Swilland
This small, attractive Suffolk village close to
Witnesham boasts a surviving country public house which bears the ghost
of the brewery name on its front gable.
2022
images
'TOLLY
COBBOLD'
is discernible, particularly the first word in the
apex. The removal of the relief lettering, probably by hammer and
chisel, and covering with masonry paint has not removed every trace
of the Tolly Cobbold Ipswich brewery name. The gable fascia has
been replaced in modern times so that the upper right arm of the 'Y' is
partially covered. Perhaps ironically, when these photographs were
taken in May 2022, a sign-writer was working on a circular motif and
lettering which partiall runs over the 'COBBOLD' area. If the sun
hadn't provided raking light, we would have missed this remnant of a
once dominant brewer's tied house.
The indispensible Suffolk CAMRA website (see Links)
dates the pub to 1620 or earlier. 'Originally a Cobbold beer house ...
It is shown as the Half Moon on a farm map of 1809. The pub was owned
by Tolly Cobbold until 1992. It was renamed the The Moon & Mushroom
in 1996. The name came about because the new owners wanted to mark the
change of ownership and they were keen hunters of wild fungi.One
previous landlord was transported to Australia for stealing a pig and
two ducks.'
There are other traces of the Cobbold and Tolly Cobbold
brands on buildings on this website; see our Pubs & Off licences page.