The Cross Keys Temperance Inn:
Take a step back in time and visit this wonderful 400-year-old National Trust Temperance inn situated at Cautley near Sedbergh in Cumbria.
The Cross Keys is a 400-year-old National Trust Temperance Inn dating back to 1619 when the earliest recorded occupant was a man named Thomas Bland.
The building was formerly a farm, called High Haygarth until it was converted into an inn in the early 1700s.
The oldest part of the building is the parlour or living room
Above the front door are the initials of John and Agnus Howgill who owned the farmhouse in 1732.
The reason the inn stopped selling alcohol was after the landlord was tragically drowned following an incident assisting a customer home.
An acquaintance of a local family by the name of Buck, was being helped home by the then landlord in the direction of Ravenstonedale after a lively evening of merriment at the Cross Keys. It appears Mr Buck tumbled down the side of the bank and into the river. The Landlord attempted to help him, but instead fell into the Rawthey River and drowned.
The Cross Keys was subsequently sold to Mrs. Edith Bunney who removed the liquor license in 1902. In 1949 she left the property to the National Trust in memory of her sister. A condition of the gift was that alcohol must never be served again.
To this day The Cross keys remains a Temperance Inn, although the current owner allows guests to bring their own drinks if they are dining in the restaurant.
The Cross Keys has long been a beacon to travellers on the road so near to the Howgill Fells.
Behind the hotel, Cautley Spout splashes 800 feet down the fell.
Incidentally, the dining room has breathtaking views of Cautley Spout and the Howgills
From a footpath, at the side of the inn, you can walk to Cautley Spout, England’s highest waterfall.
To the right of the Spout is Yarlside a bridle path known as ‘Scots Rake’ winds its way northwards. It is here in 1745, the stragglers from the army of the Young Pretender made their way home after defeat at Derby.
The Cross Keys is easily accessible from the M6 motorway via Sedbergh and is 45 minutes by car from Lothlorien.
