44 OLD IXXS OF \VIMBORNE. 



died in December last, has told me the room was draped in black, 

 and mutes with white wands guarded the coffin, while the 

 townspeople were allowed to walk in and gaze at the features of 

 the corpse through a glass window in the coffin. Another old 

 resident's grandmother, who lived to the ripe age of 103, saw 

 George III. drive under the arch in his coach, en route to 

 Weymouth. The stabling in the yard, now mostly used for 

 other purposes, must often have accommodated 30 or 40 horses. 

 Before leaving this inn we must not forget to mention the fine 

 old Seventeenth Century ironwork which supports the degen- 

 erate signboard of the " Albion." 



The present Church House stands on the site of another old 

 inn of interest. Mary Gundry, in her will dated 1617, left 

 among other bequests, to the Minister and poor of Wimborne, 

 a house and tenement called the " Angell Inn." In a memor- 

 andum of Church property, 1663, we read that " Peter Cox 

 holdeth one tenement, being the sign of the Angle adjoining 

 to the Churchyard at the east end thereof." Soon after this 

 date the name was changed to the " Swan." Among the 

 earliest records of the Churchwardens in 1403 and for the 

 next 200 years we read of the revenue received from Church 

 Ales, and many accounts of the brewing gear belonging to the 

 Church, which was let out at a yearly rental to parishioners. 

 From this custom, the arrangement by which any workman 

 employed about the Minster was entitled to free beer was 

 derived, a custom moreover continued long after the Church 

 gave up its brewing interest. Indeed, up to 1860 at least, 

 the Churchwardens provided beer at the expense of the 

 parish to those who helped in putting out fires in the town. 

 It is therefore probable that the beer was often obtained from 

 the " Angell " or " Swan " by reason of its proximity to the 

 Minster, and as the claim of a tenant of the Churchwardens 

 for such custom as they had to dispose of. 



The following extracts from the accounts may be given as 

 examples : 



" 1588 a firkin of " beere " for ye ringers on ye Queene day." 

 " 1642 Beere on powder treason day for the ringers 2s." 



