One of the oldest buildings in Avoncliff, the twin-gabled central section of The Cross Guns is believed to date back to the 1490’s, the central inglenook fireplace being of the same style as those found at Hampton Court.

With the construction of the East wing in the early 1600’s, this Tudor residence became an Inn known as The Carpenter’s Arms. This provided respite for travellers and drovers using the ford across the river at Avoncliff. It was later used by quarrymen, millworkers and travellers.

At the turn of the 18th Century, the Kennet and Avon canal arrived at Avoncliff. The additional trade this generated for the pub necessitated the construction of the Western extension in which the snug was housed. Here, customers would have enjoyed smoking their clay pipes, playing cards, drinking ales and whiskies, partaking of snuff and sharing tales that stretched the length of the canal!

Bargees often visited the pub, stabling their horses behind the old cellar. A local innkeeper found long-forgotten records, revealing that the landlord of the Barge Inn in Bradford on Avon regularly escorted “Ladies of the Town” to The Carpenter’s Arms in order to warm the spirits of the boatmen! The ladies were not the only source of entertainment however, for bargees would often bet each other to climb up the chimney when the inglenook fire was lit. When they reached the top, they were prevented from returning by their fellows who had mischievously stoked the fire!

During the early 19th Century, the clothing firm of Moggeridge & Joyce are reputed to have been licensees of The Cross Guns, in addition to being proprietors of the Avoncliff mills. In response to the chronic shortage of small coinage at the time, they issued tokens exchangeable at the company-owned pub which brewed its own ale for the millworkers. The rural serenity of Avoncliff was disturbed from 1794, when the 9th (Bradford on Avon) Battalion of the Wiltshire Rifle Volunteers was formed and a rifle range established alongside the canal. It was shortly after this that The Carpenter’s Arms was renamed The Cross Guns, both in recognition of the formation of the local Yeomanry and as a salutary warning to rioting agricultural labourers of the time that retribution was close by!