doyle’s association with Dr Elliot, it was not described as being a smooth-running alliance. Doyle eventually went back to Edinburgh after a somewhat unsuccessful stay in Ruyton.

Nevertheless, Doyle was interested in boxing and not least in the fortunes of a boxer from Wem in Shropshire by the name of Joe Berks, who fought bouts during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Doyle created a novel based on the Wem prizefighter which was made into a play lasting four months at the Adelphi Theatre. Unfortunately, this was to prove expensive and unprofitable for Doyle and was not all that successful.

The boxer, Joe Berks, who was baptized at Wem in Shropshire in 1771, made his living as a butcher. It appears that later on he lived in Birmingham and then moved to London.

Joe Berks was well known for being very strong and was known as the ‘Burly Brum’ and as time went on his reputation allowed him to be known as ‘The Woolwich Butcher’. Just what a successful boxer needed to place fear into his competitors!

Doyle was to describe Joe Berks as being of an egotistical nature and fond of the drink. The boxer found it difficult to face defeat when facing a formidable opponent and he possessed a grim determination to win.

Doyle was of the opinion if the Shropshire boxer had not had such a failing for being drunk he may have one day won the championship of England’ which on certain occasions he had competed for. Berks, when being under the influence of drink, regularly used to engage in punch-ups even when he was out of the boxing ring which was to lead him up to his initial meeting with the then current title holder, Jem Belcher.

In 1801 Jem Belcher was just 19 years old and was already at the height of his profession.

When returning to his coach after watching a bout at Wimbledon Common he encountered a drunken Joe Berks who was trying to provoke Belcher into a bout. Apparently, Berks punched out at Belcher and caught him with a fluky blow. The reigning champion then retaliated while wearing his ‘street’ clothes.

Belcher was unable to subdue Berks and was forced to strip to the waist to continue with the frantic brawl in the boxing ring situated nearby. Even though he was intoxicated, Berks showed terrific fighting potential against the champion.

One of the spectators of this most unofficial fight at Wimbledon Common that day was an eccentric by the name of Lord Camelford. Camelford was quite astonished by the determined ability of the boxer originally from Wem in Shropshire.

He was so impressed, in fact, that he took the decision to have Berks trained by the famous boxer Daniel Mendoza, an ex-title holder from previous years. The intention was for Berks to make a challenge for the boxing championship.

Mendoza was to train Berks for two months in the hope of a match with Jem Belcher. Berks was not to be allowed any alcoholic drink, while also involving a strict diet while preparing for this fight. However, the fight had to be called off for a month because the local magistrates had found out about it.

n Continues next week