our history

Vivienne Bell, from Australia, visited the Angel Inn in 2015 and she kindly left a family photo that included her great grandfather Jacob Bell who was at one time, and according to the 1892 census, an owner of The Angel and had his name engraved on glass bottles when perhaps the Angel Inn was referred to as “The Angel Hotel.” After sharing the photograph we were also contacted (late 2015) by Major Mark Hedgepeth from California when he presented evidence of tracing his ancestor, William Hedgepethe, named as receiving land in 1569 forfeited by John Swinburne and therefore, the first known owner of the Angel Inn. This prompted us to discover as much as we possibly could about the owners, landlords and innkeepers of ‘The Angel Inn’ or as known to the locals since the First World War `The Angel’ and we actually managed to trace everybody back to the beginning in 1569 along with some other interesting stories. What we find interesting is how much history we can find from 450 years ago and how little we can find from more recent times.

Jacob Bell (in the bowler hat) & his family in what is now the car park

There is uncertainty as to when the hostelry actually became known as `The Angel Inn’. We have seen that H.H.E. Craster, from his writings “A History of Northumberland” assumed it was called that in 1569 but two old history books of the village (Forster 1881 and Dixon 1912) refer to it as ‘The Head’. Where our story begins John Swinburne, landowner and landlord in the 1560’s, had to forfeit his land to William Hudespethe and in 1569 the Angel was owned by him and he also lived in ‘The Hole’ farmhouse located close to the Corbridge Roman Settlement now known as Orchard Vale and, coincidentally, a recent residence of one of the current owners, Semore Kurdi and his family who were recently united with Major Mark Hudspeth and his family from California (2017).

Lionel (possibly Lyonnel) Winship, a tenant at Weldon Hall, Aydon Castle, owned the Angel in 1610 or 1611 before handing it down to his son Henry Winship in 1637. He (in turn) handed it down to his son (another Lionel) in 1676 and it was he, the grandson of Lionel Winship, who built the western doorway, the earliest part of today’s building. Edward Winship (Lionel’s great grandson) then owned The Angel in 1718 and who had married Anne Bell (was she related to Jacob?) in 1688. In 1726 Edward and Anne Winship added the sundial and their initials above our west front door. Then, in 1763, Bartholomew Winship, the great-great grandson of Lionel (and named in Forster’s book of 1881) was handed The Angel until 1802. Most of the additional building would have been added at this time in coincidence with the new Corbridge Bridge and allowing access for the huge amount of trade being undertaken in and around Corbridge therefore, The Angel was already gaining a reputation for food, drink and somewhere to stay.

The sundial that Edward & Anne Winship added in 1726

In 1802 the Angel Inn was sold to Margaret Blandford and according to the census of 1841 and 1851 and the 1855 Trade Directory it was owned and succeeded by Margaret’s son, Thomas Blandford. Thomas, according to the 1841 and 1851 census, both name Thomas (born 1806) as ‘Innkeeper and Auctioneer’. He and his wife Mary had living with them five children, two servants, a stable groom and a niece called Margaret Lubbock. It is not known why Thomas originally came to Corbridge from Hampshire as a young man but, there is a family legend that sheep stealing was involved, which was a capital offence in those days, a good enough reason to move to Northumberland.

According to the 1861 census it was owned by John Smith and then in 1871 and 1881 the census stated that John Hall (born 1821), who was married to the niece of Thomas Blandford, owned the Angel and we have several pictures with his name over the door of The Angel. John Hall was George Hall’s (the retired local butcher) great grandfather. The 1871 and 1881 census name John Hall as both ‘Innkeeper and Farmer’. In the 1886 Trade Directory, The Angel was owned by William Hall who was John Hall’s third son. It is believed the Halls’ owned The Angel until about 1890 when it was bought by Sanderson’s Brewery.

The Angel c1870 when John Hall was owner

We believe that John Hall is in this photograph

According to the 1891 census The Angel was operated by Thomas Harle then, shortly after in 1892, Jacob Bell, who started our story. We later discovered that Jacob Coxon Bell and his wife, Frances, were buried in Corbridge Cemetery. Jacob was 36 at the time Frances died aged only 32 in 1895 leaving sons Ernest and James. Jacob did marry again, Elizabeth in the same year and we believe that that already knew each other as Frances and Elizabeth both came from Darlington. Jacob and Elizabeth had a son of their own, Charles, born at The Angel on 4th December 1896. Charles is the grandfather of David Bell from Gosforth who, as well as helping us with some historical facts, is now in contact with Vivienne Bell. As mentioned, neither the Australian nor the Newcastle families knew of each other’s existence until 2016 when James’ granddaughter Vivienne Bell and David Bell were put in touch by the Angel Inn. Since this story began we have introduced many lost relatives from the Bell family from both Northumberland and Australia and we hope that this happy story continues. Jacob died at the Angel Inn on 8th September 1897 aged only 39. His wife Elizabeth continued to run the Angel along with Ernest, James and Charles aged only 12 years, 11 years, and 9 months respectively.

Barras & Company (John Barras Company) at the Tyne Brewery were founded in Gateshead in 1770 and became The Newcastle Breweries Ltd. in 1890 operating at the Haymarket. In 1960 Newcastle Breweries merged with Scottish Brewers (when, in 1931, were also combined from Wm. Younger & Co. and Wm. McEwan & Co.) and became known as Scottish and Newcastle Breweries who, by 1970, were a major force in the industry and known as S&N. They also owned and operated a huge estate of public houses including the Angel of Corbridge and a huge investment in the late 1980’s. Scottish and Newcastle operated until 2009 after being bought by Heineken and Carlsberg in 2008. Sanderson’s Brewery owned the Angel from 1890 and we then believe that the Angel Inn was owned and operated by Newcastle Breweries from 1896 and then Scottish and Newcastle until the year 2000. Their landlords included Thomas Harle 1891, Jacob Bell until 1897 then Elizabeth Bell, John Campion in 1901, James Robinson in 1910, J Davidson 1932, Slater by 1936, Edward Dryden 1940’s, George Harding early 1960’s, Jack Robson in 1966, Phillipino Constatino late 1970’s, Jim Loughran & Miss E Dodds mid-1980’s and Miss M McIntosh-Reid by 1988.

Oddly, this period of relatively recent information is quite limited. This is probably because The Angel was owned by Scottish and Newcastle during this period and the names are most likely the various landlords or tenants. A letter found from Jack Robson mentioned “our barman, dear old Abe” as well as the housekeeper, Peggy Reed and Jack’s wife June who looked after the garden where the barn restaurant now stands. Jack left the Angel to take over the Royal Hotel in Hexham. By 1936, Slater ran the Angel with his nephew, Charlie Dryden as barman. In the 1940’s, Charlie’s son, Edward, had taken over and it was he who built the extension at the rear as a games room and toilet block. In 1988 S&N invested in a handful of public houses for restaurant “Chandlers” concepts and included the Angel in Corbridge. This may have been the time when the two front porches were added.

In 2000 Alan O’ Kane and his father purchased The Angel from Scottish and Newcastle and owned and operated the business before selling it to John George Gibson in 2005. John was responsible for some significant developments including the additional restaurant which, as you may know, unearthed two skeletons which stopped the building works for quite a while. Then, in 2011, the business was purchased and operated by Semore Kurdi and Kevin Laing and continues to this present date.