The George Inn in
Norton St Philip
Norton St Philip is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The village lies about south of the city of Bath and north of the town of Frome on the eastern slopes of the Mendip Hills. It is situated on the A366 be ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, England, one of a number of establishments that claims to be Britain's oldest tavern, is located in the centre of the village. It was built in the 14th or 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
It was originally built as a wool store for
Hinton Priory
Hinton Priory was a Carthusian monastery in northeast Somerset, England, from 1232 until 1539.
History
The priory was one of the ten medieval Carthusian houses ( charterhouses) in England. It was first established at Hatherop, Gloucestershir ...
at nearby
Hinton Charterhouse __NOTOC__
Hinton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hinton, New South Wales
Canada
*Hinton, Alberta
** Hinton/Entrance Airport
** Hinton/Jasper-Hinton Airport
** Hinton CN railway station
England
* Hinton, Dorset, a civil parish
**Hinton Martell, D ...
and to accommodate travellers and merchants coming to the annual wool fairs that were held in the village from the late 13th century until 1902. Hinton Priory was one of the ten medieval
Carthusian
The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...
houses (charterhouses) in England. It was first established at
Hatherop
Hatherop is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about north of Fairford in Gloucestershire, England. The River Coln forms part of the western boundary of the parish.
History
Barrow Elm, which is ab ...
in 1222 by
William Longspee,
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.
Background
The title was first created for Patrick de S ...
. The monks disliked the location, and on Longspee's death in 1226 they petitioned his countess for a new site to achieve greater solitude. She gave them her manors of Hinton Charterhouse and Norton St Philip and the new house was consecrated at Hinton Charterhouse in May 1232. A licence to sell alcohol at The George is claimed from 1397, which may have been a local licence from the Prior of Hinton Priory as Governmental licences for alehouses were only introduced in 1552.
In the 15th century the timber-framed upper floors were added.
The inn became part of the
stage coach route between
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
. On 12 June 1668 the noted diarist
Samuel Pepys, with his wife and servants, passed through Norton St Philip on their way to
Bath from
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
.
The inn was later used as the headquarters of Monmouth's army, during the
Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, after his retreat from Bath. In the aftermath of the failed rebellion
Judge Jeffreys
George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, PC (15 May 1645 – 18 April 1689), also known as "the Hanging Judge", was a Welsh judge. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor (and serving a ...
used the George Inn as a courtroom and conducted 12 executions on the village common, as part of the
Bloody Assizes
The Bloody Assizes were a series of trials started at Winchester on 25 August 1685 in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England.
History
There were five judges: Sir William Montague (Lord Chief B ...
.
In 1998 a major programme of restoration was undertaken, funded by the
Wadworth Brewery
Wadworth is a brewery company founded in 1875 in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, best known for their 6X beer brand.
History
Wadworth & Co. was founded in 1875 when Henry Wadworth purchased the Northgate Brewery in Devizes. It was not long before ...
, which included extensive archaeological investigations into the history of the building. This showed that part of the building had been demolished in the 17th century and
dendrochronology
Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...
showed that the roof timbers had been replaced in around 1431. Roof repairs included removing all 29,750 stone slates, 70% of which were able to be reused.
The building has been used as a setting for films such as ''
The Remains of the Day
''The Remains of the Day'' is a 1989 novel by the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro. The protagonist, Stevens, is a butler with a long record of service at Darlington Hall, a stately home near Oxford, ...
'', ''
Tom Jones'', and ''
The Canterbury Tales
''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...
'', as well as in the television adaptations of ''
Persuasion
Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for Social influence, influence. Persuasion can influence a person's Belief, beliefs, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, Intention, intentions, Motivation, motivations, or Behavior, behaviours.
...
'' by
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
and ''
Moll Flanders
''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...
'' by
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
.
See also
*
List of Grade I listed buildings in Mendip
Mendip is a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 11,000. The admin ...
References
External links
The George Inn web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:George Inn, Norton St Philip
Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century
Grade I listed pubs in Somerset
Grade I listed buildings in Mendip District
Monmouth Rebellion