Alnwick (Clayport) - Grey's Inn

Name: The Grey's Inn

Address: Clayport, Alnwick

1864 Town Plan

The Grey's was owned by a local farmer, Thomas Grey, who lived with his family at Harow Hill Farm House in Denwick, and was a busy town centre inn, but one that proved difficult to manage and saw more than its fair share of landlords over the years.

It was located on Clayport Street, near the Anchor and opposite the Blue Bell and Freemen's Arms and was one of numerous pubs on the north side of the street that were demolished post-WW1 due to their dilapidated state, making was for twentieth-century redevelopments in that part of the town.

1829 Pigot's Directory - Wm. Pringle

Listed landlords at the Grey's Inn were William Pringle (1829), John Graham (-1836), Isabella Graham (1836-), James Marshall (1843), Archibald Shield (1851-), Mrs Jane Popkiss (1859-), Mr White (1865-), Ann Knox (1867-1880), Chas. (Charles) Crawford (1881-), Ralph Brown (1884), David Wilson (1886), Benjamin Cairns (1886), Henry Scott (-1891), Joseph Scott (1891), Richard Wilkinson (1891), John Dryden (1894-), Stephen Tait (1909-) and John Turner (1914).

1834 Pigot's Directory - John Graham

John and Isabella Graham took over the Grey's Inn in the early 1830s moving there with their son, but within a few years John was to die suddenly at just 34 years of age, leaving Isabella to run the pub on her own.

John Graham 34 years

Birth Year (Estimated) 1802

Burial 20 November 1836

Alnwick, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom

1841 Census Isabella Graham

Isabella remarried in 1841 to a John Bell and within a couple of years they'd moved on. Ten years later John Bell and Isabella's son, John Thew Bell were living on Paikes Street but Isabella had passed away on 2nd Oct 1849 of Cholera and is remembered on the Cholera Memorial at St Michael's.

Newcastle Journal Saturday,  Feb. 18, 1843

1851 Census Archibald Shield

1855 Whellan's Directory - Archibald Shield

Alnwick Mercury Saturday,  Jan. 1, 1859

1861 Census Jane Popkiss & Elizabeth Dixon

Newcastle Journal Friday,  Oct. 17, 1862

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Aug. 26, 1865

Newcastle Journal Tuesday,  Feb. 19, 1867

1871 Census Anne Knox

Anne Knox faired better than most at the Grey's, but this was at a time of great personal grief, her husband William dying in 1865, followed by two sons and a daughter all within a decade. She too passed away in 1880 and the inn was back to let.

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Sept. 16, 1871

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Aug. 7, 1875

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  May 6, 1876

Alnwick Mercury Saturday,  Oct. 13, 1877

1879 Kelly's Directory Ann Knox

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Dec. 13, 1879

1880 Probate Ann Knox

Alnwick Mercury Saturday,  Oct. 23, 1880

1881 Census Grey's Inn Unoccupied

Just a few doors down from the entrance to Union Court the 1881 census above shows '2U' (two unoccupied) premises, one of which was the Grey's Inn, still empty following Ann Knox's death just months before.

Alnwick Mercury Saturday,  Nov. 19, 1881

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Sept. 23, 1882

Alnwick Mercury Saturday,  Jan. 13, 1883

Newcastle Courant Friday,  Dec. 7, 1883

1884 saw a change of landlord at the Grey's, and one who quickly came to the attention of the courts, a Ralph Brown.

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  May 24, 1884

Unsurprisingly Ralph didn't last much longer behind the bar and was soon replaced by David Wilson.

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Sept. 11, 1886

Newcastle Courant Friday,  July 22, 1887

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Feb. 21, 1891

1891 Census Joseph Scott

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Nov. 14, 1891

1894 Kelly's Directory John Dryden

1901 Census John Dryden

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Nov. 26, 1904

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Feb. 10, 1906

The above press release from 1906 documented the dilapidated state of the Grey's Inn by that time, and the writing appeared to be on the wall for the pub, which would eventually be closed and compensation paid to the owners around a decade later.

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  May 8, 1909

1911 Census Stephen Tait

1911 Census Summary Sheet - Mr Tait

After a spell at the Grey's Inn Stephen Tait moved on to the Odd Fellows' Arms, with John Turner taking over, although by 1921, John too have left the Inn to run the George Inn on Bondgate.

1914 Kelly's Directory John Turner

By the time of the 1921 Kelly's Directory I can find no trace of the Grey's Inn so suspect that it finally closed its doors during, or immediately after the Great War.

1864 vs 2026 Maps