Once Brewed or Twice Brewed?
Created | Updated Aug 21, 2002
Travelling through the Northumberland National Park, along the Roman Wall, half way between Newcastle and Carlisle1 it is easy to empathise with the poor First Century soldier - ripped from his balmy southern homeland with its gentle zephyrs and cast cruelly to serve on this craggy, windswept northern frontier - whose half-written letter home was unearthed 15-20 years ago from a 2,000 year old bonfire at Vindolanda.2
(His letter, roughly translated, ran "It's freezing up here. Please send me some thick socks.")
Hadrian's Wall Country has always been a popular destination for the masochistic and the frankly mad3 but, buffeted mercilessly by the unforgiving wind, even the bravest and most hardened folk soon find themselves needing to drink in something more warming than the spectacular scenery.
Despair not, intrepid hitch-hiker, for the route is liberally dotted with inns and hostelries for your succour.
This is the tale of two such havens, and how they gained their names.
Plait your hair securely, don your waterproofs and follow me...4
Wade-ing through the General History
Over the centuries there have been many royal visits to this unspoilt region. One of the more recent was that of Bonnie Prince Charlie who came down to Carlisle to try to drum up support for his cause.
His adversary, General Wade was in Newcastle with his army when word came to "ha'way tae Carlisle sharpish lyek tae cut Charlie off".
Unfortunately (or not, depending on your viewpoint) the road between the two cities was so bad the soldiers5 found it impassable and General Wade was forced to give up and retreat.
Naturally he immediately put in a planning application for a proper east-west road, to preclude the same thing happening again, but this was not approved by the powers that be till May 1751, three years after his death.6
Dugal Campbell (Sub-director of Engineers) carried out the survey and decided that the best option would be to follow the line of Hadrian's wall - and, in fact, to use much of the stone from the Wall as a foundation for the road.
Work finally commenced in July 1751 and eventually the builders arrived at a handily sited inn, 2½ miles west of Housesteads, almost exactly halfway between Newcastle and Carlisle.
Tired and thirsty7 they entered said inn and ordered several pints of the local ale.
But, sadly, Neuky Broon had yet to be invented. The ale was terribly weak.
The disappointed navvies demanded that the ale be brewed again and the place subsequently came to be known as the Twice Brewed Inn.
The Plot8 Thickens
(Cut to the 20th century.)In 1934 the first Youth Hostel in England was built 200 yards east of the Twice Brewed Inn.
The grand opening was graced by Lady Trevelyan of nearby Wallington Hall, a staunch teetotaller.
In her opening speech she mentioned the Inn and said "Of course there will be no alcohol served on these premises so I hope the tea and coffee will only be brewed once."
Henceforth the Hostel became known as the Once Brewed Youth Hostel and when the Northumberland National Park Centre was built on the same site in the late 1960s it was also christened Once Brewed.
1Just east of Haltwhistle, the geographic Centre of Britain.*2The sticky peat and high water table, coupled with the Roman practice of capping previous layers of occupation with clay before building over them, created anaerobic conditions that ensured the preservation of organic items as diverse as clothing and footwear, thin wooden writing tablets and even cereal grains and small flies. 3Some poor fools have even been known to pay a weekend visit and find it stretching for 16 years. 4And do try to keep up at the back there!5Obviously Southern softies.6Plus ça change...7History fails to tell us whether it was a Friday afternoon but the author has her suspicions.8If not the tea
