DianneW

yes amazing some of them, a few left me cold.
Still do not know how they managed to build so well so so long ago...without what is available in our times must have cost a lot of lives....

DianneW

The George Inn, Norton St Philip, Somerset.




The George Inn at Norton St Philip (above) claims to have had a licence to serve ale from 1397 and identifies itself as Britain’s oldest tavern! The George has a long and interesting history. The diarist Samuel Pepys passed through here on his way to Bath from Salisbury. Later in 1685 during the Duke of Monmouth’s Rebellion, the inn was used as the headquarters of his army as they retreated from Bath. After the rebellion failed, the infamous Judge Jefferies used the inn as a courtroom during the Bloody Assizes; twelve people were then taken and executed on the village common.

DianneW

The Old Bell Hotel, Malmesbury, Wiltshire.




As for England’s oldest hotel, the Old Bell Hotel at Malmesbury (pictured above) lays claim to this title. The hotel dates from 1220 and is reputed to be England’s oldest purpose-built hotel. Situated adjacent to the magnificent 12th Century abbey, it was originally used as a guest house for visiting monks. Part of the hotel may have been built on the abbey churchyard, and the hotel is indeed reputed to be haunted by, amongst others, a Grey Lady.

DianneW

The Mermaid Inn, Rye, East Sussex.




The Mermaid Inn at Rye is the epitome of a smugglers’ inn, with cellars built in Norman times and secret passageways in some of its rooms. Originally constructed in 1156, this ancient inn was rebuilt in 1420! Enjoy a drink in the favourite haunt of the notorious Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers in the 1730s. This grand old hostelry simply oozes history and character

I have been to this one many times in the past.....Use to camp in Winchlesea with the family and that is Near to Rye..
Cobble streets and lots of character.....

Lisnaholic

Three very attractive places Dianne! The last one reminded me of a very special week that I once spent in Rye; it's a nice town.

All the history that goes with The George inn is interesting, and the "Britain's oldest tavern" made me smile, as I have been to another pub in Nottingham that makes a similar claim:-



"Ye Old Trip To Jerusalem" is built up hard against a cliff of rock, on top of which Nottingham Castle is located. The pub's strange name? Because it was where Crusaders used to muster before setting off for "The Holy Land".

I wonder how many "oldest pubs" Britain has?

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

DianneW

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/20...o-their-claims
seems to depend on the author sometimes, these 15 and the 8 list are at least the same names...

https://www.oldest.org/food/pubs-england

Lisnaholic

^ Some really great old pubs in that first link, Dianne! Very nice photos. Thanks.
__________________________________________________ ____________


The beautiful Singer Tower in New York was built in 1908, and was, for one year, the tallest building in the world. I think with today's eyes we can see immediately that it's too high or too ornate, and indeed that was its undoing: all that complex masonary so high up (600 plus feet) became too dangerous/expensive to maintain. In 1967 it was demolished,; a process in itself that was very tricky and took two years, just because NewYorkers didn't want elephant-sized bits of masonry falling onto the traffic in the surrounding streets.

One thing to notice: if you cover the bottom two-thirds of the first picture with your hand, you are looking at something that could be a street scene in an old European town, and that's what the Singer Tower illustrates; how early skyscapers took their aesthetics from the old world and created some weird hybrids before the "glass box" style won out, because of its practical and economic advantages.

Also, to get an idea of scale: best seen in the middle photo, the bit on top, above the grey sloping roof and surrounded by a square white parapet, is, in itself, the height of a four-storey building!

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

DianneW

I was reading a local magazine, an article on The Green Man..it comes in many forms...The Gates above in St.Paul's Cathedral, crafted by the Highly skilled JeanTijou a French Huguenot whose work is said to be entirely in the UK. Within the gates are somewhere a Green Man.

This one is in Wales is created yearly and burnt at the Green Man Music and Arts Festival, held in the Brecon Beacons.



Green Men are usually found on religious buildings but not always: the Green Man is also a popular name for English inns and pubs!

However the Green Man is an example of how images from the Old Religion were brought into Christian churches before the Reformation, and is one of the most ancient, pagan symbols to be found in the Christian church.

Pre-Christian pagan traditions and superstitions, particularly those related to nature andtree worship, were still influential in the early Middle Ages. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that the Green Man seems to appear most often in places where there are stretches of ancient woodland, for example in Devon and Somerset and on the edges of the forest areas of Yorkshire and the Midlands.

Lady Raglan suggested that in antiquity, the Green Man was ‘the central figure in the May Day celebrations throughout Northern and Central Europe’. As the Green Man is also portrayed with acorns and hawthorn leaves, symbols of fertility in medieval times, this would seem to reinforce the association with spring.

Related figures such as Jack in the Green and Green George appear much later in our folklore. The earliest record of a Jack in the Green appears in The Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser in 1775.[/IMG]
That one is near Poitier's..Cathedral is Saint Pierre a 13th Century Gothic one.


Over 30 other 'Green Man' sculptures, mostlywithin Cathedrals/Churches around France.


In the UK somewhere...
the article I read said there was one on the Palace of Westminster, some of the Oxford Colleges and Kew Gardens one called the Leaf Face.

The Green Man
by Ellen Castelow
Glance upwards as you approach or enter many of Britain’s great cathedrals and churches, and it is more than likely you will catch sight of the Green Man gazing looking down at you.

But who is this strange green figure, surrounded by foliage, often with leaves spilling forth from his mouth?

The name ‘Green Man’ was first used by Lady Raglan in March 1939 in an article she wrote for the ‘Folklore’ journal; before this, they had been known just as ‘foliate heads’ and no-one had paid them any particular attention.



Green Men are usually found on religious buildings but not always: the Green Man is also a popular name for English inns and pubs!

However the Green Man is an example of how images from the Old Religion were brought into Christian churches before the Reformation, and is one of the most ancient, pagan symbols to be found in the Christian church.

Pre-Christian pagan traditions and superstitions, particularly those related to nature andtree worship, were still influential in the early Middle Ages. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that the Green Man seems to appear most often in places where there are stretches of ancient woodland, for example in Devon and Somerset and on the edges of the forest areas of Yorkshire and the Midlands.

Lady Raglan suggested that in antiquity, the Green Man was ‘the central figure in the May Day celebrations throughout Northern and Central Europe’. As the Green Man is also portrayed with acorns and hawthorn leaves, symbols of fertility in medieval times, this would seem to reinforce the association with spring.

Related figures such as Jack in the Green and Green George appear much later in our folklore. The earliest record of a Jack in the Green appears in The Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser in 1775.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man

Lisnaholic

Thanks for putting together such an interesting post, Dianne! I love the photos of the faces carved in wood. Back in the old days people built with such inventiveness and detail it's hard to believe. How many hours work, how much skill, is there in just one of those faces?!
I've heard about the ancient origins of the Green Man before, but was surprised to see that there are traces of the same guy in Europe too.

Not the most spectacular Green Man pub, but it does have the honour of being a pub that I used to drink in on a regular basis:-



It is on a heath with a Roman Camp about half a mile a way. The heath is an area of relatively high, relatively dry ground on the edge of London and today it has a big roundabout (plus underpass) where two A-roads meet. My guess is that it has always been an area to meet; for ancient Green Man celebrations, for the Romans, for medieval travellers, and for latter-day pub goers like myself, cavorting naked at midnight under the watchful eyes of The Green Man, god of procreation.

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

DianneW

https://www.tor.com/2019/06/11/the-g...yth-not-a-myth


I enjoyed reading about it myself..
...The internet is far and beyond what I ever believed it to be. I get to see and learn all kinds of things , that gives you a good outlook and being able to converse that little but better than when I was much younger.
some of the link I would think is in my first post but still interesting to read and I think the good comes out of any tree. It is life giving.
Cheers for now...Have a good Xmas...Roast Lamb for us this evening.
Husband got a new speed boat..lucky sod...
ok it is like this one...

he had the yellow one a few years now and electronically it's Kuput...

Been in that pub many times..Sevenoaks...then we were all made aware of drinking and driving, that altered things...