Tile Tavern

The Tile Tavern as a building dates back to the 1600s but it has had many uses over the years. These days it is a large private residence, but in times gone by it was home to several different dwellings. As a beerhouse rather than an inn, the landlords invariably held other full-time occupations and ran the beerhouse as a source of much needed additional income from the mid-1830s onward when the Beerhouse Act came into being. 

Throughout most of the 1800s it was owned by the Chelmick family, who were native to Clun and a family that worked a variety of roles in the local community. Landlord William Chelmick was a carpenter by trade and later diversified into the general building trade, whilst his father, William Snr. was a saddler and his brother Thomas worked as a master shoemaker.

Auction advertisements in the local press confirm that the tavern had outbuildings including a two-stall stable with joiner's workshop above, coalhouse, out offices and a garden and an adjoining cottage. Towards the end of 1800s the Chelmick family were no longer running the beerhouse but remained living next door in the adjoining cottage, William focusing on his building business.

Pigot & Co Directory 1842 Evan Davies

Listed landlords at the Tile Tavern were Evan Davies (1848), John Brown (1848-51), William Chelmwick (1851-), Charles Edwards (1880-), William Tudor Jnr. (1891-), Robert Breese (-1902), Richard Edwards (1902-1905), John Jones (1905-), James Niblett (1911-), Herbert Griffiths (1921-) and Henry Peplow (1934).

Hereford Times 19 February 1848

By 1851 the landlord was a John Brown (66 years) who was the father-in-law of William Chelmick, who had married his daughter Mary Ann Brown in 1844 in Clun. At that time of the 1851 census they were living down in Westminster, William plying his trade as a carpenter but later the same year moved back to Clun following John Brown's death in June and took over the Tile Tavern, which was set to stay in the family for the next 50 years or so.

1851 Census John Brown

History, Gazeteer & Directory of Shropshire 1851 William Chelmick

Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops, & Wales, 1859 William Chelmick

1861 Census William Chelmick

Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops & Wales, 1868 William Chelmick

Kelly's 1870 Directory William Chelmick

1871 Census William Chelmick

Cassey & Co.'s Directory of Shropshire, 1871 William Chelmick

Wellington Journal 15 September 1877

By 1881 William Chelmick was no longer the running the Tile Tavern, but was living next door, almost certainly in the adjoining cottage to new landlord, Charles Edwards, a fellow builder, and probably a work colleague of his.

Slater's Directory of N & S Wales etc., 1880 Charles Edwards

1881 Census Charles Edwards

Kelly's Directory of Shropshire, 1891 William Tudor Jnr.

1891 Census William Tudor

1894 Probate Record of William Chelmick

1901 Census William Tudor

Ludlow Advertiser 20 December 1902

Ludlow Advertiser 14 February 1903

1904 Probate of Mary Ann Chelmick

1905 saw the Tiled Tavern finally pass from the hands of the Chelmick family following the death of William's widow, Mary Ann Chelmick.

Wellington Journal 25 March 1905

Shrewsbury Chronicle 14 April 1905

Ludlow Advertiser 17 June 1905

Ludlow Advertiser 22 July 1905

Ludlow Advertiser 23 June 1906

Ludlow Advertiser 18 May 1907

Shrewsbury Chronicle 16 December 1910

1911 Census James Niblett

1913 Kelly's Directory James Niblett

1921 Census Herbert Griffiths

Shrewsbury Chronicle 21 August 1925

Kelly's 1934 Directory - Henry Peplow

Whilst the 1939 register below provides Henry's occupation as a Bus Driver, the directory 5 years earlier confirms he was also a beer retailer.

1939 Register Henry Peplow "Bus |Driver"

Birmingham Daily Gazette 24 December 1948

Henry Peplow died in 1960 in Clun and the Tile Tavern closed around 1972 as a public house.