![Ewelme : Patrons outside the Shepherd's Hut at Ewelme [c.1900]](https://www.old-photographs.co.uk/images/oxfordshire/ewelme-shepherds-hut.jpg "Ewelme : Patrons outside the Shepherd's Hut at Ewelme [c.1900]")
Patrons outside the Shepherd's Hut at Ewelme in Oxfordshire c.1900 [Author's Collection]. Map extract from Ordnance Survey Sheet 158 Oxford and Newbury
OS One-Inch Map Revised 1956, Published 1959. Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the
Creative Commons Attribution licence.
Patrons outside the Shepherd's Hut at Ewelme c.1900
In recent times, this pub traditionally featured an inn sign with a shepherd taking a break along with his faithful dog at his feet. The Shepherd's Hut stands on the junction of Ewelme's High Street and Eyre's Lane. The pub is across the road from the Ewelme Watercress Beds and Local Nature Reserve. The story of this former beer house was intertwined with the watercress business for many years. This photograph of the Shepherd's Hut was taken around 1900 and shows a group of men and a couple of boys outside the pub. This may have been a gathering of villagers on a wedding day - some seem to have flowers in their buttonholes. The frontage of the main building has changed little since this period. The wooden garage-cum-warehouse to the left of the pub has long gone. On this part of the structure there is a sign for Newbury's Carpets and Linoleums of Friar Street in Reading.
The name above the front door of the Shepherd's Hut at the time of this photograph was Henry Winfield. The son of an agricultural labourer, he was born in the parish in December 1870. He grew up not far from the Shepherd's Hut but, as a young man, moved to the north-east at Kingston Blount, near Aston Rowant, in order to find work. On Boxing Day 1896 he married Sarah Ann Coles at Saint Mary's Church in Ewelme. When the couple tied the knot Sarah Coles was recorded as an innkeeper. Her uncle, Joseph Coles, had earlier kept the Shepherd's Hut so it would seem she came to the pub through the family. Despite having his name above the front door, Henry probably left the running of the Shepherd's Hut to Sarah whilst he focused on his work nearby. Recorded as a watercress cutter, he was a foreman for the business operated by George Smith. This work may have been seasonal, though the maintenance work was conducted throughout the calendar.
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