The Ship Tavern is an inn at the western corner of

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is located in Holborn and is the List of city squares by size, largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a ...

, at the corner of Gate Street and the

Little Turnstile Great Turnstile, Little Turnstile and New Turnstile are alleys between High Holborn and Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. They originally had turnstiles to prevent cattle from straying. They later became busy lanes and were built up with s ...

in London. Established in 1549, at the height of the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

, when Catholicism became illegal, it was used to shelter Catholic priests and hold secret Catholic services. It was originally in Whetstone Park, which was notorious for its gambling houses.

Richard Penderell Richard Penderel (c.1606 – 7 February 1672) was a Roman Catholic farmer, and a supporter of the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. He assisted with the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651. Biograph ...

, who aided Charles I's escape, visited it, as did

John Bagford John Bagford (1650/51, Fetter Lane, London – 5 May 1716, Islington) was an English antiquarian, writer, bibliographer, ballad-collector, bookseller, and biblioclast. Life Originally a shoemaker by trade, his premises were in the Great Turnstil ...

(a shoemaker and antiquarian), the

Chevalier d'Eon Chevalier may refer to: Honours Belgium * a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II * a title in the Belgian nobility France * a rank in the French Legion d' ...

(a man who lived as a woman) and

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent scholar, who introduced various ...

(the builder of the

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 scale The current structu ...

). It was consecrated as

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

lodge 234 in 1786 by the Grand Master, the

Earl of Antrim Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

, and rebuilt in 1923.

External links

Official website
1549 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Holborn Pubs in the London Borough of Camden {{London-struct-stub