Aramco Expats

A Local Inn and its History

1. Lifestyles
2. Travel & Leisure
3. Travel Destinations

Author: Britney B.
Released 8 August 2003

Constable Country
Photograph by Britney B.

Essex is a much maligned county of England, more well known these days for it’s Essex girl jokes (I’d tell you some here but they’re all a bit vulgar) and white stiletto shoes, worn most commonly (no pun intended) by said Essex girls.

Essex is the county due east of London, north of the River Thames. Southend, at the mouth of the Thames estuary has been a popular destination for East Londoners from Victorian times when trips to the seaside became popular. As an Essex girl myself, born and bred, I have many happy memories of trips to Southend, when I was a young child playing on the beach and at Peter Pan’s Playground, and as a teenager enjoying the more exciting rides at the Kursaal amusement park. Sadly the Kursaal has vanished now and Southend seafront has become rather run down and sad.

But Essex has much more to offer, from a wealth of history to beautiful landscapes. It is the county where Constable lived and painted his wonderful landscapes “The Haywain” and “The Lock at Dedham”. Big and beautiful bright skies have drawn many artists to the area. Essex also has a wealth of fine country inns such as my local, the White Hart at Great Yeldham, situated on the road between Colchester, England’s oldest recorded town, and the University City of Cambridge.

The White Hart
Photograph by Britney B.

The original house was built on the edge of the village in 1505, when the whole area was one great oak forest with clearings around the village for cultivation of crops. At the time the inn was completed Henry VIII, the second of the Tudor Kings, had just come to the throne. He passed a law that made it compulsory for every man in the village between the ages of 16 and 60 to own a longbow and to practice with it in the churchyard each Sunday. He also passed a law to increase the number of horses in the Kingdom for use in times of war. Anyone with an income of £100 per annum was required to have a horse, and any man whose wife had a velvet skirt or a silk petticoat had to keep one regardless of income.

The inn has stood through the reigns of 23 English rulers:

1. Henry VIII, 1509-1547, mostly remembered for having six wives and breaking away from the Catholic church.
2. Edward VI, 1547-1553, Henry’s son by Jane Seymour, was ten when he became King and 16 when he died.
3. Lady Jane Grey, 1553, reigned for nine days. She was executed aged 17.
4. Mary I, 1553-1558, earned her title “Bloody Mary” by burning bishops at the stake. She lost England’s last remaining territory in France, Calais.
5. Elizabeth I, 1558-1603. During her reign travellers would have brought news to the inn of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, of Raleigh’s first Virginian colony, and Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe. William Shakespeare was born in 1564.
6. James I, 1603-1625. By this time the inn was already old and the talk amongst the innkeeper and his customers would have been about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot, and in 1602 of the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers to America. Shakespeare died in 1616.
7. Charles I, 1625-1649. During four years of civil war, Oliver Cromwell’s men would have crashed and clanked through the inn while the innkeeper prayed they didn’t find the Cavaliers hidden in a tiny secret room in the ceiling of one of the bedrooms. Charles was tried and executed in 1649.
8. Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth, 1649-1660. Cromwell refused the crown and became Lord Protector.
9. Charles II, 1660-1685, had many mistresses, the most famous being Nell Gwyne. Talk in the inn would have been of the horrors of the “Black Death” which killed one third of the population, and the Great Fire of London in 1666.
10. James II, 1685-1689. His reign saw the “Bloody Assizes” of Judge Jeffries. The inn had a strong cell built into it to house prisoners on their way to Chelmsford Jail. It’s still there and contains the only original piece of flooring left in the house.
11. William III and Mary II, 1689-1702. Better know as William of Orange, he died in a hunting accident and his wife died of smallpox.
12. Anne, 1702-1714. Christopher Wren was building St. Paul’s Cathedral and the White Hart was already over 200 years old.
13. George I, 1714-1727, spent more time in Hanover, Germany, than England and couldn’t speak English.
14. George II, 1727-1760, was the last reigning monarch to lead his troops into battle. The Gregorian calendar came into use in 1752, when the first day of the year was moved from March 25th to January 1st and the 2nd September became the 14th September. Imagine the conversation the simple farm labourers would have had in the bar about where the 12 days had gone!
15. George III, 1760-1820, became insane. Customers in the Hart would have hurried into the yard at the approach of a rider or stagecoach eager for the latest news of the loss of our American colonies or the revolution in France. A stagecoach could reach York from London in only six days! The slave trade was abolished. Wellington and Nelson were national heroes. Most of the great oak forests around the village were felled at about this time to build the ships for Nelson’s navy.
16. George IV, 1820-1830, who had acted as Regent for a good part of his father’s reign, built Brighton Pavilion. London’s Regent Street and Regent’s Park were laid out and named after him. The term, Regency Style, came into the language.
17. William IV, 1830-1837. The great talking point in the inn would have been parliamentary reform and beer going up to two pence a gallon!
18. Victoria, 1837-1901, was the first sovereign to travel in a railway train. Travellers would captivate the locals with tales of the Boar War, the Indian Mutiny and the Crimean War.
19. Edward VII, 1901-1910, was 59 years old when he came to the throne. Also notorious for his many mistresses, including the actress Lillie Langtry, he was the first reigning monarch to win the Derby.
20. George V, 1910-1936. During World War I the White Hart would have been crowded with young men from the village gathered in the bar with friends and relatives before leaving for the Somme, Ypres and Verdun. The war memorial in the village testifies to the vast number who never returned.
21. Edward VIII, 1936, abdicated. He gave up the throne for “the woman I love”, the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
22. George VI, 1936-1952. World War II, where more sacrifices were made so that today we can enjoy the freedom of the British way of life.
23. Elizabeth II, our present queen.

The White Hart
Photograph by Britney B.

So for hundreds of years the White Hart has stood in this corner of Essex while history has lapped at its doors. During all that time it’s offered comfort, warmth, good food, ale and a warm welcome to the countless generations of Englishmen and the foreigners who became Englishmen without noticing it. Brides in crinolines, bustles, hooped skirts, petticoats and mini dresses have had their wedding receptions here. Young men in silk hose, cloaks, swords, doublets, body armour and Harris tweed have spent their groats, dubloons, crowns, shillings and new pence at the bar.

Much has changed over the years, but not everything. The White Hart still strives to give visitors a warm welcome, offers good food and good wines. Private parties and wedding receptions are still planned and the log fires still blaze. In a changing world it’s good to know that some things can stay the same, so if you ever find yourself travelling through north Essex, do drop in to the White Hart at Great Yeldham for a taste of history.

To find out more about the monarchs of England, visit www.britannia.com/history/monarchs.