The Cross Keys, Penkridge, Staffordshire

Image: © Roger D Kidd Taken: 21 Jun 2010

The pub is at Filance Bridge (No 84) on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, not the newer Cross Keys Bridge (No 83A) about 150 metres to the south. The Penkridge pubs website http://www.penkridge.org.uk/folders/eatdrink.htm has this to say: The pub was originally in open farm land in Filands* (Filance) Field where Deadman’s Lane crossed the canal. It became a village pub as the houses advanced and surrounded it in the 1960s. Apparently, within living memory regulars had to cross ploughed fields and climb a stile to get their drink. Deadman's Lane seems to have been quietly renamed. *When the canal was built in the 1780s it split the land attached to a small holding called Filand Croft which included a turnip field. Last time I tried this pub was no hand-pulled real ale. Maybe that situation has improved now, as it is well patronised in fine weather. http://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?resource=11487

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