Embleton - Star Inn

Name: The Star Inn

Address: Stanley Terrace, Embleton

Star Inn (facing Front Street)

The Star Inn was on the corner of Front Street and Stanley Terrace, next door-but-one to the Grey's Inn on the census enumerator's route. It was a part of village life throughout most of the 1800s, and the first reference I can find is on the 1841 census when Thomas Embleton was the landlord.

1841 Tithe Map of Embleton

1861 OS Map

Highlighted on the map above, the semi-detached single storey stone residences that stand today at the location between the Grey's and Star Inn (see below) were not to be built for another 60 years or so, presumably when the old buildings fell into disrepair. 

Stanley Terrace - built c.1900

The different building outlines are clear to see when you compare the maps from 1861 and 1922 below.

1922 OS Map

1841 Census Thomas Embleton

Listed landlords at the Star Inn were Thomas Embleton (1841-), Joseph Davison (1861-), John Dickinson (1871-), John Stephenson (1879-) and finally his widow, Jane Stephenson (1889-1901).

1851 Census Thomas Embleton Ag Labourer

1855 Whellan's Directory - Thomas Embleton Beerhouse

The 1855 directory above accounts for the main public houses in the village, plus two additional beer houses, which by elimination, were the Star Inn and Black Bull Inn. William McDowell is not listed on the 1851 or 1861 censuses, so I suspect his time in the village was short-lived and therefore, he would have been a brief landlord at the Black Bull, whilst Thomas Embleton remained in the village through the 1840s to 1850s and was almost certainly the Star Inn's landlord, despite the changing occupations listed on the census records.

By 1861, Thomas and his wife, Jane had moved to 'Newton Seahouses', now Low Newton by the Sea and a new landlord, Joseph Davison had taken over, running the beer house alongside his main trade as a joiner. Landlords having two or more jobs was common place during this period to supplement their income, and subsequent landlords followed suit at the Star Inn.

1861 Census - Joseph Davison

The below press cutting records the death of John Robinson, a long-term employee at the Star Inn and is useful in dating the Inn back to at least the early 1830s.

Newcastle Journal 20th April 1863 - John Robinson

1871 Census - John Dickinson Inn Keeper & Shoemaker

1879 Kelly's Directory - John Stephenson (Star)

Alnwick Mercury 09 August 1879

It must have been somewhat of an embarassment for John Stephenson when his son William was arrested for Drunk and Disorderly behaviour outside the Inn, but he soldiered on and remained behind the bar for another decade before his death in 1889.

1881 Census John Stephenson

Newcastle Daily Journal 31 May 1889
John Stephenson Death Notice

1889 Probate - John Stephenson

Following John's death in 1889, his wife, Jane continued to run the Inn with their son, John until her own passing in 1901.

1891 Census - Jane Stephenson

1894 Kelly's Directory - Jane Stephenson 'beer retailer'

1901 Census - Jane Stephenson 'The Pavement Star Inn'

Jane was to die within weeks of the 1901 census, her modest effects going to her son, John Stephenson who by that time lived in nearby Christon Bank.

1901 Probate Jane Stephenson

Ten years later there is no trace of the Star Inn in Embleton, although not all reference to it had disappeared, as a stone mason called Robert Jeffrey and his family were living at the location, described as 'Star Yard' in 1911. Next to it on the route along the south side of Front Street was the 'Bee Hive Stores'.

1911 Census Summary Book - Star Yard

1911 Robert Jeffrey - Star Yard

Final reference to the Inn was found in the newspaper clipping below, when John Stephenson Jnr died in 1936, the Inn, by this time, long since departed.

Berwick Advertiser 18 June 1936

1936 Probate - John Stephenson

This photo at the bottom shows the first floor elevation of the Star Inn, fronting onto the pavement on Stanley Terrace, where evidence of an old entrance and window can be clearly seen, now bricked up. I believe the Inn is now called 'Hill Cottage', as referenced on the 1975 OS Map.

1975 OS Map