Ram Jam Inn


The Ram Jam Inn was a pub on the A1 in Rutland, England between Stamford and Grantham. It was frequented by the highwayman Dick Turpin in the 18th century, and it is alleged that one of his confidence tricks inspired the pub's name.
The pub originally opened as a coaching inn called the Winchelsea Arms, but became known as the Ram Jam Inn by the early 19th century. Turpin was a temporary lodger at the inn, and resided here when he first found notoriety. He showed his landlady, Mrs Spring, how to draw mild and bitter ale from a single barrel, stating "ram one thumb in here whilst I make a hole... now jam your other thumb in this hole while I find the forgotten spile pegs." Turpin subsequently disappeared without paying his bill, while Spring was trapped with two thumbs in the barrel. An alternative, similar, account is that an unnamed con-artist, not specifically named as Turpin, made the landlord fall for the trick so the trickster could try and seduce the landlady. A third tale is that by the 19th century "ram-jam" was a term that meant both eating to capacity and a place full of people. In 1878, Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale ran 100 miles from Knightsbridge Barracks to the inn in under 18 hours in order to win a bet.
Soul singer Geno Washington named his backing band the Ram Jam Band after the pub, as it was a popular place for the band to stop en route to gigs. When reviewing the inn in 2000, The Telegraph's Paddy Burt described the meals as "simple food, well done". The novelist Margaret Drabble enjoyed staying at the inn, noting that the double glazing effectively masks the sound of traffic on the A1.
In August 2013 the pub was closed and put on the market for an estimated value of £550,000.