THE OLD INNS OF ENGLAND

Chronicle (Levin), 3 May 1947, Page 4

THE OLD INNS OF ENGLAND

. .The English inn has long and proud traditions. F.or, sevep or e'ight hundred years it has playea an important part ih the social history of England as the meet-ihg-place of kings and commoners, poets, merchants,- s"£ai'arer'3, priests and pilgrims. It has fdrmed the background of muth great literature from Chaucer to Dickens. Almost every ancient ihn of town or villgge Has so.me a-Ssociation either' with histo'fieal events or famous persons who have stayed under its roof. . You can read something of England's story in her .colourful inn-signs. Nariies like tlid Floyal Oak, the George, or the Rose and Crown recall her moharc'hs arid their emblems. English sport is symbolised in the Fox and Hounds, the Bat and Ball and ihe Gompleat Angief. The' Gat and Fiddie and the Dick yvhittirigfco.n tell of national folklofe, while familiar signs like the Lord Nelson a'hd Duke of Wellington comriiemorate English heroes. The character , o'f the' ihri hak not changed with the passirig df c'enturies, although in meeting the :-raveller's needs it has always kept abreast of the iimes.- Iri rbadside inns thfoiigho'ut the" country you will find every reasdnable modern comfort, ydt thfeir atmosphere is much the same1 it was when the old st.age-coaches rdlled into their spdcioris yards. Some of the oldest inns of England were dotually btiilt, arid .mdin^ feained by the churC'h for the iise^ of pilgrims who journeyed about-" ihe land in the" Middie Ages.- Aftet the monasteries were dissolved during the sixteenth century, many of the religious hostels became ordinary licensed houses and have continue.d s.q .down .. to .He present day. The Falstaff Inn at C.anterbury stillN stands just outside the West GateSof the city, $here it was built over five hundred years ago. Any' pilgrirps who arrived after dusk; ^heii the' elfy ;|ates were shut could- thus be assured of finding lodgings for o-he night. The famous George at -Glastonbury, which was' once part of the Abbey buildings,^ housed pilgrims ffom many parts ot Eiifdpe arid tts fine stone facade shows the e'celesiastical influence" iri its design. , The New Inn aj^ Gloucestdr, which is actually the olddSt In Ihat city, was built to Seedmniddate the pilgrims who flocked to Sdward II's shririe iri the cathed^ ral there. Round its operi eoprt^ard . Is the friediaeval gallery, Approached by a flight of Ataifs, h'y which pilgrims . enteved thelr iodgirigS* after was"Hirig thehigelv'es a pump. below. Few, of these galleried ddurtyards are left today, but there is i most inter estin§. e^riMplfe' at the George in Southwark, London. It (vas here that some of the earliest performances of Shakespeare's plays were given. Indeed/ it ihay he said that the ErigMh dfSmri

w . — • had its .beginnings in the . ,courtya'rd? of inns bef ore theatres were Apeeially hui-it ,for the purpose. When trsLVeilirig1 became rnofe frequent and stage.-coaches were j.ntroduced, the English irin .became a riaiidria-l institutioii. Many of the earlier hostelrids tvfere enl^orged and new ones were built alorig the chief highways arid m the market towns. Coaching |ans are still distinguished -by t-heir s'plefldid fr'orits, spaciotis priblic rooms and wide covered ■ c'diirEyards where the horses dre'w in while travellers refreshed themselves. , Among the inns . df this period i§ tlie Great Wliite Horse stt Ipswifch where Dickes' staye'd WKferi, as a young reporter on the "Morning Chronicle," he visited the town to ; deserib,e * a Parlidfriehtafy eldction. Thd Angel a-t Bury St. Edmunds and the Bull att Rochester are two other famous coaching inris associated with the immortal Mr. Pickwick and his friends, and of course, there are many others. If ydii travel along such a highway aS the Great North Road, you will pass interesting inns wiiich were Justly celebrated in _the cdachirig era and continue to sfervd iridtoriS'ts today. The ' yillage of Stilton, nedr : Huntingdon, . gives its name to the cdlebrated cfieese which was first served . to coach passengers by the . Hd'st of thd old Bell Inn there over a century ago. The Angei at GfdnthsDrii, ofigirially a pilgrims' ^uest-hoiise, dis'plays the carvbd heads ,pf Edward III and his que'en Philippa, dydr its courtyard gateway. Richard III was a gue'st at this inn in 1483. Inns. with literary assoeiatioris abound everywhere in Engiand. The Three Qrowns at Lichfield was a favourite me'jting-place of Dr. Johnson and his friend Boswell, and every year a festive siipper is held here by Johnson gdmirers on. the anniversary of iS birth. Iri the parlour of the Red Horse at Stratford-upori-Avon» the American writer, Washingtori Irving, penned part of his "Sketch Book." The Lion at Shrewsbury was frequently visifed both by Dickens and De QuinVbjr, the last describing a sleepIe'ss night spent in its huge ballrnom "The Opium Eater." The older inns around the shoYes df England have a charm arid atmosphere of all their owri. Most of them are small, intimale places which have sdfvdd for cerituries, as they still do tdday, ds the mee'tirig-places of fishermdn ahd be'afarers. Many a coastal irin has memories of the smugglers and s6a-piratds of the eighteenth , ceritury when, their landlords todk § hSnd iri thdt unlawful "fredtrading;/' And so today on the coasts of YOrkshire Or Cornwdll you can find inns with secr'dt cellars and hiding places whieh were onee used for storing contraf harid gdods away from the ey'£s Qt ifid law.