Bream Heritage Walk

8 – The Tufts


The building 30 or so metres to the right is now a private house but was once a beerhouse or public house and was called the Miner’s Rest. Gloucestershire Licencing Committee questioned the viability of the Miners Rest and withdrew the license in 1907, despite a petition of support signed by 195 people. Attempting to defend the license it was stated that if Noxon Park and the Tufts iron mines were to open they would be within 300 yards of the house. Without the license the pub had to close, but compensation of £90 was paid to Mr William Drew, the licensee, and more than £1,200 to the owners Arnold Perrett and co. of Lydney.

A photo of the former pub the Miners Rest
The fprmer Miners Rest

Mr Drew died in 1915. His second wife Polly Drew brought up her 2 young sons, Will and Stan, at the old pub. Both boys went to the Grammar School at Lydney only to be killed in separate incidents in World War 2 when they were serving their country in the Royal Air Force. The brothers are commemorated on Bream Cenotaph.

An accident in 1864 was widely reported in the press. Stopping in for a drink three young men and their girlfriends were involved in a tragic shooting in the Miners Rest when one of the young men grabbed a gun from the wall and pointed it at another. The third pulled the trigger. Unfortunately the gun was loaded and the third young man, Charles Preest was killed.

Much further down this road, at the lowest point and prior to drainage being installed, was a place that water gathered after storms. This was humorously called Two Hedge Pool by the locals as the water there stretched from hedge to hedge.