OLD COUNTRY INNS OF ENGLAND _Uniform with this volume_ INNS AND TAVERNS OF OLD LONDON Setting forth the historical and literary associations of those ancient hostelries, together with an account of the most notable coffee-houses, clubs, and pleasure gardens of the British metropolis. By HENRY C. SHELLEY With coloured frontispiece, and 48 other illustrations L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. [Illustration: The Chequers, Loose] Old Country Inns of England BY HENRY P. MASKELL AND EDWARD W. GREGORY _With Illustrations by_ THE AUTHORS BOSTON L. C. PAGE & COMPANY MDCCCCXI PREFACE “Why do your guide books tell us about nothing but Churches and Manor Houses?” Such was the not altogether unjustifiable complaint of an American friend whose motor car was undergoing repairs. He was stranded in a sleepy old market town of winding streets, overhanging structures and oddly set gables, where every stone and carved beam seemed only waiting an interpreter to unfold its story. In the following pages we have attempted a classification and description of the inns, which not only sheltered our forefathers when on their journeys, but served as their usual places for meeting and recreation. The subject is by no means exhausted. All over England there are hundreds of other old inns quite as interesting as those which find mention, and it is hoped that our work may prove for many tourists the introduction to a most fascinating study. Thoughtful men, including earnest Churchmen such as the Bishop of Birmingham and the Rev. H. R. Gamble, are asking the question whether the old inns should be allowed to disappear. The public house as a national institution has still its purposes to fulfil, and a few suggestions have therefore been included with a view of showing how it might easily be adapted to modern social needs. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. MANORIAL INNS 1 II. MONASTIC INNS 14 III. THE HOSPICES 29 IV. THE RISE OF THE TOWNS 41 V. THE CRAFT GUILDS AND TRADERS’ INNS 56 VI. CHURCH INNS AND CHURCH ALES 67 VII. COACHING INNS 81 VIII. WAYSIDE INNS AND ALEHOUSES 96 IX. HISTORIC SIGNS AND HISTORIC INNS 112 X. SPORTS AND PASTIMES 135 XI. THE INNS OF LITERATURE AND ART 148 XII. FANCIFUL SIGNS AND CURIOUS SIGNBOARDS 160 XIII. HAUNTED INNS 181 XIV. OLD INNS AND THEIR ARCHITECTURE 195