Blackheath Rowley Regis History

The little Beech

Licencees

William Siviter (1861 – 72) Henry Hickton (1871) William Henry Hickton (1872) Henry Hickton (1874 – 81) William Henry Hickton (1884) David Harris [1904] Joseph Neale (1911 – 28) William Henry Bennion (1928 – 34) James Francis Winmill (1934 – 38) John William Welding (1938 – 43) John Thomas Hardwick (1943 – 49) Thomas Jones (1949 – 52) William Lowe (1952 – 56) Sarah Lowe (1956 – 57) Charles Lowe (1957 – 58) Clifford Gomer  Williams (1958 – 65) D Hill (1970) Maurice Hall (1981) Kenneth Platt (1986 – 04)
Richard Wade (10/2019)

An existing pub since Victorian times circa 1857 called The Beech Tree and know locally as “The Little Beech” due to the fact that there were two public houses one larger than the other, with the same name in close proximity. The Little Beech it is now the name of this quaint family friendly free house pub.

Old newspaper snippet

Stourbridge Observer 16/4/1864

William Mills charged William Siveton (Siv) with having his public house open for the sale of beer, between the hours of three and five, on Good Friday last. Police-constable (193) saw a woman go into the The Beech Tree, Blackheath, Halesowen  Road and when she came out she said “I’ve only had half a pint of fourpenny”. Mr Mills said he was with the police constable about half past three and had asked the woman what she had there, and she said, “Only a half pint of fourpenny”. Siveton said it was an old woman who did odd jobs for his wife, and he gave her the beer. Ann Rebecca Peatman said, “On Good Friday morning Mrs. Siveton sent for me to do something” and she said “draw the old lady a half a pint of our beer”. I told the man he was no gentleman to take the beer from me and spit it on the road as I had it given me. “Case dismissed.”

Old beer mat about The Beech Tree

There’s a funny fella in the cellar at The Beech Tree in Rowley Regis – the ghost of a customer long gone who murdered his family. On certain nights he creates havoc – he turns off the gas and nips upstairs to throw glasses all around the pub.

Beer the bear essential

In the past, beer was a very important drink for ordinary English folk. Known in the past as a ‘small beer’ it was something of importance not unlike the gin drinking era of old London Town. A small beer was produced from a second or even third use of the barley and drunk by everyone from farm labourers to their children. This was because water was often unsafe to drink, unlike the beer which contained enough alcohol to kill harmful bacteria.

In theory a high enough alcohol concentration with sufficient exposure to gut or oral tissue could kill bacteria but will in all likelihood also damage the gut lining. Nowadays however it’s not advisable that alcohol be used as a regular disinfectant to treat tummy bugs or throat infections “or the plague”!

Rowley Regis Time Line

The name Rowley is of Anglo-Saxon origin, a derivative “the rough wood or clearing”, from the Olde English pre 7th Century “ruh”, rough, overgrown, with “leah”, thin wood, glade, clearing in a wood. The word “Regis” denotes a tribal king of the era. The area in and around Rowley Regis has been inhabited for thousands of years. It was noted in the 17th century, long before industrial development had obscured the landscape that Rowley Regis is famous for the burial lows (mounds) which abound there”. There is proof of Roman occupation in the area, a hoard of Roman coins buried around 70 AD, was found at Hawes, Hills and Cakemore in Rowley Regis.