The All Nations Inn

Even the name sets this pub apart.

The All Nations is at Lee Dingle, Madeley, and has survived while dozens of small beerhouses around it disappeared.

Strictly speaking, it isn't in the Ironbridge Gorge at all.

We know that. We had a vote on it anyway, decided it was too good to leave out, and adopted it into our 18-pub story.

Two different dates

The building itself is dated 1789. Historic England describes it as a “dated 1789 brick house”.

The date appears in an inscription on the keyblock, or keystone, of the upper central window: “IPR.1789”.

That inscription tells us when the building was built. It does not, by itself, prove that the premises were operating as a public house in 1789.

Local historical research currently places the licensing of the All Nations as a beerhouse in 1832, and the Madeley Heritage Trail also gives “Licensed 1832”.

We are now trying to trace the original licensing or archive evidence behind that 1832 date.

The Baguley question

There is a traditional account connecting the pub with the Baguley family and 1789.

Local researchers have pointed out that the initials “IPR” on the 1789 inscription do not appear to correspond with the Baguley family, so the connection between the family and the building's date remains unresolved.

We are not claiming the Baguley story has been disproved; we are simply noting that the evidence does not yet line up cleanly.

Then came the Baguley family, who held the licence for an extraordinary 103 years.

And from 1832 they brewed beer on the premises.

Road schemes, licensing reductions, industrial decline and demolition wiped scores of small pubs from this part of Madeley.

The All Nations slipped through the net.

Still there. Still a pub.

A reader-led update

New information about the 1789 inscription, the 1832 licence and the Baguley research was supplied by a reader after this article was first published. It is now part of our continuing research into all 18 pubs on the crawl.