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Local History
The name comes from the Blount family who can trace their lineage back to the Norman conquest of England and there is a rather fine family tree in the bar at the pub. The yellow and black shield is the Blount coat of arms.
"Blount" is pronounced locally as "Blunt"!
Railways, Coal and Canals...
The pub is built on the Cleobury to Bewdley road and this thoroughfare was one of the primary routes between the Marches and Wales and the River Severn which was navigable at one time beyond Bewdley. Goods and livestock would be moved to and fro and there is evidence for many pubs lining the route. The present building was built in Victorian times.
The side road to the camping and caravaning site was once the access road to Cleobury Station which was on the railway line between Woofferton junction and Kidderminster. The line left Bewdley and split, the northern line going on to Bridgenorth which is still operating under steam as the Severn Valley Railway.
The western line went over the river and through the Wyre Forest and its station and on to Wooferton junction to join the Marches line between Crewe and Cardiff.
In front of the pub are the remains of the bridges that carried the railway into the station and on to Wooferton and another line up to Ditton Priors (which was a very important navel store in WW2). The next building up the side road by the Blount is the old Cleobury Mortimer station house.
The railway sounded the deathknell for the Leominster to Stourport Canal which was partially built in the early 1800s a sum of £160,000 being raised for its construction. At Mamble a railway carried the coal to the Wharf for barge transport to Leominster. The deepest canal tunnel in England was planned to carry the canal under the hills from Mamble to Stourport but the project was abandoned with the coming of the railways. Parts of the canal West of Mamble can still be seen.
Cleobury Station was very important as coal mined in the area would be transported from there for sale in other parts of the country and an overhead bucket system was used to carry coal from the Bayton coal mines to the station. This industry finished in the 60s and was a contributing factor to the closure of the railway. It was also important for carriage of agricultural produce to market and for the influx of Black Country holiday makers who came to work in the hop and fruit fields and who, today, have caravans here for quiet weekends.
In the 1960's a group of enthusiasts formed to create a company to buy the rail line from Kidderminster to Wooferton and preserve it. Lack of money forced the abandonment of this project which was reborn in the purchase of the line to Bridgenorth - which is now the Severn Valley Railway. Had the original plan gone ahead there would be an east west rail link from Ludlow and the other Marches towns to Kidderminster, Birmingham and beyond...
For an excellent source of information about local history please visit the bookshop in Cleobury Mortimer high street.