A History of The Jolly Sailor at Newton Green

The Turpin brothers came from Lincolnshire. Frances Turpin was the landlord of the Jolly Sailor, which was an inn, grocers and blacksmith. John Turpin was a sea captain who commanded a sailing sloop that ran their trade from South Wales to the coast of France, Portugal and Spain. Most of the inhabitants of the small hamlet of Newton were members of the Turpin gang.
They dug a tunnel from the Jolly Sailor under Newton Church to a pub on the beach by Newton Point called the Red House. I used to play in the ruins of the pub as a child.
Off Newton Point is a large flat rock (Tusker Rock) where John Turpins sloop would tie up. They would land their cargo onto the rock, then long boat it to the shore, into the Red House and up to the Jolly Sailor. The cargo would then be transported to Cardiff and sold.
The Turpin gang themselves built the Red House from the stones of Newton beach.
When a cargo was landed, John Turpin would come up from the Red House, climb the wall of Newton Church, where the yew tree is and look up into the window of the Jolly Sailor. If there was a red light in the window it indicated that there were boarders at the inn, and it was dangerous to approach the Jolly Sailor. The window that they used to show the red lamp was in the house where Mrs. Williams used to live. The same house that the present landlord John davies found the entrance to the tunnel.
The noise of men and barrels being rolled along the tunnel alerted the Vicar of Newton church, who when he first heard these noises coming from under his church, thought his church was haunted.
The Vicar brought the sound of the noise to the attention of the Bishop, who in turn went to the authorities and the gang was smashed.
John Turpin was hanged at Cardiff. In those days if you were hanged, you landed up in a lime pit. Somehow the Turpin family managed to get hold of his body and he is buried under the yew tree. His name was added to his family tomb long after his death.
In Newton there is a new tomb stone on the grave, and the layout of the writing on the stone is exactly the same as on the old one. It reads
"Here lies the body of John Turpin, Mariner born in Lincolnshire (let no man move his body)".
It is said that he went to the gallows without betraying the rest of the gang.
Note: The yew tree at Newton is not more than 200 years old, so the planting of the tree is about the same time as the legend.
It was the Turpins themselves who planted the yew tree. The yew is a mystical tree, it is the wood that made the long bow (the Welsh invented the long bow). The spirit of the green man is supposed to live in the tree.
The Turpins coming from Lincolnshire thought themselves to be the 'Robin Hoods' of their day, as they helped the poor of Newton. Robin Hood dressed in Lincoln green and the Turpin gang really were men in Lincoln green.
A small crown garrison was established on Newton green, where Crown House now stands. The old building has long gone, but the name Crown House has lived on.