The Anchor Inn Oakerthorpe has gone the way of many others and the site has been developed for private housing.To the rear of where the Inn was located runs the remains of a Roman road (Rykneld Street) and at the front was a large anchor that was brought from Portsmouth via a local scrap dealer in about 1983.
In 1742 the “Anchor Inn” was built by William Strelley (the local Squire) and was inherited by his fifth son in 1756. In 1742 the ‘Anchor Inn’ opened here for the first time. It remained part of the Strelley estate until 1908. It is thought that an anchor appears on one part of the Strelley coat of arms. The Strelley family had a house on the site of nearby ‘Holly Bank’ from 1655. The Anchor was very much part of the Strelley estate where rents were collected, meetings held and miners discussed the running of the nearby collieries.
Although The Anchor Inn was built during the coaching period it was very small and was popular with the mining community and local farmers. The first innkeeper was William Lisset who remained here until 1753. In front of the Inn was a well, and to the left was Holly Bank and to the right were some small cottages.