Kyrle Street

Market Place

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Ross-on-Wye

Old photos of the Travellers Rest

This house and out buildings used to stand where the Travellers Rest is now located prior to the M50 being built. These shots were taken in November 1957 and the buildings were demolished in 1960 when they were replaced by the current Travellers Rest at around the same time as the M50 was built.

When the roundabout was first built, it was known as Black House roundabout before it was changed to, as it is now, the Travellers Rest roundabout.

The site of the Travellers Rest [Photo: J.C.Coombes] (Click for a larger image)

The shot above is taken from what was the junction of the road from Ross, Upton Bishop and Ledbury (Ledbury Road).

The house was known as the Black House¹ and was owned by the Ross and Archenfield Friendly Society which was then thought to have led to the opening of a beer house called the Travellers Rest just a little further up the road towards Ledbury on the edge of the site.

The house as seen from the Upton Bishop road [Photo: J.C.Coombes] (Click for a larger image)

The house as seen from the garden [Photo: J.C.Coombes] (Click for a larger image)

The outbuilding, as seen below, is thought to have been a blacksmiths workshop.

The smithy and junction as seen from the Upton Bishop road [Photo: J.C.Coombes] (Click for a larger image)

The outbuilding as seen from the Ross direction [Photo: J.C.Coombes] (Click for a larger image)

A site legend

Prior to 1833, when the practice was known to have stopped, according to Heather Hurley¹, there is a legend that implies that the Black House supplied biers (the coffin and stand), hired mourners and sin eaters (a person who through rituals, would take on through food and drink the sins of a deceased person, so absolving the soul and allowing that person to rest in peace) for local funerals.

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Kyrle Street

Market Place