THE INNS OF ENGLAND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 54, 27 November 1917, Page 6

THE INNS OF ENGLAND

HISTORICAL INTEREST OF THE "HAUNCH OF VENISON." Writes a New- Zealand officer from Sling Camp (Salisbury Plains): — "In spite of all the hard work, I do enjoy my rambles through tho country villages, and my feet liavo trod miles and miles of these charming English 1 roads. There appears to he a history attached to every manor house and every church in the country. I was not very interested in the heap of rocks at Stonehenge, and I have grown tired of gazing on the spreading chestnut tree, under which 'The Village Blacksmith' is reported to have stood at Figheldcan, but I am keen to sea the ruins of the convent in the wood at Amesbur.v where Queen Guinevere is alleged to have ended her days. Gradually I am discovering ancient haunts of Tom Pinch and various English kings at Salisbury, and a place of much interest a mile or so out is tho thousand-venr hotel, 'Ye Olde Castlo Inn,' at Old Gantni. I never pass an inn without looking for the sign or the name. Some of them are groat' ■ 'The Haunch of Venison,' The Plough Inn,' 'The Wheat-sheaf Inn,' 'Tho Bridge,' "Hie Rose and Crown,' 'Tho Angel,' 'The Red Lion,' "The Black Horse,' 'The Blue Bird.' and, of course, tho evergreen 'White Hart.' "A particular family has been in possession of 'The Haunch of Venison,' in Salisbury, for hundreds cf years, and its historv has hi consequence been preserved in a manner which makes it possible to liavo regular lectures oil the subject across the bar counter. The history of many other old 'pubs' has been lost to a large extent with the transfer rf licenses. Hence the attraction of tho 'Hunch of Venison.' "