In 1794, Henry Stephenson was victualler.
In March 1838, John Mitchell was charged with stealing a sheep that was the property of Mr Stephenson of the Abbey Inn Woodgate. Thomas Cooper, Elijah and William Thorne, were charged with receiving parts of the mutton knowing it to be stolen. John Nutt, an accomplice, was admitted Queens evidence and the prisoners (who were all boatmen) were convicted. Mitchell was sentenced to ten years transportation. The two receivers twelve months imprisonment starting with a week’s solitary.
In August 1847, Stephenson was to offer the Abbey up for auction, complete with his brewing vessels. Stephenson gave the reason for selling as ‘declining the Inn keeping business.’
No further references of the Abbey, Woodgate are known after Henry Stephenson’s time – it seems to have been rebuilt as the Abbey on Abbey Lane.
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