History of Towersey’s Public Houses
Up until the 1950’s, Towersey had three public houses; The White Hart, The Black Horse and the Three Horseshoes. The Three Horseshoes is now the only public house remaining, the others have all been converted to private residences.
In the past public houses were used as meeting places for many purposes, for local groups, those included local inquests, village guardians etc.
The Three Horseshoes building, probably dates back to as far as the 12th Century, the original building with its central chimney being built in the typical style of a yeoman farmers house. Some of the original timber frame and witchert was uncovered during re-decoration in the 1980’s but was destroyed in 1999 when the kitchen and dining room were enlarged. The building was probably originally used as a dairy, hence the Portland stone flooring in the lounge bar. It was certainly used by Cordwainers (harness makers) during the last century.
The barn which is alongside the pub is as old as the pub and may have been used as a tithe barn. It is made from timber frame and witchert construction with high slit windows. During the exceptionally cold winter of 1981 the whole of the south facing end wall collapsed but was quickly rebuilt.