Welcome break at Blyth inns

The caption describes it as an ‘attractive village on one of the old roads from London to York’.

Blyth was an important stopping off place for travellers and there were several coaching inns.

Early records mention the existence nearby of one of the five Tournament Fields of England, where knights held their jousting matches.

No doubt the inns attracted visitors even in those days.

The Angel Inn, seen on the left of this picture, was mentioned in records from 1274.

The Red Hart and The Fourways were two more coaching inns.

The Fourways was also a post office and mail coaches travelling between Rotherham and Retford stopped there.

Blyth Hall used to stand next to the village church.

It was built by the Mellish family in 1684-85 but the house fell into ruin and was eventually demolished in 1972.

The priory church of St Mary and St Martin is one of the oldest examples of Norman architecture in the country.

It was part of a Benedictine monastery founded in 1088 by Roger de Builli of Tickhill Castle, one of William the Conqueror’s followers.

On the village green is the former leper hospital of St John the Evangelist refounded in 1226.