A Hidden Gem: September 2008

Thursday, 25 September 2008

A New Face at The Shireburn

A new face at The Shireburn.

We would like to introduce a new member to our kitchen brigade junior sous Chef Robert Walls who recently joined us.

Having worked at The Castle at Taunton and the Duke of York Inn Grindleton he has added The Shireburn to his CV and is cooking up a storm in our kitchen. Those who dine here will have noticed the change as Robert has made his mark on our sweet menu, his own creations such as, Assiette of orange including blood orange champagne, blood orange jelly with orange chocolate truffle.

Also he’s bringing back the classics such as Apple charlotte with clotted cream.

Our chief taste tester and manager Steven Alcock is quite pleased with his new signing commented,

“A refreshing new talent to the Shireburn who will have a big impression not only in the kitchen but my waist line as well”

Welcome to the team Robert.

History of The Shireburn Arms

The Shireburn Arms is a little corner of Old England for you to savour. When it began life in 1679 it was a farm with a series of outbuildings. Stonyhurst College, just one mile away is one of the finest buildings in Lancashire and all England, acclaimed even by Alec Clifton-Taylor. A Jesuit school of enviable reputation and responsible for the schooling of many influential authors, Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), J.R Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), the seven Victoria Cross's and the setting of many period dramas and films.
In fact, the Shireburn Coat of Arms appears only in the College and in stained glass in the hotel.
This historic hotel itself comprises of three buildings which have been sensitively combined to provide a place of charm and character.

The "Sherburn" was sold by the Weld family in 1831 and then run as a hotel by Richard Parker. His daughter, a Dominican nun, inherited the "Sherburn" and it became a convent from 1856. It was then sold to Stonhurst College in 1866, who then owned it until 1975, and was run by various landlords as a hotel. On an interesting note, the wife of an earlier publican, Ralph Holden, was said to have murdered one of his relatives in 1834. However, she claimed that she "had only put the arsenic in the tea pot, he had chosen to drink the tea." She was hung at Lancaster Castle.

Thursday, 25 September 2008

A New Face at The Shireburn

Shireburn Lounge

Shireburn Pictures