Tuesday 24 January: THE BEEHIVE, WELWYN GARDEN CITY (Chris Haden, Mike Horsman, Elvis Pile, David Room, Andrew Swift)
COMMENT: The Beehive was a surprise in various respects. I had a feeling that as we moved towards the last third of the 87 pubs originally identified they would get grimmer and grimmer, since we had "used up" the nice ones earlier on. Not so; the Beehive was very nice, extremely well refurbished, large (100 covers), good beer, good cheap food, a carvery, etc etc. It was a great success so far as we were concerned. As Andrew said, it would be a worthy competitor for the custom of the many nice village pubs which get so much trade from Welwyn Garden City. The staff (specifically the landlady) were interactive and friendly as well. I pass over the fact that Chris Haden found viagra on sale somewhere in the pub; you'd have to ask him where.
To the pub historian the Beehive was a surprise in other respects as well. In my ignorance I'd assumed it was associated with the creation of suburban Welwyn Garden City, therefore built in the interwar years or the 1950s. Again, not so; the landlady said it was an ancient pub which went back to the eighteenth century or earlier. W. Branch Johnston, in his book "Hertfordshire Inns" is succinct and unflattering. "In 1842 a remote beerhouse on a country lane". In the tradition of multi-tasking characteristic of rural pubs in pre-modern times, at least one early licensee was also a grocer. The name, the "Beehive" is not common but there are other pubs round the country with this name. It probably only means there were hives close by when the pub was founded but in some places it was used an a symbol of industrious behaviour associated with bees- a Cheltenham "Beehive" has on the sign "By Industry We Live". Debatable in modern Britain.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Monday, 23 January 2012
Pub Odyssey 54
Thursday 19 January: TOWNSHEND ARMS, HERTFORD HEATH (Chris Haden, Mike Horsman,Chris Parkinson, David Room, Steve Stott, Andrew Swift, John Westwood)
COMMENT: Back in England for No 54, nice pub, nice meal (not cheap) and nice pub dog about the size of a donkey who got really interested in Chris P's dog Sally. This is taking the older woman syndrome to ridiculous lengths since Sally is, I reckon, easily old enough to be his grandmother. However, it didn't come to anything with all the chaperones around eating and drinking.
The Townshend Arms, planted across the line of the Roman road called Ermine Street, was called the Green Man till 1823 when it adapted the name and arms of Viscounts Townshend, the 18th and 19th century owners of Balls Park. This family produced several figures notable in English history particularly Charles, second Viscount Townshend (1674-1738) who was an important and unusually honest and uncorrupt statesman who also rejoiced in the nickname "Turnip Townshend". This was not because he was dense or unsuccessful (he wasn't) but because, apart from being a leading political figure, he was also an agricultural improver who was responsible for dramatic improvements in productivity due to the use of turnips, clover, etc and a "fallow field" system. However, the other best known Townshend, General Sir Charles Townshend (1861-1924) really was a turnip, one of the worst and least successful generals of the First World War (and you needed to be really bad to achieve this distinction) losing a whole army to the Turks.
COMMENT: Back in England for No 54, nice pub, nice meal (not cheap) and nice pub dog about the size of a donkey who got really interested in Chris P's dog Sally. This is taking the older woman syndrome to ridiculous lengths since Sally is, I reckon, easily old enough to be his grandmother. However, it didn't come to anything with all the chaperones around eating and drinking.
The Townshend Arms, planted across the line of the Roman road called Ermine Street, was called the Green Man till 1823 when it adapted the name and arms of Viscounts Townshend, the 18th and 19th century owners of Balls Park. This family produced several figures notable in English history particularly Charles, second Viscount Townshend (1674-1738) who was an important and unusually honest and uncorrupt statesman who also rejoiced in the nickname "Turnip Townshend". This was not because he was dense or unsuccessful (he wasn't) but because, apart from being a leading political figure, he was also an agricultural improver who was responsible for dramatic improvements in productivity due to the use of turnips, clover, etc and a "fallow field" system. However, the other best known Townshend, General Sir Charles Townshend (1861-1924) really was a turnip, one of the worst and least successful generals of the First World War (and you needed to be really bad to achieve this distinction) losing a whole army to the Turks.
Pub Odyssey 53
Thursday 12 January: THE WRESTLERS, HATFIELD (Chris Haden, Chris Parkinson, Elvis Pile, Andrew Swift, John Westwood)
COMMENT: I missed this one, being in the Canary Islands, but those who turned up seemed very happy with the pub. That's good, because a recent review in the "beer in the evening" site might have given food for thought. The commentator stated "seems drug-free which is rare in south Hatfield". That's what I call damning with faint praise!
However, even faint praise might have been in short supply in the eighteenth century when the pub was probably founded (it might be older but the first known mention is 1735). It was about as basic as its possible for even a beerhouse to be, having no cellars; the beer was stored in an outhouse covered with earth. By 1836 it had gone up in the world, having stabling for 12 horses.
The name, the Wrestlers, is a bit unusual (though there are pubs with this name in London and Cambridge apparently) but relates to a sport popular in Britain since the Middle Ages. John Taylor, the water poet (also poor speller) offered the following thought
"Wrastling is a Manly exercise
A Game Olympick, both for Praise and Prize
But hee that is most Skilfull, Strong or Tall
And wrastles with the wine,
shall surely Fall"
COMMENT: I missed this one, being in the Canary Islands, but those who turned up seemed very happy with the pub. That's good, because a recent review in the "beer in the evening" site might have given food for thought. The commentator stated "seems drug-free which is rare in south Hatfield". That's what I call damning with faint praise!
However, even faint praise might have been in short supply in the eighteenth century when the pub was probably founded (it might be older but the first known mention is 1735). It was about as basic as its possible for even a beerhouse to be, having no cellars; the beer was stored in an outhouse covered with earth. By 1836 it had gone up in the world, having stabling for 12 horses.
The name, the Wrestlers, is a bit unusual (though there are pubs with this name in London and Cambridge apparently) but relates to a sport popular in Britain since the Middle Ages. John Taylor, the water poet (also poor speller) offered the following thought
"Wrastling is a Manly exercise
A Game Olympick, both for Praise and Prize
But hee that is most Skilfull, Strong or Tall
And wrastles with the wine,
shall surely Fall"
Pub Odyssey 52
Friday 6 January 2012: THE PRINCE OF WALES, HERTINGFORDBURY (Chris Haden, Mike Horsman, Gerry Murphy, Elvis Pile, David Room, Roger Toms, John Westwood)
COMMENT: I'm writing this one so long after the event that I'm having trouble remembering much about it except the sight of John Westwood, complete with cap and rucksack, jauntily striding up the hill to the Prince of Wales faster than I could cycle up it on my bike. The Prince of Wales, first pub of 2012, has a different name but obviously relates to the same personage as the last pub of 2011 (the Plume of Feathers, Pub Odyssey 51, is an emblem of the Prince of Wales). The Hertingfordbury Prince of Wales isn't a particularly old pub, coming into existence sometime between 1852 and 1890. In this it contrasts both with the Plume (probably from 1596) and the other Hertingfordbury inn, the White Horse which under various names and on various sites goes back to 1643.
I mentioned in the entry on the White Horse (Pub Odyssey 49) a distinguished inhabitant of the Hertingfordbury graveyard, the last woman sentenced to death for witchcraft in England. Another graveyard inhabitant might be more fun, the great eighteenth-century brewer Ben Truman (1700-1780) whose image was used on beer labels and advertising till the 1970s, presenting him as a jolly fat man with a peg leg. There's no such thing as bad publicity. The 33rd President of the United States, Harry Truman (1884-1972) between 1945 and 1953 maybe the most powerful man in the world, was proud to claim he was a descendant of the great English beer baron (though maybe he wasn't really)..
COMMENT: I'm writing this one so long after the event that I'm having trouble remembering much about it except the sight of John Westwood, complete with cap and rucksack, jauntily striding up the hill to the Prince of Wales faster than I could cycle up it on my bike. The Prince of Wales, first pub of 2012, has a different name but obviously relates to the same personage as the last pub of 2011 (the Plume of Feathers, Pub Odyssey 51, is an emblem of the Prince of Wales). The Hertingfordbury Prince of Wales isn't a particularly old pub, coming into existence sometime between 1852 and 1890. In this it contrasts both with the Plume (probably from 1596) and the other Hertingfordbury inn, the White Horse which under various names and on various sites goes back to 1643.
I mentioned in the entry on the White Horse (Pub Odyssey 49) a distinguished inhabitant of the Hertingfordbury graveyard, the last woman sentenced to death for witchcraft in England. Another graveyard inhabitant might be more fun, the great eighteenth-century brewer Ben Truman (1700-1780) whose image was used on beer labels and advertising till the 1970s, presenting him as a jolly fat man with a peg leg. There's no such thing as bad publicity. The 33rd President of the United States, Harry Truman (1884-1972) between 1945 and 1953 maybe the most powerful man in the world, was proud to claim he was a descendant of the great English beer baron (though maybe he wasn't really)..
Monday, 2 January 2012
Pub Odyssey 51
Wednesday 28 December: THE PLUME OF FEATHERS, TEWIN (Chris Haden, Mike Horsman, Gerry Murphy, Elvis Pile, Bob Polydorou, David Room, Steve Stott, John Westwood)
COMMENT: Last pub of the year, in our local, and only one week missed all year on the Odyssey which is pretty good in my opinion. In the summer months we may have been down to three attenders, or even only two on one occasion, but our grit and resolution saw us through. Apart from being the last meeting of 2011, Pub Odyssey 51 had another distinction, for the first time a female person turned up- Anne picking up Mike to take him to Bury St Edmunds, actually to another pub. Its a hard life when you're retired.
The Plume of Feathers is an ancient pub which celebrated its 400th anniversary in 1996. It isn't quite certain that this was accurate; the Plume probably, but not certainly, was the one alehouse "allowed" to Tewin by the county justices in 1596. The building appears to have seventeenth century elements. In 1712 it was the Crown and Feathers, with two cottages attached, but by 40 years later it had adopted its present sign. After some troubled times and changes of ownership it has settled down in the last few years to be as pleasant and apparently as successful as any of the 51 pubs we have visited this year. Stability of management has in my opinion a lot to do with this- Nigel and Gary have been there a long time now.
The Plume of Feathers is yet another royal emblem (like the Rose and Crown, the White Hart, the Red Lion, the Blue Lion, the Golden Lion, the White Boar, etc etc.). The Plume of Feathers is a reference to the Prince of Wales, originally to the plume of three ostrich feathers worn by Edward, the Black Prince (1330-1376) an exceptional military leader who had many victories over the French in the Hundred Years War but who became the first Prince of Wales not to succeed to the throne when he died a year before his father, King Edward III.
COMMENT: Last pub of the year, in our local, and only one week missed all year on the Odyssey which is pretty good in my opinion. In the summer months we may have been down to three attenders, or even only two on one occasion, but our grit and resolution saw us through. Apart from being the last meeting of 2011, Pub Odyssey 51 had another distinction, for the first time a female person turned up- Anne picking up Mike to take him to Bury St Edmunds, actually to another pub. Its a hard life when you're retired.
The Plume of Feathers is an ancient pub which celebrated its 400th anniversary in 1996. It isn't quite certain that this was accurate; the Plume probably, but not certainly, was the one alehouse "allowed" to Tewin by the county justices in 1596. The building appears to have seventeenth century elements. In 1712 it was the Crown and Feathers, with two cottages attached, but by 40 years later it had adopted its present sign. After some troubled times and changes of ownership it has settled down in the last few years to be as pleasant and apparently as successful as any of the 51 pubs we have visited this year. Stability of management has in my opinion a lot to do with this- Nigel and Gary have been there a long time now.
The Plume of Feathers is yet another royal emblem (like the Rose and Crown, the White Hart, the Red Lion, the Blue Lion, the Golden Lion, the White Boar, etc etc.). The Plume of Feathers is a reference to the Prince of Wales, originally to the plume of three ostrich feathers worn by Edward, the Black Prince (1330-1376) an exceptional military leader who had many victories over the French in the Hundred Years War but who became the first Prince of Wales not to succeed to the throne when he died a year before his father, King Edward III.
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