The Rising Sun, Frog Lane, Christian Malford

This is a picture of the interior of the ‘Rising Sun’, the one remaining pub in Christian Malford. It used to play second fiddle to the mighty ‘Mermaid Inn’ on the main road at the other side of the village. Then the M4 motorway opened and the main road was downgraded. The ‘Mermaid’ closed and the ‘Rising Sun’ somehow survived despite the calamitous decline of the traditional English pub.
The ‘Rising Sun’ was built in the 18th century and was formerly a smithy. Its proximity to the railway halt which was in operation between 1926 and 1965 provided a sideline selling tickets for the Great Western Railway for some, but not all, of those years.
The postal address of the ‘Rising Sun’ is Station Road, Christian Malford. This is curious because there never was a station in Christian Malford. The rudimentary timber-built halt was unstaffed, had no facilities, and no footbridge over the two short platforms. Even when there was a halt, the road was not named after it. Perhaps some strange romantic nostalgia influenced the street-naming authorities who wanted to convey a sense of importance to the village long after it had become so unimportant that even the ugly little halt had been taken away.
As a matter of historic fact, the street on which the ‘Rising Sun’ is situated already had a perfectly good name as evidenced by official census documents of the second part of the nineteenth century. It was known as ‘Frog Lane’.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens.