The Old Bridge Inn

Priest Lane, Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge HX6 4DF

Grade B · Building datedTrading · checked Oct 2026

The Old Bridge Inn claims 1307. The records say 1754.

Claimed: 1307
First record: 1754
Building: no single date

The building. Cruck truss c. 16th century; stone exterior mid-18th century.

Pub website Directions

Riverside
Real ale
Food

How old is it, really?

How to read this ribbon

Hatched: 447 years the pub claims but no document confirms. Solid: 272 years on record.

The claim

Tucked beside the River Ryburn and a 16th-century packhorse bridge, this low stone inn hides a timber cruck frame and oak panelling behind an 18th-century face. It dates its story to 1307, though the first landlord on record served in 1754. Expect upper and lower bars, cask ale and hearty food.

What the records show

The pub cites a 1307 record of the site's yeoman-clothier owners. Historic England lists the first recorded landlord as John Hurstwood in 1754, with a 16th-century cruck truss and 17th-century panelling inside, so the fabric is old but pub use is only documented from the 18th century. A commercial directory confirms it independently: Edward Baines's directory of the county of York (1822) lists John Schofield as victualler at the Old Bridge, one of four licensed houses named in the village that year, which is the house trading under its present name and nothing earlier.

Dated evidence for The Old Bridge Inn, earliest first
Year	What	Source
1307	Claimed founding	The pub
1754	First record of a drinking house here	Historic England, list entry 1232389, on John Hurstwood in 1754

What to look for inside

Next to Ripponden's 16th-century packhorse bridge
Internal cruck truss c. 16th century
Octagonal font found during excavation kept inside
Restoration in 1882 reportedly uncovered some 250 layers of whitewash

Visiting

The Old Bridge Inn is in Ripponden, England, at Priest Lane, Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge HX6 4DF. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

theoldbridgeinn.co.uk Directions in your maps app

Sources

Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Oct 2026

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Above: the record · Below: what readers rememberThe record ends here

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The snug

What people remember about the Old Bridge Inn

Nobody has written about this pub yet. These are readers’ own recollections, not our records — we check documents, not memories, and a memory never moves a date or a grade.

Were you a regular here?

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