The Dog Hangs Well

For most of the week No 14 is the publishing office of Son of Saxon – publisher of Doghouse and Ludlow Ledger. Once the weekly office duties are concluded (between Thursday and Saturday) the front door is open, whilst the tavern lamp is lit ... transforming an aspect of this home and office into a parlour pub known as The Dog Hangs Well.

The front door leads you through a tiled entrance, then through a door to your right, bringing you into the lobby (see picture gallery below). To the left is the old kitchen (where beer is served), with the far right doorway leading into the front parlour.

One barrel of beer is offered at a time, with five barrels of beers prepared and served each week. Please see below for an updated list of the beers we have so far had the pleasure of looking after and serving.

The natural cellar relies on nothing more than Georgian design and the external elements to maintain our serving temperature (which operates between 12 and 14 degrees throughout the year).

The Dog Hangs Well also offers a still cider and a white wine.

The south westerly back-drop to the town of Ludlow and its fortified castle is the 1000-hectare Mortimer Forest – of which most of its high ground includes the former Royal Chase of Bringewood (a reserved hunting estate for the British Royal Family) which came into being when Edward, Earl of March was crowned Edward IV in 1461, following the major War of the Roses battle at Mortimer’s Cross.

Deer poaching in the Royal Chase was a popular pastime, though costly for local poachers if caught. Crossbows, handguns and bows and arrows were confiscated, with their prized hunting dogs – in which they invested dearly – being hanged on the northern high flank of Deepwood known as ‘The Dog Hanging’ woods.

The Dog Hangs Well is a corruption of the once popular Midlands pub name ‘The Gate Hangs Well’ featuring a five-barred gate; once inscribed: This gate hangs well, and hinders non, refresh and pay, and travel on. It is suggested that these pubs were in close proximity to tolls and medieval town gates. Broad Gate is Ludlow’s only remaining town gate (of seven) with the much older of the long-lost gates once located at the top of the ancient North-South road, now known as Corve Street.

14 Corve Street is a three-storey mid-Georgian property (publishing office, with accommodation above) which – regardless of its ever-changing usage over the many years – remains remarkably unmolested, with dado-down panelling, moulded ceiling cornice and original floor boards, exposed fireplaces, servant bell ringers, and a kitchen that retains its over-mantel roasting spit rack, servant bell plinth and fireplace.