The Barrel Inn and its Emblem, Bretton

A board inside the Inn says there has been a building on the site since medieval times, with the present building dating from 1597, when it was a farmstead. The first recorded Innkeeper was George Bowman (1753-1770), followed by Francis Middleton, for the period until 1808. John Morton senior, and John Morton then kept it until 1872, followed by Abraham Bennett, 1872-1887, after which Ruth Bennett kept it until 1890. Another Francis Middleton then kept it until 1906.

The site is approximately 1,276 feet above sea level; Bretton hamlet consists of a few scattered farmsteads. The meaning of the name ‘Bretton’ suggested in Ekwall's Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names is Old English ‘Bræc-tun’ - newly cultivated ‘tun’ or farmstead. The settlement is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but the straight turnpiked road past it, and the lead mines surrounding it might indicate the Romans were here.

(Information provided by Pete Howard/Rosemary Lockie)