Monday 21 February: THE GEORGE AND DRAGON, Watton at Stone: (Chris Haden, Mike Horsman, Elvis Pile, Bob Polydorou, David Room, Roger Toms, John Westwood.)
COMMENT: A decent but not cheap meal, and good banter, in a small, ancient but rather chilly room! The George and Dragon is by 200 years the oldest pub we have yet been to, and I think the first to be a Grade II listed building. The listing notice says that it is mid to late 16th century, extended and renovated several times since. To put that in context, it's most likely that either Henry VIII or Elizabeth I was on the throne when it was built (between them these two famous monarchs reigned for 80 years of the 16th century) The George and Dragon is the first pub on the Odyssey to have been named after a saint, St George the patron saint of England no less. (Up till now the pub names have reflected royal emblems, local landowners, agricultural and commercial activities). This combination of a 16th century origin and a saint's name makes the pub a bit of a puzzle to me. As everyone knows, Henry VIII initiated and Elizabeth I consolidated the establishment of Protestantism in England. Amongst other things, this included the democratic idea that everyone had their own personal relationship with God and didn't need the intervention and help of saints to achieve salvation. So under the Tudors many saints' days were abolished. So why in this Protestant era call your pub after a saint? Woe betide you if Henry VIII, "that spot of blood and grease on English history", got to hear of it. So much safer, for example, to call the pub instead the Rose and Crown after the Tudor emblem. I have this image, probably a fantasy, of someone in the remote village of Watton hating the religious changes which were being forced on him from above and as a small act of defiance calling his pub after a popular saint. If so I hope he got away with it.
Incidentally, it's always struck me as odd that the patron saint of England should be St George, in reality an aristocrat of the late Roman Empire born in Syria and martyred by the Emperor Diocletian in Nicodemia (Turkey) on 23 April 303AD. George had no British connection, probably didn't even know where Britannia was, but there you go. The stuff about rescuing a maiden from a dragon was just a load of nonsense invented by some overheated monk in the Middle Ages.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Pub Odyssey 7
Tuesday 15 February: COWPER ARMS, DIGSWELL (Malcolm Allen, Gerry Murphy, Elvis Pile, Bob Polydorou, Andrew Swift, Roger Toms, John Westwood)
COMMENT: I missed this one so nothing to say about food, discussion etc (other comments welcome!) But in terms of Hertfordshire history this pub is an interesting place. Once again, it shows the close connection between pubs, transport and trade. Already we have been at pubs closely connected with river trade (Old Barge, Hertford) and stagecoach trade (Waggoners, Ayot Green and White Horse, Welwyn). With the Cowper Arms the connection is of course with the railways. The pub was built in 1850 at the same time as Welwyn North station by the same navvies who built the station and Welwyn Viaduct and with the same bricks. (Welwyn North station was known as Welwyn station until 1926 when Welwyn Garden City station was opened.) The pub therefore was a speculation to make money out of railway traffic just as the others had been for river and road traffic. Perhaps the local landowner, Lord Cowper of Panshanger, had a hand in it since it was named after him. Victorian enterprise, therefore, but the pub also showed the harsh side of unrestrained Victorian capitalism. In the 1850s there was an appalling accident in the railway tunnel and the bodies were brought to lie in the Cowper Arms in preparation for the inquest.
COMMENT: I missed this one so nothing to say about food, discussion etc (other comments welcome!) But in terms of Hertfordshire history this pub is an interesting place. Once again, it shows the close connection between pubs, transport and trade. Already we have been at pubs closely connected with river trade (Old Barge, Hertford) and stagecoach trade (Waggoners, Ayot Green and White Horse, Welwyn). With the Cowper Arms the connection is of course with the railways. The pub was built in 1850 at the same time as Welwyn North station by the same navvies who built the station and Welwyn Viaduct and with the same bricks. (Welwyn North station was known as Welwyn station until 1926 when Welwyn Garden City station was opened.) The pub therefore was a speculation to make money out of railway traffic just as the others had been for river and road traffic. Perhaps the local landowner, Lord Cowper of Panshanger, had a hand in it since it was named after him. Victorian enterprise, therefore, but the pub also showed the harsh side of unrestrained Victorian capitalism. In the 1850s there was an appalling accident in the railway tunnel and the bodies were brought to lie in the Cowper Arms in preparation for the inquest.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Pub Odyssey 6
Tuesday 8 February 2011: WHITE HORSE, WELWYN VILLAGE (Malcolm Allen, Chris Haden, Mike Horsman, Bob Polydorou, Steve Stott, Andrew Swift, Roger Toms)
COMMENT: This is a nice pub with five different good beers (the Rose and the Plume might take note that it is possible to get beyond two good beer options) and in food terms we got lucky. The food is good but restaurant-type prices; luckily for us they had a "2 for 1" main course deal so everyone was happy.
The White Horse is a 17th century coaching inn in a village famous for pubs; indeed Welwyn village used to be in the Guinness Book of Records as having more pubs proportionate to population than anywhere in England. It isn't now, but it still has a lot of pubs. In fact they have been drinking in Welwyn for 2,000 years. Roman wine jars from the Mediterranean were discovered in Prospect Place, so the pubs, old as they are, represent what might be called the modern movement.
The White Horse is a very common pub name (in fact there are more pubs of this name within 5 miles of Tewin than any other name). The white horse was the emblem of the Saxon Kings of Wessex and is the traditional emblem of Kent. A galloping white horse was also a heraldic sign of the Royal house of Hanover, Kings of Britain and Ireland from 1714. Since pubs go strongly for royalty (both the Rose and Crown and the Plume of Feathers are names connected with royalty) this meant the White Horse was a winner all round in the pub names stakes. Also, with a lot of Guilds favouring the white horse in their coats of arms, it was particularly popular as a pub name in London, where even now there are more than 40 pubs called the White Horse.
COMMENT: This is a nice pub with five different good beers (the Rose and the Plume might take note that it is possible to get beyond two good beer options) and in food terms we got lucky. The food is good but restaurant-type prices; luckily for us they had a "2 for 1" main course deal so everyone was happy.
The White Horse is a 17th century coaching inn in a village famous for pubs; indeed Welwyn village used to be in the Guinness Book of Records as having more pubs proportionate to population than anywhere in England. It isn't now, but it still has a lot of pubs. In fact they have been drinking in Welwyn for 2,000 years. Roman wine jars from the Mediterranean were discovered in Prospect Place, so the pubs, old as they are, represent what might be called the modern movement.
The White Horse is a very common pub name (in fact there are more pubs of this name within 5 miles of Tewin than any other name). The white horse was the emblem of the Saxon Kings of Wessex and is the traditional emblem of Kent. A galloping white horse was also a heraldic sign of the Royal house of Hanover, Kings of Britain and Ireland from 1714. Since pubs go strongly for royalty (both the Rose and Crown and the Plume of Feathers are names connected with royalty) this meant the White Horse was a winner all round in the pub names stakes. Also, with a lot of Guilds favouring the white horse in their coats of arms, it was particularly popular as a pub name in London, where even now there are more than 40 pubs called the White Horse.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Pub Odyssey 5
Wednesday 2 February THE WAGGONERS, Ayot Green (Malcolm Allen, Mike Horsman, Gerry Murphy, Elvis Pile, Bob Poydorou, Roger Spendley, Steve Stott, Roger Toms)
COMMENT: Nice meal and beer in a pub with French owners (as has been the case at the Waggoners, on and off, for a long time) but not really much of a French look to the bar menu. Mostly we had omelettes- very nice. Might be a more Frenchified look to the restaurant menu (and personnel). I remember years ago going for a meal with Anne and asking the waitress, clearly just off the plane from Paris, for a pint of London Pride. She looked blank; "a pint of London Pride? What is it you have commanded?" But it was a good meal..
The history is that when the stagecoach service on the Great North Road was set up in the 17th century coaching inns sprang up on the road like mushrooms after rain. The Waggoners was one of them, on the stretch of the road between Lemsford and Corey's Mill in Stevenage. We go next week to another 17th century coaching inn, also on the Great North Road, the White Horse in Welwyn village.
Why "The Waggoners"? Obviously before the railways goods were carried everywhere on horse-drawn waggons. Many inns acted as agents, and goods could be left there for onward transmission or for local collection. I regret to say the name has nothing to do with "being on the waggon". This expression for being teetotal is an abbreviation of "being on the water waggon", water being delivered on waggons in the days before Jeff Tipper took the system in hand..
COMMENT: Nice meal and beer in a pub with French owners (as has been the case at the Waggoners, on and off, for a long time) but not really much of a French look to the bar menu. Mostly we had omelettes- very nice. Might be a more Frenchified look to the restaurant menu (and personnel). I remember years ago going for a meal with Anne and asking the waitress, clearly just off the plane from Paris, for a pint of London Pride. She looked blank; "a pint of London Pride? What is it you have commanded?" But it was a good meal..
The history is that when the stagecoach service on the Great North Road was set up in the 17th century coaching inns sprang up on the road like mushrooms after rain. The Waggoners was one of them, on the stretch of the road between Lemsford and Corey's Mill in Stevenage. We go next week to another 17th century coaching inn, also on the Great North Road, the White Horse in Welwyn village.
Why "The Waggoners"? Obviously before the railways goods were carried everywhere on horse-drawn waggons. Many inns acted as agents, and goods could be left there for onward transmission or for local collection. I regret to say the name has nothing to do with "being on the waggon". This expression for being teetotal is an abbreviation of "being on the water waggon", water being delivered on waggons in the days before Jeff Tipper took the system in hand..
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