Old Country Inns of England

re many claimants. The title-deeds of the Saracen's Head at Newark refer back to 1341. Local antiquaries cite documen

omfort and excellence of the Fountain at Canterbury, when he lodged there in 1299, on the occasion of the marriage of King Edward I to Margaret of France. Nay, the legend runs that within its walls the four murderers of St. Thomas arranged the last details of their plot in 1170, a

rnment and trade had in consequence begun to expand, there was little occasion for inns. England under the Norman kings was a purely agricultural country with scattered villages where dependent tillers of the soil grouped their clay-walled thatched hovels a

s remedy at law was precarious at best. Such a band, if sufficiently numerous, would even go so far as to attack the King's officers sent in pursuit of them. The journey might at any time be brought to an abrupt conclusion because the travellers' horses and carts were forcibly commandeered by the purveyor to the King or some great noble. The roads t

ming clay for the repair of his mill. Accordingly his servants dug a great pit in the middle of the road, ten feet wide and eight feet deep, and so left it to become filled with water from the winter rains. A glover from Leig

dergo a very searching examination to account for his presence in the neighbourhood. Most of the inhabitants were forbidden to leave the demesne without the consent of their lord. Not that this was a great hardship; the idea of a journey

main street near the church. Here were held the manor courts, view of frank pledge, assize of bread and ale and other quaint customs, some of which have co

rarely called for that it was willingly afforded, just as it is at an Australian homestead in the backwoods. One more sleeping place on the rushes in the hall, another seat at the common table-above or below the salt according to the ho

t the manor-house by a steward who afterwards was replaced by a regular innkeeper as tenant. Throughout these changes the family crest or arms remained on the front of the building. Or sometimes the manor-house was turned to other uses and an inn was built close by, and the coat of arms hung over the door in order to induce travellers to transfer their custom thither. Such is the origin of the official inn throughout feu

oned on account of the heavy tax on armorial bearings. But it is not easy to trace their connection with the manor-house. Manors have been alienated over and over again; with each change the si

ere is an old inn, far away from the great roads which no vandal has yet ventured to rebuild. The older portion dates from about 1430, and no doubt stands on the site of the original manor-house of the De Bohuns. It is an excellent example of an early timber-framed house of the better class, with massive old oak ceilings, ingle-nooks and "down" fires.

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ned "marvellously, nay rather excessively," by Sir Anthony Browne, first Viscount Montagu, at Cowdray, in 1591. A melancholy interest attaches to the sign of the Spread Eagle. It was the crest of the Mo

t picture of the Spread Eagle (once also an inn, now a cosy temperance hotel)

esent building is not much more than two centuries old, a fine substantial example of red-brick domestic architecture in the reign of good Queen Anne. An oak-panelled room is shown to visitors as that in which Peter the Great Czar of Russia slept during his visit to England. The landlord's bill on this occasion is preserved as a curiosity in the Bodleian library. The items of the bill are as follows: Breakfast-half a she

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btain any authentic information about its history, and it may be only a coincidence that the r

sex (though only since the days of Sir Roger de Coverley) and has become the Chambermaid. In most old manor-houses provisions, wine and ale were served from a special department close to the porch and called the "bower," from Norse Bür, meaning buttery. Frequenters of a modern inn resort for the same purpose to the "bar." Lastly, the presiding genius in every hotel or tavern, no m

t our social differences; where millionaire and pauper, nobleman and navvy can hob-nob together on equal ground if they care to do so. The public-house opens its doors to every well-behaved citizen without distinction of persons. It is the abiding witness to the common brotherhood of man. For the public-house is not merely an institution to provide lodging an