Horse Shoe Beerhouse
The Horse Shoe beerhouse stood in Mill Lane alongside the old smithy. A beerhouse keeper did not need to obtain a Public House licence from the magistrates requiring him to prove that he was of good character. A ratepayer could just pay two guineas (£2.10) to the local excise officer for a beerhouse licence. He was then allowed to brew and sell beer, but nothing stronger. There is strong evidence that the beerhouse was the building now known as Rock House.
Liverpool Mercury 6th April 1863
Liverpool Mercury 7th August 1863
Irish-born Michael McCaffrey was shown as a Wheelwright on his 1841 marriage licence and as a Butter Merchant on the 1851 census. By the time of the 1861 census, in which he stated that he was a Joiner, he had moved his family from Liverpool to Greasby. His wife’s name was Elizabeth though she later called herself Betsey. Her father, Benjamin Jones, owned the Greasby smithy. By 1863 McCaffrey was the keeper of the Horse Shoe beerhouse which was on the same site as the smithy. Tragedy struck on 4th April 1863 when the 48 year old attempted to break up a fight between two customers. One, Thomas Gibbs (or Gibb), struck McCaffrey causing him to fall. He died of a head injury.
Gibbs was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to a fortnight's imprisonment.
Death certificate of Michael McCaffrey
The headstone of Michael & Betsey McCaffrey stands in the graveyard of St John The Divine in Frankby.
1864 Morris directory
Michael's widow Betsey took over the Horse Shoe but died a year later, aged 43.
At the age of 21 their eldest daughter Mary took over the beerhouse, as the 1864 Morris directory shows. She later married David Skillen.
In 1869, control of beerhouse licensing was given to magistrates and obtaining or renewing that licence became a lot more difficult. Many beerhouses closed.
David Skillen became the beerhouse keeper and the census of 1871 (below) shows David, Mary and Mary's siblings, Ann, 22, Elizabeth, 9, and Michael, 20, all living at the Horse Shoe.
Although the census shows the business as a 'public house' (i.e. could sell wines and spirits) it was, in fact, a beerhouse.
1871 census
On 26 June 1873, at the County Hall in Birkenhead, David Skillen was fined £5 for selling during prohibited hours on Sunday 22 June 1873 and the conviction was endorsed onto his licence. On 25 September 1873 he was refused renewal of his licence which effectively brought an end to the Horse Shoe. He returned to his earlier trade as a joiner and as a farmer with a smallholding. In Gore's 1900 Directory he was still listed as a joiner.