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A two-story building with the text Five Miles From Anywhere and No Murry painted on the gable, fronted by a low wooden fence.

Five Miles From Anywhere c.1910 ©MusCamb

Lord Nelson, No Hurry – Five Miles From Anywhere, Upware

History of The Five Miles from Anywhere

See Enid Porter’s article on the Society of Idiots and the Honourable Company of Beersoakers

Upware

Three people sit and two stand by a wooden fence in front of a white building with text painted on its gabled roof.

No Hurry Inn, Upware, 1880.

The pub was built under thatch in 1811 but this was replaced by corrugated iron in the 1890s. The Lord Nelson was rechristened Five Miles from Anywhere – No Hurry in the 1860s by Richard Ramsey Fielder, self proclaimed His Majesty the King of Upware. From 1851 it was the headquarters of the Upware Republic, a society of Cambridge undergraduates that included Samuel Butler.

Oval-framed drawing of a man with long hair, a thick mustache, and a wide-brimmed hat, wearing a collared shirt and cravat.

Richard Fielder, “King” of Upware

In the early 20th century the landlords, Ben and Kate Read, held the fishing rights and also made money out of the ferry. Pedestrians were charged 1d, bicycles 2d and 6d for a horse and cart.

A two-story building stands by a riverbank with people seated near a small wooden fence and several small boats on the water.

Lord Nelson, date and photographer unknown

Brick building with a gabled end inscribed Five Miles From Anywhere and No Hurry, featuring stacked bay windows and chimneys.

No Hurry – Five Miles from Anywhere inn, 1928 (photo E F Watson) (Cambridgeshire Collection)

A pen and ink drawing of a waterside inn with two men in a rowing boat in the foreground and figures seated on the bank.

Upware, No Hurry Inn (MoC372/74)

The Lord Nelson was originally built for the river trade.

A low-lying building stands near the bank of a river with a large cluster of dark, leafy trees to its left.

No Hurry Inn (MoC372.74)

In 1956 it was badly damaged by fire. Charles Jolley who had had been licensee said that the layer of corrugated iron on thick thatch had made the fire difficult to fight. The bar and downstairs rooms were saved.

A dilapidated, single-story white building with a partially collapsed roof sits on a grassy bank near tall, leafless trees.

Lord Nelson, Upware, 1957 (MoC206/68)

A new inn was built in 1980.

Rectangular sign reading Five Miles From Anywhere No Hurry Inn with two Old Speckled Hen logos and a small Upware Ferry label.

Five Miles from Anywhere (RGL2024)

A wide river flows past grassy banks under a cloudy sky, with large trees on either side and utility poles in the distance.

Five Miles from Anywhere (RGL2024)

Three moored boats sit on a river near a tree-lined bank under a grey sky, with a concrete quay visible in the foreground.

Five Miles from Anywhere (RGL2024)

 

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