Heathfield & District

Historical Inns of Sussex

A group exploring all the wonderful old pubs and inns in our area.

We meet once a month, on the last Friday. At the lunch, a member of the group will read out what they have discovered about the history of the inn

The intention is that members of the group will take turns organising the next meeting. Each member will only need to do one a year, if that! Please consider arranging a lunch to keep this great group going. It's really not that difficult and people will help if you aren't confident about doing it by yourself.

Pease contact the person arranging the relevant months lunch directly to add your name to the list.

The outings we have planned for 2024 are:

22nd March TBA Susanne Loggie and Aldythe Russell NB the last Friday is Good Friday, so this date is a week earlier, 07980 313296. Aldythe Russell, 01435 863494

26th April TBA Sheila Goldsmith, 07967 147358. Sue Felgar, 01435 865280

31st May TBA Lin Plant, 07956 130953. Carolyn Turner, 0752 169 8254

28th June White Hart, Netherfield, Dennis Pederick, 01435 862500. Jan Pederick

26th July TBA

30th August TBA

27th September TBA

25th October The Peacock Inn, Piltdown, Rona Phillips and Val Hodgson

29th November TBA

December - we need to decide if we are having a lunch in December

Contact Lesley Negus by email or on 01435 865626, for anything else about this group

Ancient Inns / Pubs
“Inns, hotels, public-houses of all kinds, have a very ancient lineage”.
Does anyone know when they first began ??
Research indicates and historians believe that around the Roman Conquest, early Britons were not brewing large quantities of wine or beer, or indeed needed hotel type accommodation. These Romans were already used to using inns so when they built their roads across Britain, hostels and drinking-places sprang up alongside.There was the bibulium and the diversoria (inns), together with the postinghouses, known as mansiones (rooms).

The bibulium, was the real ale-house or tavern, where the people boozed to their hearts’ content, these displayed a “bush” sign, in honour of Bacchus - this was garland of flowers, or ivy, or maybe a wreath of vine-leaves wrapped
around a hoop at the end of a projecting pole. This advert of good drink obviously long outlasted Roman times and eventually became called the “alestake” of Anglo-Saxon and mediæval times.

In London, the competition amongst tavern owners with ale-stake signs became so big that they were a serious problem and dangerous. In 1375 a law was passed that all ale-stakes projecting over the King’s highway by “more than seven feet in length …” were fined or compelled to remove them.

During the reign of Edward the Third (1327 to 1377), mention is made of a place called “George-in-the-Hoop” - which was probably a picture or representation of St. George. And there were inns in the time of Henry the Sixth (1422 to 1471) by the name of the “Cock-in-the-Hoop”.

The “ale-stake” is also noted in Chaucer’s tales (first published in 1476), whose “Pardoner” could not commence until he’d quenched his thirst. And the tale begins with three young men drinking, gambling and blaspheming in a tavern, which doesn’t have a happy ending…. !!
Richard Randell
Source: Extracted and summarised from The Project Gutenberg EBook : “The Old Inns of
Old England, Volume I (of 2) A Picturesque Account of the Ancient and Storied Hostelries of Our Own Country.” by Charles G. Harper - see www.gutenberg.org

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More Group Pages
Antiques and Collectables Art and Painting
Art Appreciation Bird Watching
Book Club - Chapter 1 Book Club - Chapter 2
Book Club Chapter 3 Coffee Mornings
Cookalong Cooking up a Storm
Craft and Natter Crafting4Fun
Creative Writing 4 Fun Exploring London on Foot
French Garden Visits
Gardening Gardening4Fun
Historical Inns of Sussex History
Just Walking Mah Jong
Mah Jong - Begin/Improve/returners Photography
Poetry Rummikub
Rummikub Two Spanish Conversation
The Play Readers Act One Theatre & Live Music
Walking Writing for Pleasure