Pub history

The Brun Lea

The name of this pub recalls the town’s origins in a Saxon settlement called Brun Lea – field by the Brun or brown field. In 1294, the lord of ‘the manor of Brunleye’, Henry de Lacy, was granted a charter for a weekly market. In 1800, the ancient weekly market was moved to a position near the bottom of Manchester Road, then called Market Street. The Bull Inn, one of the town’s most important inns during the 19th century, stood on the corner of Manchester Road, a stone’s throw from this site.