| SEPARATE PLATES | |
| A Mug of Cider: the “White Hart” Inn, Castle Combe. (Photo by Graystone Bird) | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| The Cromwell Room, “Lygon Arms” | [8] |
| The Dining-room at “The Feathers,” Ludlow | [22] |
| Courtyard of the “Maid’s Head,” Norwich, showing the Jacobean Bar | [42] |
| The “Bell,” Barnby Moor: Meet of Lord Galway’s Hounds | [56] |
| The “Four Swans,” Waltham Cross | [152] |
| Sign of the “Pack Horse and Talbot,” Turnham Green | [194] |
| The “Running Footman,” Hay Hill | [194] |
| Interior of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” | [196] |
| “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Bluepitts, near Rochdale | [196] |
| The “Talbot,” Ripley. (Photo by R. W. Thomas) | [212] |
| The “Anchor,” Ripley, in the Days of the Dibbles and the Cycling Boom. (Photo by R. W. Thomas) | [214] |
| The “Swan,” Sandleford | [216] |
| The “Swan,” near Newbury | [216] |
| The Ingle-nook, “White Horse” Inn, Shere | [240] |
| Ingle-nook at the “Swan,” Haslemere | [242] |
| The Ingle-nook, “Crown” Inn, Chiddingfold | [244] |
| Ingle-nook, “Lygon Arms,” Broadway | [246] |
| The “Vine Tavern,” Mile End Road | [258] |
| Yard of the “White Horse,” Maiden Newton | [288] |
| The “White Horse,” Maiden Newton | [288] |
| ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT | |
| Vignette, Toby Fillpot | [Title-page] |
| PAGE | |
| List of Illustrations, The “Malt-shovel,” Sandwich | [vii] |
| The Old Inns of Old England | [1] |
| Doorway, the “Lygon Arms” | [3] |
| The “Lygon Arms” | [5] |
| The “Bear,” Devizes | [11] |
| Yard of the “Bear,” Devizes | [15] |
| The “George,” Andover | [17] |
| The “Feathers,” Ludlow | [19] |
| Decorative Device in Moulded Plaster, from Ceiling of Dining-room, the “Feathers,” Ludlow | [25] |
| The “Peacock,” Rowsley | [27] |
| The “White Hart,” Godstone | [31] |
| The Old Window, “Luttrell Arms” | [39] |
| Doorway, “The Cock,” Stony Stratford | [43] |
| Yard of “The George,” Huntingdon | [45] |
| The “Bell,” Stilton | [49] |
| The “Red Lion,” Egham | [53] |
| The “Old Hall” Inn, Sandbach | [59] |
| Dog-gates at Head of Staircase, “Old Hall” Inn, Sandbach | [61] |
| The “Bear’s Head,” Brereton | [63] |
| The “Lion and Swan,” Congleton | [67] |
| The “Cock,” Great Budworth | [71] |
| The “Pickering Arms,” Thelwall | [73] |
| The “King Edgar” and “Bear and Billet,” Chester | [75] |
| A Deserted Inn: The “Swan,” at Ferrybridge | [83] |
| The Old “Raven,” Hook | [86] |
| The “Hearts of Oak,” near Bridport | [88] |
| The “Bell” Inn, Dale Abbey | [90] |
| The “Windmill,” North Cheriton | [91] |
| The “Castle” Inn, Marlborough | [95] |
| Garden Front, “Castle” Inn, Marlborough | [99] |
| “Chapel House” Inn | [103] |
| “White Hart” Yard | [107] |
| A “Fenny Popper” | [111] |
| The “Bell,” Woodbridge | [112] |
| The “Red Lion,” Martlesham | [113] |
| “Dean Swift’s Chair,” Towcester | [115] |
| Boots at the “Bear,” Esher | [117] |
| The “George and Dragon,” Dragon’s Green | [119] |
| The “White Bull,” Ribchester | [120] |
| Boots of the “Unicorn,” Ripon | [121] |
| The “Red Lion,” Chiswick | [123] |
| The Old Whetstone | [125] |
| Hot Cross Buns at the “Widow’s Son” | [127] |
| The “Gate” Inn, Dunkirk | [132] |
| The “Gate Hangs Well,” Nottingham | [133] |
| Tablet at the “George,” Wanstead | [141] |
| “Tan Hill” Inn | [145] |
| The “Cat and Fiddle,” near Buxton | [147] |
| The “Traveller’s Rest,” Kirkstone Pass | [149] |
| The “Greyhound,” Sutton | [151] |
| The “Fox and Hounds,” Barley | [154] |
| The “George,” Stamford | [155] |
| The “Swan,” Fittleworth | [158] |
| The “Red Lion,” Hampton-on-Thames | [159] |
| The “Man Loaded with Mischief” | [163] |
| Sign of the “Royal Oak,” Bettws-y-Coed | [173] |
| Sign of the “George and Dragon,” Wargrave-on-Thames. (Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A.) | [176] |
| Sign of the “George and Dragon,” Wargrave-on-Thames. (Painted by J. E. Hodgson, R.A.) | [177] |
| The “Row Barge,” Wallingford. (Painted by G. D. Leslie, R.A.) | [178] |
| The “Swan,” Preston Crowmarsh | [178] |
| The “Windmill,” Tabley | [179] |
| The “Smoker” Inn, Plumbley | [179] |
| The “Ferry” Inn, Rosneath | [180] |
| The “Ferry” Inn, Rosneath | [180] |
| The “Fox and Pelican,” Grayshott | [181] |
| The “Cat and Fiddle,” near Christchurch | [182] |
| The “Cat and Fiddle,” near Christchurch | [182] |
| The “Swan,” Charing | [189] |
| Sign of the “Leather Bottle,” Leather Lane. (Removed 1896) | [191] |
| Sign of the “Beehive,” Grantham | [193] |
| Sign of the “Lion and Fiddle,” Hilperton | [195] |
| The “Sugar Loaves,” Sible Hedingham | [195] |
| Sign of the “Old Rock House” Inn, Barton | [197] |
| The “Three Horseshoes,” Great Mongeham | [198] |
| Sign of the “Red Lion,” Great Missenden | [198] |
| Sign of the “Labour in Vain” | [199] |
| The “Eight Bells,” Twickenham | [201] |
| Sign of the “Stocks” Inn, Clapgate, near Wimborne | [202] |
| The “Shears” Inn, Wantage | [202] |
| Sign of the “White Bear,” Fickles Hole | [203] |
| The “Crow-on-Gate” Inn, Crowborough | [205] |
| The “First and Last” Inn, Sennen | [206] |
| The “First and Last,” Land’s End | [207] |
| The “Eagle and Child,” Nether Alderley | [209] |
| The “White Horse,” Woolstone | [211] |
| The “Halfway House,” Rickmansworth | [215] |
| The “Rose and Crown,” Mill End, Rickmansworth | [216] |
| The “Jolly Farmer,” Farnham | [217] |
| The “Boar’s Head,” Middleton | [218] |
| The “Old House at Home,” Havant | [219] |
| “Pounds Bridge” | [221] |
| Yard of the “George and Dragon,” West Wycombe | [223] |
| The Yard of the “Sun,” Dedham | [225] |
| The “Old Ship,” Worksop | [226] |
| The “Old Swan,” Atherstone | [227] |
| The “King’s Arms,” Sandwich | [229] |
| The “Keigwin Arms,” Mousehole | [230] |
| The “Swan,” Knowle | [231] |
| Sign of the “Swan,” Knowle | [232] |
| The “Running Horse,” Merrow | [233] |
| Ingle-nook at the “Talbot,” Towcester | [243] |
| Tipper’s Epitaph, Newhaven | [251] |
| Preston’s Epitaph, St. Magnus-the-Martyr | [253] |
| “Newhaven” Inn | [257] |
| House where the Duke of Buckingham died, Kirkby Moorside | [265] |
| The “Black Swan,” Kirkby Moorside | [267] |
| Washington Irving’s “Throne” and “Sceptre” | [270] |
| Yard of the “Old Angel,” Basingstoke | [279] |
| The “White Hart,” Whitchurch | [281] |
| The “Bell,” Tewkesbury | [285] |
| The “Wheatsheaf,” Tewkesbury | [287] |
| Henley-in-Arden, and the “White Swan” | [301] |
THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND
CHAPTER I
A POSY OF OLD INNS
“Shall I not take mine ease at mine inn?”
In dealing with the Old Inns of England, one is first met with the great difficulty of classification, and lastly with the greater of coming to a conclusion. There are—let us be thankful for it—so many fine old inns. Some of the finest lend themselves to no ready method of classifying. Although they have existed through historic times, they are not historic, and they have no literary associations: they are simply beautiful and comfortable in the old-world way, which is a way a great deal more keenly appreciated than may commonly be supposed in these times. Let those who will flock to Metropoles and other barracks whose very names are evidence of their exotic style; but give me the old inns with such signs as the “Lygon Arms,” the “Feathers,” the “Peacock,” and the like, which you still find—not in the crowded resorts of the seaside, or in great cities, but in the old English country towns and districts frequented by the appreciative few.