The Newlands Inn (2) - sign, 45-47 Newland Street, Eynsham

Image: © P L Chadwick Taken: 19 Nov 2011

The pub gets its name from the name given to this part of Eynsham. Eynsham's Community Website explains that, "Newland Street is an impressive bit of medieval town-planning. As the village and the Abbey (i.e. Eynsham Abbey) got more prosperous, the demand for land increased and in 1215 Abbot Adam decided to extend the village. He drew up a plan for a whole new community to the north of the original village. This was called Newlands. It was a separate borough, with its own court". Today Newlands is part of Eynsham, which is now classified as a village, rather than a town, yet it has most of the facilities of a town and is bigger than many. The sign, rather faded unfortunately, has been interpreted as sailors exploring new lands. In the 1980's the pub's sign showed people landing on the moon. It would be interesting to know what the original sign in Victorian times depicted. The present sign has the words "free house" at the bottom. These would appear to have been painted over a earlier text, probably the name of the brewery who owned the pub before it became a free house. Image

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