CARDIFFREMEMBERED Town pub renamed after visit from duke following Waterloo TODAY’^ W

THIS week, thanks to our long-gone friend Emrys Jones and his series Old Inns of South Wales articles which appeared in the Evening Express back in 1927, we pay a visit to the Duke of Wellington Inn in Cowbridge.

He writes: “I arrived in Cowbridge, and in a few seconds I was standing before the famous Duke of Wellington Inn, with its old world charm and its small-paned bay windows.

“On your left, inside, is the smoke room, a narrow, low room in which our ancestors were wont to talk at nights, and at one end stood a very ancient Welsh blanket chest, a very gem to warm the heart of an antiquary.”

He goes on to say: “More stylish and more costly dining rooms you may find in plenty, but I doubt whether you will find one anywhere more charming than the one at the ‘Duke.’

“As you sit near the open fireplace with its huge oaken beam above you may well imagine yourself back a century or so.”

Above the fireplace was a portrait of the Duke of Wellington who was known as the Iron Duke and on either side of it there was a pair of old fashioned crossed swords.

The old military air was maintained by crossed halberds at the end of the room.

The inn was so called because the Duke of Wellington was supposed to have stopped there after the battle of Waterloo, while on the way to visit the mother of the famed Welsh soldier General Picton who was killed in the engagement that broke forever the power of Napoleon.

Before the inn was known as the Duke of Wellington, it was called the Black Horse and there was a faded photograph of it along with one of the