History of the Jubilee Inn in Cornwall

The Jubilee Inn The name commemorates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, although the inn actually dates from the 16th century and was formally known as The Axe. The interior has a homely, welcoming feel with its oak-beamed ceilings, blazing winter fires, and Staffordshire figurines of the queen and her consort.

The inn started life as a small Cornish farmhouse, built in the 16th century. The original building now houses the restaurant and the Victoria room, it was first extended into the area known as the Albert room and subsequently enlarged at the rear to cover what is now the Trelawney room and main bar. The original roof is still visible in the extended roof space.

When the farmhouse was converted to an Inn it was originally called the Axe, allegedly named after an Iron Age axe found in the nearby ‘barrow field’ in 1834. The axe continued life as a coaching Inn, with stables to the rear. In 1887 The Axe Inn was renamed The Jubilee Inn to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Further alterations were carried out in the 1950’s and 1960’s with the building of the public bar, the unique Stuart Armfield spiral staircase, and the conversion of the stables to beer cellars, food stores and extra accommodation. More improvements include a new kitchen, built in 2002 and the recent refurbishment of the toilets to include full disabled facilities in 2007. In the same year the large patio at the year was re laid and, in keeping with the architecture, a glass covered “smoking” area was built in the stable courtyard.

The villages' name comes from the Cornish Plyw-Nynt meaning Parish of Saint Non. Records of Pelynt can be dated back to the 11th century, where the Doomsday Book shows Pelynt paying 40 times the taxes of nearby Looe.

Pelynt is most famous for Bishop Jonathan Trelawney (born 1650 and ordained in 1673), who in 1688 was imprisoned in the Tower of London for the religious stand he and seven other bishops took against King James II and his ‘Declaration of indulgence’.

Over a century after his death in 1721, R.S. Hawker wrote The Song of the Western Men (also known as Trelawney’s Army) in his honour – which is recognised as the "official" anthem of Cornwall.

Pelynt is surrounded by sites of historical and archaeological interest such as the Pelynt Barrow Cemetery (known locally as The Barrow Field), as well as the many other attractions and scenes of outstanding natural beauty Cornwall has to offer.

Here are the names mentioned in the Great Domesday Book of 1086. Do you have an ancestor here? Aelfric; Aethelmaer; Algar; Almaer; Alnoth; Alric; Alsige; Alweard; Alwine; Beorhtric; Burgraed; Cola; Dodda; Godwine; Gunnar; Hademar; Leofnoth; Leofric; Leofrun; Maerle-Sveinn; Odo; Oswulf; Saewulf; Scirweald; Wulfric; Wulfsige; Wulfweard; Wulfwine