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Bendigo / The Hermitage
The Hermitage is found by Sneinton Hermitage and obviously takes its
name from the area in which it is sited. The
house took this name on reopening in 1999 after spending a period
of time dormant. The pub聮s original name remembered one of Nottingham聮s
greatest sportsmen and characters, Bendigo. His statue still stands
on the corner of the pub in suitably pugilistic stance. William
Abendigo Thompson was born the last of 21 children in New Yard (now
Trinity Walk). He came into this world on 11th October 1811 one of
triplets. His fellow triplets were given the names Shadrach and Meshack.
His father died when he was 15 and after a stay in
the Nottingham Workhouse, he chiselled a living selling oysters around
Nottingham聮s streets. He was extremely fit and excelled at running,
somersaulting, stone throwing, cricket, cock-fighting, badger baiting
and fishing but it was for boxing he gained fame. He took up prize
fighting at the age of 21. His first famous fight was against the
considerable talents of Ben Caunt, a miner from Hucknall on 21st July
1835. He avoided all heavy blows by quick footwork and generally annoyed
both Ben and the spectators with his antics and constant laughter.
Bendigo won in the 23rd round. That bout was short when compared with
the 93rd round victory over William Looney at Chapel en le Frith.
A shorter fight occurred when Bendigo took on Deaf
Burke, the Champion of England. Deaf head-butted our hero twice in
the tenth round and the fight and championship were gifted to Bendigo.
He fought on until his fortieth year and retired to take up the unofficial
position of boxing coach at Oxford University. He was unsuited to
life amongst the scholars and soon made his way back to Nottingham.
He fell in with a collection of ne聮er-do-wells
and drunkards (Nottingham Forest supporters?) and had 28 holidays
in Nottingham聮s House of Correction for being drunk and disorderly.
Nevertheless, he managed to save three people from drowning in the
River Trent when he was 59. One day in 1872
Bendigo dropped into the Mechanics Institute and his life was changed.
He listened to the preaching of the converted collier Richard Weaver
and was invited onto the stage. He was convinced of the error of his
ways and joined the Edenezer Lodge of Templars. He took up preaching
and when his old cronies interrupted him, he would either use his
quick wit or set about them with his fists. Bendigo
died on 23rd August 1880 seven weeks after falling down the stairs
of his home in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. His grave is marked by a
stone in the Bath Street Garden (a former burial ground in Nottingham)
where it is the only memorial not to have been moved.
Bunkers Hill Inn
Recycling is just not reserved for tins, glass and toilet paper but
also can be used for pub names. One of Nottingham聮s
newest pubs has been given a name from the past and with good reason.
When workmen were undertaking the conversion on the former Barclays
Bank at Hockley into a public house (a commendable action, all banks
should be converted into pubs), they found some two hundred tankards
with the name 聭Bunker's Hill聮 etched on them. To commemorate
this enjoyable find the new pub was named the Bunker's Hill Inn with
some of the booty displayed. But where was the original house and
from where did it get its unique name? Bunker's
Hill was a small lane running parallel to and on the north side of
the then Parliament Row (now part of Lower Parliament Street). Between
the two roads was a narrow block of property, which included the Bunker's
Hill public house. Now, whether the lane gave its name to the pub
or vice versa I do not know but the earliest record of the pub, in
1799, gives its address as Parliament Row. By 1834 it has become 25
Bunker's Hill only to be re-addressed as 23 Parliament Street by 1895.
The Bunker's Hill was one of the many public houses to disappear with
the building of the sadly demolished Nottingham Victoria Station.
If the street got its name first we must consider a couple of points.
Those of you who know the topography of the land between Milton Street
and Glasshouse Street will agree there are not many hills. So the
lane 'Bunker's Hill' does not appear to have been named after a feature
of landscape and anyway, who was Bunker? Bunker Hill was a battle
during the siege of Boston in the American War of Independence. The
British realised the hill was strategically useful and decided to
move onto it.
They did not know the American rebels also had had this idea, got
there first and built a redoubt on it (the bunker of Bunker Hill fame).
The 17th June 1775 saw the Redcoats storm the redoubt and after three
attempts it fell into British hands but with dreadful cost; one thousand
casualties to the British and four hundred and fifty on the American
side. There has been a long tradition of naming pubs after British
successes in war so this might explain Bunker聮s Hill but somewhere
along the line Bunker has received the apostrophe S. I no longer live
in Nottingham so research can give me difficulties therefore I am,
as ever, in debt to the Nottingham historian and writer Terence White
for his help and advice.
Forest Folk
For far too long I have wandered the streets of the city telling the
stories behind some of the more interesting public house names so
it is about time I went into the county. There are many fascinating
names there, some having local derivations and there is none better
then the Forest Folk at Blidworth to use as a starting point. The
Forest Folk is a truly local name. It is the title of the book by
James Prior Kirk which he supposedly composed whilst strolling around
the Blidworth area. This seems to have a twee name giving the idea
it is about those insufferable things, the pixies (characters with
who some members of the Campaign for Rear Ale spend their time by
the looks of them) but it is not a competitor to The Hobbit (a pub
at Monyash by the way). This book deals with Nottinghamshire in the
early nineteenth century when those good men the Luddites were going
about their business. Blidworth and the surrounding areas are the
scenes of many of the events and the Nottinghamshire dialect is greatly
used (what more than in David Herbert聮s stories?). To this day
many of the locations still exist especially the two farms of the
contrasting families: the Skrenes of Haywood Oaks and the Rideouts
of Sykebrack Farm at Blidworth Bottoms. The house, itself, is of interest.
Opened in 1926 it is built on pillars to try to stop it disappearing
underground with mining subsidence. It has a rather splendid widow
to the memory of James with the motto 聭Strong as an oak聮
on it. Of course and would normally give an incredibly detailed pen
picture of Mr Kirk but this time I cannot. I have visited many of
my normal sources of information but of James there is nothing. All
I can tell you is he is dead 聳 well I hope he is as he is buried
in Bingham Cemetery, a place where he spent much of his life (the
village not the cemetery). Oh yes, and he was a lifelong teetotaller.
He therefore joins the ranks of ale abstainees who have pubs named
for them or their actions. We remember Samuel Morley聮s in Nottingham
and Ebenzeer聮s in Letchworth, Hertfordshire was named after the
originator of the garden city schemes, Ebeneezer Howard. I wonder
how miserable these people were. If anyone knows of any other pubs
with similar connections with those who abhor alcohol I will be interested.
Marquis of Granby
Of the many noblemen remembered on pub signs the most popular probably
would be the Marquis of Granby. In Nottingham the name appears as
a shortened version of just the Granby but the full Marquis of Granby
can be found a short distance from the city in the village of Hoveringham.
So why did he gain so much popularity? Granby is a local name to Nottingham;
the village of Granby is just south of the A52 between Bingham and
Bottesford, situated in the Vale of Belvior where the Duke of Rutland
has his castle. It is the village which gave its name for the title
used by the Duke聮s oldest son and, of course, it has an inn called
the Marquis of Granby. But being a local name does not explain why
the Marquis of Granby is found all over the country. The pub name
actually remembers John Manners (1721 - 1770) who, as the Marquis
of Granby, was the Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards by
1758 and in 1766 he became the Commander in Chief of the British Army.
He was well known for his courage and, unlike some chaps, he led his
men from the front. So much so that at the Battle of Warburg his leadership
was so vigorous he lost his hat and wig when leading a charge against
our old friends the French. Although undoubtedly a hero and thus deserving
of memorial signs there is even a better reason for his public house
appearances. He was a friend of his men and when they left the army,
the Marquis would his hand in his own pocket to give the lands a small
pension. Many of them started taverns with the money and named their
houses in honour of their benefactor. N.B. some pubs use the alternative
spelling of the Marquess of Granby.
Old General
Sitting above the porch of a large public house on Radford Road is
a statue of an old gentleman in Regency dress. The house is called
the Old General and obviously the statue is the man himself but who
was he? Surprisingly he wasn't a military man but a resident of St
Peter聮s Poor House called Benjamin Mayo. He was born in 1779
and had the interesting occupation as a seller of ballads, broadsheets
and chapbooks (books for children). However, when viewing his house,
it's clear this didn't make him one of Nottingham聮s millionaires.
His patch was the Great Market Place and like most frequenters of
(what is now known as) the Old Market Square he was quite a character.
He had a self-made task to group together Nottingham聮s band of
truant schoolboys. This body checked the Borough聮s (Nottingham
was not yet a city) streets for obstructions and when such obstructions
were found, he would order his lads to remove them. This was a great
day for the schoolboys and they demanded, and usually got, a day聮s
holiday for this event. Those who were kept in and were not brave
enough to play truant were liberated by the arrival of Benjamin and
the rest of his army. Benjamin would talk with the schoolmasters and
when the masters saw the extremely large numbers of lads armed with
mud, stones and knotted rope, they could quite easily see the need
for a day聮s rest. With the happy cries of "Out, out, out",
the liberated would join their fellows and march off behind Benjamin
to terrorise Nottingham聮s obstructers. With such a large army
of rag-bags, Benjamin was a well known sight in Nottingham and received
the nickname of the Old General. The Radford Road house remembers
him and thus shows the importance of local history in pub names and,
conversely, the significance of pub names to remind us of local history.
Benjamin聮s statue is painted white but when the house offered
young ladies removing their clothing as one of its delights, Benjamin
was seen with red cheeks and so, when Yuletide is upon us, the statue
is dressed in a Father Christmas cloak.
The Peveril
Public house names play an important role in recording local history,
and none more so than the Peveril. The original house was at the corner
of Gordon Road and Pym Street and was cleared away in February 1974
as part of the St Ann's redevelopment. Unlike now, old pub names were
considered a benefit and a new pub on Beacon Hill Rise named the Peveril
was opened in December 1975 to carry on the tradition. But where does
the name come from? The pub is named after
William Peveril who, some say, was the son of King William I.
William Peveril was given the task of building the first Nottingham
Castle in 1068. This castle was a wooden affair sited on the Castle
Rock (what a strange coincidence!). It was strategically useful as
it controlled an important crossing point of the Trent at the present
Trent Bridge. Don聮t forget the area between the Castle and the
Trent was then only meadow land forming the floodplain (this is even
before Jimmy Sirrell took over the Magpies). The
Peveril connection does not end there. William聮s (probable) grandson,
also named William, held the castle a little later. As an important
landowner and castle custodian the younger William got himself involved
in one of England聮s many civil wars. This one was between King
Stephen and the Empress Matilda. William came out on Stephen聮s
side, which was a little unfortunate as Matilda聮s forces at Lincoln
captured him in 1141. Matilda gave Nottingham Castle to one of her
coterie, William Paganel (there seems to be a lot of Williams knocking
around in our history). The following year, William Peveril won back
his castle whilst the hapless William Paganel was away and promptly
threw all of Matilda聮s supporters out of Nottingham. This was
a good move, as Stephen won the war. Things
then became quiet for William Peveril but in 1153 he was implicated
in the death of Ranulf, Earl of Chester. Some say he was the one who
administered the poison. In 1155 it appears King Henry II (Stephen
was dead by now, please keep up) was having a spot of trouble and
marched north. This worried William who ran back from Yorkshire (I
don聮t know what he was doing there) and hid in Lenton Abbey pretending
to be a monk. Henry heard of William聮s suspicious behaviour around
the death of Ranulf and arrived in Nottinghamshire to discuss this
with William. William felt it more prudent to move again and he did;
to where, no one knows. So as you see, a simple
pub name in the St Ann's District of Nottingham remembers an illustrious
family of Nottingham聮s early history. Many pub names have such
stories behind them, so present pub owners who change the names of
their houses on a whim do so with a disgraceful disregard to Nottingham聮s
history and traditions. There is a suitable
pub name in Folkingham, Lincolnshire for such philistines, the Whipping
Post.
Racehorses
On doing the research on the Filly & Firkin
(see ND issue 30) and the Golden Miller for North Herts. CAMRA I noticed
Nottingham is full of racehorses trotting about, minding their own
business. Well I hope they still are but we know what our friendly
pub owners can do to reasonable pub names. (Yes, I聮ve noticed
the Dog & Topper instead of the 17th/21st Lancers 聳 someone
will pay for that). The oldest is just outside the city at Daybrook
and is, as I write, the Old Spot. This house seems to be under a complete
rebuild as, I believe, a hotel. If the name survives it will remember
a horse owned by the Duke of Newcastle, that chap who counted amongst
his property the Nottingham Castle (fortification not pub). The horse
ran at Newmarket in 1698 and, it would seem, had many names all ending
in Spot. The public house was probably named to keep in with the local
big-wig but this tactic would have eventually failed as the Duke聮s
successor disagreed with the opinions of the good people of Nottingham
concerning the Reform Bill ending in the burning of the Castle in
1831. In those modern buildings of The Meadows a Victorian out-post
can be found. The Cremorne was a Derby winner of 1872 and was owned
by Captain Henry Saville of Rufford. I understand the horse is still
at Rufford in the animal cemetery. Another Nottingham Derby winner
is sited in Chilwell, this one is the Cadland, the winner of the 1828
race to which it added the 2,000 Guineas. This worthwhile investment
was owned by another local chap, the Duke of Rutland and trained by
Sir James Borlase Warren (who, I think was the father of Sir John
of Canning Circus). Apart from the suggestion above, are there any
other reasons for naming pubs after racehorses? Probably yes, a cleverly
invested amount of money could bring enough dividends to buy a pub
and why shouldn聮t the local landlord commemorate the cause of
his happiness? I have no proof of that legend but who knows? I still
would like to hear your stories behind pub names please, I have got
to keep this stuff going until the noble editor buys me a pint.
Red Lion
It is said the Red Lion is the most common public house name with
some 900 examples throughout the nation. In Nottingham alone there
are three Red Lion public houses. On Alfreton Road near Canning Circus,
at Cinderhill and at Bulwell not to mention the ones which lurk about
in the surrounding villages. So why is the
Red Lion so popular? It helps that it has more than one derivation
and both of these are heraldic. Heraldry plays a great part in pub
names and here it is crossed with other popular source names, patriotism
and loyalty. John of Gaunt was one of the most powerful men in fourteenth
century England. He was the fourth son of King Edward III and claimed
full power as Viceroy when his father became senile. John聮s heraldic
devise was a red lion. Pub owners have always realised the sense in
naming their house after officialdom showing their loyalty to their
bosses and so John聮s red lion was displayed outside many buildings.
The Red Lion received a further boost when James I acceded to the
throne of England. Being a Scot (remember, he was already King James
VI of Scotland) he felt the diplomatic need to order the display of
the red lion of Scotland in public places all over England to show
who was boss; obviously not a man to bear a historic grudge. This
would have convinced many a publican a red lion hanging outside his
pub was a good idea. Of course neither of these two derivations may
be behind your favourite Red Lion. It is a possibility that a local
landowner or dignitary may have had a red lion as part of his heraldic
arms and the pub remembers that. With the high instance of red lions,
more than one can appear in one place (as we have seen with Nottingham),
so landlords sometimes make little additions to the names of their
establishments with the hope the intending imbiber can find his/her
mates in the right Red Lion. Normally the addition of "old "
or "new" will suffice but there is a Lower Red Lion in St
Albans, Hertfordshire. Oddly the Upper Red Lion is in Herne, Kent
so we can safely say these two are not related (if they are, the people
of the South go on some big pub crawls). And Highgate, London has
the Red Lion & Sun. This is a portmanteau name and I think we
will discuss this some other time.
Sir John Borlase Warren
I recently read the 'Sir John Borlase Warren' is now known as the
'JB' or some similarly pitiful name. As it has been sometime since
I wandered through Canning Circus I do not know whether this is now
the pub's official name, though I think it is high time to regale
you with the nice little story behind this name. John was born on
2nd September 1753 the fourth son of another John Borlase Warren,
thus demonstrating a lack of imagination in the Warren family. John
the elder lived both at Stapleford, Nottingham, and Little Marlow,
Buckinghamshire, though I have no idea at which of these addresses
the younger John first saw life. John junior was destined for a career
in the Church but he always had a passion for the Sea - a little odd
for someone who lived in Nottingham. He joined the Royal Navy as an
able seaman on HMS Marlborough on 24th April 1771. He worked his way
through the ranks at speed and became greatly involved in the aftermath
of the French Revolution. After his leadership in the Battle of the
Glorious First of June 1794, in which the French fleet was soundly
defeated, he returned to Nottingham a true hero being cheered through
the streets on his way from Trent Bridge to the White Lion where he
had a few well earned pints. In 1802 he was sent to St. Petersburg
as the British Ambassador and later went on to be the Member of Parliament
for Nottingham for twelve years. As follows the tradition of naming
public houses after war heroes, the Canning Circus house received
its name on opening in around 1814 (although there was another 'Sir
John Warren' at Sion Hill in 1799). The Naval gentleman who appears
on the Happy Man聮s sign at Stapleford is Sir John. In this case
the pub name remembers John聮s love for the beautiful Caroline
Clavering. John was privileged to sit opposite Caroline at a dinner
table and instantly fell in love (I聮ve had the same experience
with a pint of Kimbo bitter). He expressed his feelings for her by
writing in French - rather ironic when you think what he was doing
to the French a little later. His words can be translated as "If
this heart is worthy of you and you deign to accept it, you will make
me the happiest of men" which, I am sure you will agree, is better
than you find in the present day Valentine聮s card. Caroline wrote
back in English "Then you shall be happy" and, indeed, he
was. Sir John died on 27th February 1822 and Lady Caroline followed
him in 1840 but not until after she had financed schools in both Stapleford
and Toton. The Warren Arms at Stapleford, not surprisingly, is named
for Sir John聮s family and Ilkeston and Loscoe also have pubs
named the 'Sir John Warren.'
Thurland Hall
The Thurland Hall is named for a long lost but once important building
in Nottingham. The original hall was sited directly across Thurland
Road from the present public house on land occupied by the National
Westminster Bank in that marvellous building designed by the eccentric
Nottingham architect, Watson Fothergill. It
was a large mansion owned (and may have been built by) Thomas Thurland
in the fifteenth century. Mr Thurland was an extremely rich wool stapler
who went on to be Mayor of Nottingham either nine or ten times. The
Hall outlived Thomas but kept up its status by being owned by various
important burgesses of Nottingham. In the early seventeenth century
King James I stayed as the guest of Sir John Holles at the Hall. With
its forty-seven rooms with fire places it was probably a damn sight
warmer than the King聮s own castle, sited on the other side of
the town, which by this time was rather dilapidated. In 1634 another
royal guest in the guise of Charles I dropped in and he later returned
in 1642 to make the Hall his base of operations when he partook in
the first action of the Civil War. He erected his standard on what
is now Standard Hill outside the castle seeking the support of all
loyal Nottinghamians (he didn聮t get it). By the late eighteenth
century the Hall was no longer a private residence and had become
a meeting house for Nottingham聮s bourgeoisie. It was occasionally
used by the landlord of the Blackamoor聮s Head (probably the inn
that was on the corner of Pelham Street and High Street) for special
parties. The date of the Hall聮s demise is unclear but some sources
suggest it survived until the site was cleared for the construction
of the bank. At least this important landmark of the past is now remembered
in the name of the public house.
Trip to Jerusalem
The Trip has an old and venerable history which, as can be seen by
the date on its outside wall, it claims goes back to 1189. It is difficult
to verify this date especially as there is photographic proof that
its wall once displayed 1199 as the pubs establishing date. However,
the Trip does claim to be the oldest inn in the world. There
are, of course, other claimants around England for that title but
as some cannot equal the date of Nottingham聮s second oldest pub,
the Salutation, of 1240, I will leave it to you to comment on the
truth. The one notable thing about 1189 is that it is the date of
King Richard I聮s accession to the throne and this is where the
legend begins. We are told the Trip to Jerusalem is so called because
the Crusaders, if not Lion-hearted Richard himself, dropped off there
to grab a quick pint of Kimberley Mild on the way to rid the Holyland
of the heathens. This may be so, although Richard spent little time
in England. In fact the word "trip" does not mean a journey
in this case. An old meaning for trip is a stop on a journey, like
being tripped up, so the inn聮s name means a stop or rest on the
way to Jerusalem. This would seem to give a greater credence for the
theory of imbibing carriers of the cross stopping here. Does history
actually bear this out? Well nearly. Early maps of Nottingham do not
show any buildings in the vicinity of the Trip聮s site but that
is no obstacle. It must be remembered people were living in the caves
of what is now the Castle Rock even before the Saxons populated the
present Lace Market. Therefore we can take it the Castle Rock聮s
caves were in use after the castle was built. I suggest the caves
were being used as the castle聮s brewhouse in the twelfth century.
Some people would point out it was very odd the castle聮s most
essential service was taking place outside its walls but there was
a steady supply of water from the River Lean at the bottom of the
rock. Perhaps further evidence can be found in the area聮s name
of Brewhouse Yard but, of course, this may be of a much later date
taking its derivation from the Trip and its now demolished neighbour,
the Gate Hangs Well. There is also some evidence the Trip has a former
name of the Pilgrim - someone else who would be making his/her way
to the Holyland. So who聮s to say the Crusaders did not stop,
or trip, on their way to Jerusalem?
Windmill Inn
Once at the corner of Forest Road and Alfreton Road there was a public
house by the name of the Windmill. Sadly it has lost that name and
has, via some pseudo-Irish name, become the Local. This is a shame
because although the Windmill is a fairly common name found all around
the country, this house had a good reason for its name. It remembered
the former occupiers of the land. Before Nottingham was allowed to
expand from its medieval straight-jacket of the town walls, Forest
Road (then Forest Side) was the site if no less than thirteen windmills
(no superstition here obviously) all ideally placed across the top
of the ridge to catch the wind. The last one was removed in 1885 and,
apart from the pub, there are still local reminders of them. The private
house at 87a Forest Road West has the name The Miller聮s House
after the miller of mill no. 6, Jack Johnson and mill no. 12聮s
site is marked in the Church Cemetery by the grave of William Oakland,
its last miller. When the mills were removed, some of them found homes
elsewhere. Mill no. 7 travelled south and after managing to demolish
the toll gatepost at Bingham, it arrived at Redmile across the border
in Leicestershire. Here it restarted its work and Redmile gained another
Windmill Inn to commemorate its existence. There are other like names
to be found in the County of Nottingham. Misson has the Windmill for
its magnificent but sadly lost tower mill and bakery. The Gotham example
shows cartoon versions of its landlord, his family, barmaid and, last
but certainly not least, cleaner on its sign. Along Forest Road from
the Windmill Inn is the Vernon Arms. This house also remembered the
mills at one when it was known as the Dusty Miller. The name was changed
which is sad as I know of no other Dusty Miller in Britain but the
Vernons were (and still are) a local family. By the way, the Golden
Miller at Longstone, Cambridgeshire has nothing to do with milling,
it was a race horse! Some pubs commemorate the names of mills. In
Hertfordshire聮s Stevenage Correy聮s Mill is near the site
of its namesake windmill and there is another such name in Luton,
Bedfordshire with the Biscot Mill but I prefer not to think of anything
in Luton. Back in the East Midlands there is a cuddly post mill just
outside Ilkeston (Derbyshire) and it has the name the Cat and Fiddle.
Why it has a pub-like name I have no idea but there is now a modernish
public house nearby with the same name but the mill was first. Again,
we see by renaming a pub for no apparent reason, another link to local
history is lost. When will pub owners realise sometimes they hold
the key to the past, a past which should not forgotten no matter how
good or bad it was. I thank Mr Tony Shaw the author of Windmills in
Nottinghamshire for his help in the formation of this article. |
