Archenfield Archaeology Ltd

The Hop Pole, Hereford

These premises have been a public house since at least 1755 when two houses 'outside Bysters Gate' were described as the Fox and Duck alehouse. The pub was known as the Hop Pole Inn by 1785 and in 1777 William Gough moved from the Elephant and Castle to replace Mr James Hayes as the licensee. For a few years beginning in the 1990s the pub had an Irish theme and was known as O'Neills but in June 2005 it reverted to the name by which it has been known to Herefordians for over two hundred and twenty years. The recent excavation found the floor of the pub stables. These were converted in 1903 from a row of cottages known as Hop Pole Place. There was also a pit containing 19th century mineral water bottles, mainly from the Stretton Hills company. An earlier feature was a large pit containing medieval pottery. This will have been a cess-pit behind the medieval street-front houses

The Hop Pole, Hereford - The King's Fee is to the left and the Litten Tree to the right
The area before the excavation began. The Victorian steam mills are in the background
	The view from the site towards Commercial Road

Clearing the site after the JCB has taken off the car park surface. Here the top of a 19th century pit is being uncovered.

	This a pit contained 19th century mineral water bottles, mainly from the Stretton Hills company.

The floor of the pub stables. These were converted in 1903 from a row of cottages known as Hop Pole Place.









Reporting Unpublished report - The Hop Pole, Commercial Road, Hereford: archaeological evaluation - Dan Lewis and P J Pikes, 2006. A copy of this report is held in the reference section of Hereford City Library. Cle This site will be published in a volume of Archenfield Archaeology’s Hereford City excavations to be published by Logaston Press A note on this project appears in the 2006 volume of the Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club This report is available at the Archaeological Data Service site To view or download the report click here