Countryman's Diary
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | |
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Manor houses – welcoming waifs and strays long before the pubs
IHAVE come across an interesting
theory that some of
our country inns might have
developed from ancient
manor houses. An alternative is
that our inns were initiated,
probably from ordinary houses
or farms, when people began to
travel extensively from their own
part of England and so required
food and accommodation during
their journey.
The practice of welcoming
guests is of very ancient origin,
being regularly featured both the
Old and New Testaments. In
many cases, this service was later
provided by the monasteries,
particularly those of Benedictine
monks whose rule included, and
still includes, the welfare, nourishment
and accommodation of
visitors and guests.
So far as the theory about manor
houses is concerned, it appears
that many early manors provided
a wide-ranging service to the
people, not just in this country
but across Europe. In some senses,
they performed the duties of
the town halls that appeared
later in our history because they
served as administrative centres
for the community.
Among their many roles, the occupants
of manors enforced the
law, helped the jobless and infirm,
gave shelter to travellers,
protected the weak and served
as a community centre by hosting
meetings, parties and festivals.
There were even times
when religious services were
held in manor houses.
It is not surprising, therefore,
that a French town hall is known
as an Hotel de Ville and a hospital
was called an Hotel-Dieu,
each of which carried out public
and/or welfare functions.
The multi-purpose role of
manors might also have links
with the villas of Roman times,
but there is little doubt that, over
the centuries, the owners of our
manors were expected to be
leaders of the community while
fulfilling a very public and useful
role through the use of their
premises.
Although some of those early
manors might have developed
into town halls and offices, others
have now completed the circle
by becoming rather posh
inns or hotels. Almost from the
start, these were quite distinct
from the more lowly places that
might have been visited by poor
travellers, pilgrims and local
people.
One oddity, which is perhaps a
reminder of former manorial
times, is that the person in
charge of even the most lowly of
inns was called the landlord.
This is an echo of past times, because
the person who owned or
administered the land of manors
and estates was also known as
the landlord.
Nowadays, we know, quite instinctively,
the difference between an hotel, a boarding
house and an inn but in the past,
such distinctions were not very
clear. Less than a century ago,
there was no legal definition of
an hotel and, any description
tended to include boarding
houses and inns.
However, some inns did not include
sleeping accommodation
for guests, while some hotels did
not sell intoxicating liquor. While
there were many similarities between
such establishments,
there were also many differences.
At one stage, an inn was described
as"a house where a traveller
is furnished with everything
he has need for upon his way"
but that definition could include
either a hotel or a boarding
house. Some 80 years ago, Mr
Henry Parr Maskell, author of
The Taverns of Old England,
(Philip Allan and Co, 1927) produced
this distinction - "The
gentry drive up to the Royal Victoria
Hotel on West Green, commercial
folk go to the Bell Inn on
the High Street, and they do have
beds at the Old Sun on the way
to the river, but that's only an
inn."
There was no doubt that the hotels
of the past, while perhaps
accommodating the wealthiest
members of society, also provided
a useful public service in providing
rooms for meetings, conferences,
fairs, wedding parties
and so forth (much as the old
manor houses used to do) but
some of our local village inns are
now emulating their example.
One report recently suggested
that every day in England, four
village inns are closing their
doors forever, unable to survive
in the face of severe competition.
That comes from high taxation,
supermarkets selling cheap
liquor and the inception of the
smoking ban.
On the other hand, enterprising
owners of village inns are expanding
their facilities with
some now containing village
shops and post offices, while offering
rooms for a variety of
other purposes such as meetings
for clubs and societies. One has
installed a room to be used by
those without computers, offering
broadband and free access to
the internet, while also supplying
coffee and refreshments,
along with daily newspapers.
One wonders whether the modern
village inns are now taking
over the former role of manor
houses in becoming the necessary
focal point of the community.
THERE used to be some humorous
attempts to persuade
people to enter inns.
One sign used to read: "In this
house is sold the best beer - a
penny a pint", while perhaps the
best known was "Free beer here
tomorrow." When people entered
the following day for their
free drinks, the landlord would
remind them it was free tomorrow,
not that day.
One that appeared all over England
in various different forms
said, Drink here, the best beare.'
People would pop into that inn
to point out the wrong spelling
but, of course, that was deliberate.
The landlord reckoned that
half his custom came from people
telling him he couldn't spell
properly. A similar sign can
sometimes be found in modern
times, announcing a Beare Garden.'
One inn called The Halfpenny
House, said to be near Richmond,
owed its name to the toll
road which passed by. Travellers
on that road were allowed to
drop the halfpenny toll fee into a
box provided at the inn - a useful
device for attracting customers.
Another displayed a wonderful
sign that read "Praise God for all
brandy, rum, whisky and other
spirituous liquors".
Bad payers were also noted in
such verses, one reading: "As
trusting of late has been my sorrow,
pay me today and I'll trust
you tomorrow."
Stories of our village inns are stories
of our society, and we should
all do our utmost to ensure these
valuable centres of our communities
do not fade away.
AS I opened the blind in our
kitchen this morning, I was
rewarded by a bright and
sunny day, but in view was a
massive bullfinch making a feast
of some buds of my neighbour's
blossoming cherry tree. The
plump red breast of this handsome
bird was strikingly visible
as he went about his destructive
work.
That dumpy red waistcoat with a
black cap, black and white wings
and a distinctive white rump
make the bullfinch so easily
recognisable, but the damage
caused by bullfinches to fruit
trees and flowering shrubs is
often so great as to make this
bird an enemy of horticulturists.
One of the largest and most
colourful of the finch family, the
bullfinch can be found throughout
Britain all the year round but
sadly, its appetite for new buds
makes it unwelcome in many
areas.
IHAVE received a note to say
Catterick Village Local History
Group is staging an exhibition
in the Social Club at Catterick
High Street tomorrow from 1pm
until 4pm. Admission is free and
the exhibition will feature haunted
inns, links with Nelson,
Roman Stones, Catterick Camp
railway, the Tricentenary House,
poetry and publishing and much
more. If you're interested in anything
Catterick, that's the place
to be.
12:03pm Friday 18th April 2008
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