'A pleasant spirit'
Whilst entering the peaceful village of Wormelow you will soon notice the admiring and traditional Tump Inn. This public house is said to have got its name from a tump of mound which was present in the village up until around 1896 when it was removed due to road widening, the large mound was opposite The Tump Inn and in the bar area of the inn there is a notice telling you where the inn got its name from. A lot of stories speculate about the mound, one that the mound proved to be to difficult to measure and that no one could ever get an accurate measurement, local legend used to say that whatever measure you measure it in, the second would never be the same measurement, this proved to be right as no one could ever get the exact measurement of the mound. Legend also suggests that king Arthur's son Amyr who was murdered by his uncle at Gamber Head was buried underneath the mound alongside King Arthur's nephew Modred but after no remains were ever found there was no evidence to back this story up.
The tump was also a regular meeting place for villagers, it was a requirement that all citizens of Wormelow who owned a horse were to attend a meeting at Wormelow tump every three years, of course in those days people who owned a horse were considered to be very wealthy. This requirement was found mentioned in the Domesday Book.
There is also a meaning behind the village name, in old English 'worm' meant dusky and 'low' refers to a burial ground. The village is also the site of a museum commemorating the life of World War II secret agent Violette Szabo. The haunted Tump Inn was built in 1778 by a Mr. William Parrot, the inn served its first pint in 1780, John Mason ran the inn in 1835 and James Smith or his son who shared his first name saw the pub in to the twentieth century. The Tump Inn has had many uses since it as been standing, in 1812 the inn was regularly used for car auction sales and the inn was also a popular hotel that had recently undergone refurbishment and was modernised throughout, it was described in a 1933 advert as 'a well known and exceedingly popular house' with a refreshing orchard and garden, this advert was for the sale of the hotel but the sale never went through and so the inn was taken off the property market, Charles Smith became landlord in 1941 and he was possibly from the Smith family.
The Tump Inn has had a whole range of supernatural activity that as gone on for an endless amount of years, the inn's main ghost is known as Florie but more ghosts make themselves known and are definitely present within the building. Ghostly activity as not only been witnessed by the pub's staff but also the customers who have seen ongoing creepy shadows in the corner of their eyes, pint glasses mysteriously being knocked off and smashing on their own accord and the ladies most often say of a strong sweet smell that is present in the toilets and it certainly isn't the air freshener! There is one main part of the building that is always ice cold and taps regularly turn themselves off in the cellar along with the gas; the owner also claims that various items disappear in the kitchen and that there is a constant feeling of being watched and a feeling that somebody is always there. Even though there is so much spooky occurrences it is believed that the spirits of the inn are kindred and are of a good nature, so the staff and customers always feel relaxed when drinking their pint in their unique local inn.