The
Stonehenge Inn, Durrington, Salisbury SP4 8BN
Tel:
01980 655205
email:
info@stonehengeinn.co.uk
Facilities:
Food Served - Vegetarian Food - Car Park - Wheelchair
Access - Accommodation - Children Welcome - Garden/Patio
- Dogs Allowed - Live Music - Background Music
The
Stonehenge Inn is within the Durrington Walls boundary
and while Stonehenge may be Britain's most famous prehistoric
monument, Durrington Walls is the biggest.
Durrington Walls is a massive circular earthwork, or henge,
about 500 metres in diameter (nearly 1/3 mile), located
north of Woodhenge. Despite having been much damaged by
ploughing and cut through by the A345 road, its tall banks
are still visible.
It
was built in the Neolithic period (around 3100-2400BC).
The Stonehenge Inn came along much later, but thinking
ahead to the possibilities of early tourism, Lewis Toomes,
(of local beer retailers William Toomes), built the Stonehenge
Inn, at the junction of the Upavon to Amesbury and Bulford
to Shrewton roads, at the top of Durrington, in 1889.
Because it was quite a distance from the village proper
it became known as “Toomes Folly”.
He advertised the pub as a posting house with its own
brewery and livery and bait stables. (Bait was a term
used for feeding the horses)
To the locals surprise it was an immediate success and
probably the reason for the closure of the Nag’s
Head, on Bulford Hill, between 1889 and 1895. The Nag’s
Head had been a pub since 1731.
From then until now the Stonehenge Inn has thrived, both
as an alehouse and an inn. People from all over the world
have visited as the Stonehenge Inn is the only pub in
the world (as far as we know) with this name and is only
about a mile, as the crow flies, from Stonehenge itself.
The area is rich with places of historical interest and
is the ideal stopping point whether just for a meal, a
drink or over night stop.
"The Stones", as the locals now call it, being
an Inn, Restaurant and Pub, has something to offer everyone.
The restaurant is large and comfortable and is split into
two areas. The public bar, where you may also eat, is
to the right of the pub and visitors will usually find
a local sitting at the bar who will be more than willing
to point them in the right direction for places of interest.
This
is what the "Stones" looked like 101 years ago
(1907)
Click
image below to see where we are:
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