The Location
If you’re travelling to Weston past our pub, you’ll see a shallow dip in the field. Now picture it flooded with water and a ferry drifting across this stretch of what was once the River Axe.
For a small price you could take this ferry over to Bleadon. That is until the river was diverted in 1803 to prevent flooding.
Guys and Tolls
Once the tips, or tolls dried up, it was the end of a nice little earner. But the two ferrymen, Mr Popham and Mr Petherham, weren’t going to take it lying down. They claimed £675 in compensation for their loss of earnings, a small fortune in those days.