The Green Dragon is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

Flaunden Flaunden is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Buckinghamshire, on the edge of the Chiltern Hills. Old Flaunden was on the banks of the River Chess, but owing to constant flooding, the settlement moved ...

, Hertfordshire, England. The rear wing, a timber-framed structure, is the oldest part of the building and dates from the early 17th century.

History

Formerly a residential house, what is now the Green Dragon was built in the early 17th Century, with the front range rebuilt in the early 19th Century and a side extension following in the 1980s. Much of the interior of the pub still contains the original timber frame, whilst the frontage is red brick, and the roof red tile. The tap room was built in 1838, whilst much of the rest of the pub has remained unchanged since the 19th century. Among the Green Dragon's past clientele are two infamous figures, Nazi politician

Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich-Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. ...

and Soviet spy

Guy Burgess Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet double agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection ...

. Von Ribbentrop was a regular at the Green Dragon during the 1930s when he stayed at his weekend house in nearby Latimer during his time as the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Due to his involvement in the Nazi regime, von Ribbentrop would be sentenced to death as a result of the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

. As a result of

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

committing suicide, von Ribbentrop became the first of those sentenced to be executed; he was hanged on 16 October 1946. Burgess meanwhile often visited the Green Dragon when he stayed in Flaunden with his boyfriend, Peter Pollock, who lived in the Sharlowes farmhouse not far from the pub. Burgess would defect to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in May 1951, however, he is reported to have met with fellow

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Five was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during the Second World War and the Cold War and was active from the 1930s until at least the early 1950s. None of the known members were e ...

member Donald MacLean in the Tap Room of the Green Dragon the day prior to their defection. The Green Dragon has been under the custodianship of one family for three generations, having been run by Bob and Ida Burgess since 1932, before being passed on to their daughter Barbara. During the late 1930s when Barbara was a child, she played in the garden with two young girls who were staying at

Latimer House Latimer House is a large country house at Latimer, Buckinghamshire. It is now branded as De Vere Latimer Estate and functions as a countryside hotel used for country house weddings and conferences. Latimer Place has a small church, St Mary Magdale ...

. Unbeknown to Barbara and her parents at the time, these two girls were the daughters of King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

and would grow up to become Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

Present Day

The Green Dragon is listed on the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors The National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors was a register of public houses in the United Kingdom with interiors which had been noted as being of significant historic interest, having remained largely unchanged for at least 30 years, but us ...

register, and is the only pub in Hertfordshire to be listed as having an "interior of national importance". This is due in large part to the snug being made up of two or more high backed settles, of which there are only a handful left in the country. The pub prides itself on being a "focal point for traditional rural pursuits" and during the game season its "Tap Room" is visited by shooters following a day of sport.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Dragon, Flaunden, The Buildings and structures in Dacorum Grade II listed pubs in Hertfordshire National Inventory Pubs Timber framed buildings in Hertfordshire