Greyhound and Punchbowl

I have worked with the teenagers of Bilston as a teacher of English for 38 years now.  When I first started at the tender age of 22 as a very naive youngster, the school building was an old Victorian Board School very close to the centre of the town which was dominated by heavy industry in the form of steelworks.  The Headteacher at the time, Mr Harley, was at pains to impress on me that the youngsters were rough diamonds but I would have to work hard to find the diamonds in the roughness.  I did, and I found the diamonds many times over which I suppose is one of the reasons that my whole teaching career has been spent there.  It has certainly been interesting and extremely challenging at times - either because of difficult students or OFSTED!  In those days, the staff had plenty of time to walk up into the town at lunch time but we never actually got as far as the oldest building in Bilston - the Greyhound and Punchbowl Inn.  We used to get to the pork sandwich shop (With stuffing and crackling!) or the chippy where they produced wonderful orange chips cooked in batter and lard.  No wonder I put on weight!

Here is the history of the building:

A half timbered Tudor style building constructed about 1450 by John de Mottesley as a manor house. It remained a family home until 1820 when it became an inn used by miners and foundry workers. The building fell into disrepair and was saved from demolition by W. Butler & Co. Ltd., a local brewery who tried to restore it as closely as possible to its original condition. Only the West wing remains today, though it is a fine example of Tudor workmanship. Inside the ceilings are low and the floors uneven. The walls have wooden panels and the ceilings are decorated with vines, leaves,birds, and fruit. There is a massive chimney and fireplace which was built around a large oak tree, half of which forms one of the main supporting pillars of the building.