Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal Web Site

The Two Tubs or The Globe Inn

One of the reasons that the site of Bury Castle cannot be fully excavated is because it lies below the foundations of the Barracks of the Lancashire Fusiliers and the Seventeenth Century Globe Inn, better known today as the "Two Tubs". This area is known as the "Wylde", Market Place where, today, the statue to the memory of Sir Robert Peel is flanked on one side by the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin (on this site since the Twelfth Century), and the Globe Inn on the other. It is local folklore that a secret underground passage runs from the Church to the cellars of the Inn. "Market Place" is so called because it was the home of Bury`s outdoor market until 1839. Indeed, the statue of Sir Robert Peel now stands on the site of the 12 curved stone blocks on which the fishmongers laid out their fish. Going back in time still further, the Market Place was the setting during the reign of Charles II for the anniversary celebrations of "Oak Apple Day" on May 29th. The festival commemorated the successful concealing of Charles II in an oak tree after the battle of Worcester in 1651. Once restored to the throne in 1660 the anniversary of "Oak Apple Day" was celebrated up and down the land with townsfolk climbing the oak trees in their town squares and singing with oak leaf garlands. Since the Bury market place did not have an oak tree, two were brought from elsewhere and planted on the site of what became the Globe Inn. It is said that when the Globe Inn was built in the late seventeenth century its structure incorporated the trunk and branches of either one or both of the "Oak Apple Day" oaks. Further supporting timbers were reclaimed from a seventeenth century ship.In 1949, workmen refacing one of the "wattle and daub" walls discovered that a "living" tree with trunk and two branches was used in the foundations of the building. The fabric subsequently discovered in the walls extended from the cellars to the bedroom eaves where the branches supposedly joined.

The new unofficial name of " The Two Tubs" rose from a little trade rivalry in the 1830s. The "Toasted Cheese Club" met to discuss a new pub sign. The Inn next door, "The White Bear", had erected a new sign and, not to be outdone, a Mr Shaw at the Globe made a suggestion: "You have in the yard an old barrel which is of no use to you: get it cut in half, and fix the two halves up on the front of the house. You will then have the two hemispheres, flattened at the poles as the earth is; the staves of the barrel forming the line of longitude, and the bands the latitude"(H.M.Dearden). The idea took, the work carried out, and the Inn soon became known as The "Two Tubs" by the facetious element in the town. Endearing to note: In 1957 the Mayor of Bury and landlord of the "Two Tubs", James Isherwood, owned two cats, "Big Tubs" and "Little Tubs". Sweeter still, when Mr. Isherwoods daughter Joyce married at the Parish Church in 1953, a red carpet was laid from the door of the "Two Tubs" to the steps of the Parish Church opposite. For over two hundred years the "Two Tubs" has enjoyed the trade of Bury townsfolk and, to this day, a small section of the "Living Tree" wall has been left exposed for our perusal. Call in for a drink and find it if you can! Elizabeth Graham daughter of Joyce Isherwood May 2001.