Sepia Saturday # 66 19, March 2011

Just a glance into America's version of "outside a pub" - 1926 silent comedy film "The Strong Man" featuring actor Harry Langdon and famous director Frank Capra.

Greetings or ahoy!  Could you bring us some more ale please?   Alan's theme this week is a photo of Trafalgar Tavern (not in it's glory days) but it's still inspiring with so many options again!  Sepia Saturday friends I invite you to the world of fascinating Pubs of yesterday, most still serving their eager guests today with a bit of ale and Bangers and Mash, and they all have some ordinary magical mystery lurking behind their stone walls.  If you feel like sharing something as well, you can by going here
http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2011/03/sepia-saturday-66-19th-march-2011.html

We begin in half-light, casting mysterious shadows across an unchanged landscape of yesterday's pubs still alive today......just show us your commanding beauty...and share a few of your long lost tales.....

First stop American style Pub in Hartford, Connecticut where I first met a traditional "Pub."

This alehouse was renumbered in 1898 from 98 to 336 Main Street and was painted dark and listed as the Joseph Whiting House and still serves ale!  Courtesy of Connecticut State Library collection.

But, the best of the best pubs are those discovered often by accident while visiting Jolly O' England towns......

The postcard reads, The Mansion House (for a future post) and Cheapside clearly for its witty conversations at the Mermaid Tavern located in this Cheapside district of London, England which once was a gathering place for Elizabethan poets and playwrights, aka the so called Friday Street Club.  An extended reference to this Tavern in Master Francis Beaumont's Letter to Ben Jonson.

Quotes by Francis Beaumont himself...
"Envy, like the worm, never runs but to the fairest fruit, like a cunning bloodhound, it singles out the fattest deer in the flock!"  and also "
"KISS till the COWS come HOME!" 

Often they are more than just a Pub! Like St. Christopher's Inn, located in Bath, England.

An enchanting evening at a delightful pub....."The St. Christopher's Inn" a  Bar and Hostel, in Bath, England.  Great youth hostel accommodations, very reasonable and close to all the Bath hot spots.

The Guildhall Pub, Folkestone, England


From within the Bayle section of Folkestone, England is a charming Pub. Sometimes what's most interesting is where a pub is located, like the Guildhall which was previously known as the Battery.



The Guildhall Pub located in the Bayle from the Latin Ballium, is the ancient core of Folkestone located in a topographically attractive setting, and is a highly sensitive and historically important area. Evidence of Roman occupation is in the form of mainly pottery sherds, but antiquarians in the 18th century reported observing Roman ruins. However, they may have been looking at Roman ceramic building material being reused in later constructions.


From the medieval period onwards, The Bayle was a site of fortification, with a Castle and associated ditches, banks and buildings, constructed c.1150. Later post-medieval additions consist of 16th century forts and a gun battery dated from the 18th century, along with more dwellings in the vicinity.

Then on our way to London we stop by a very interesting pub!

Have you heard the true story about Jack the Ripper?

The Ten Bells of London "Oh the stories that lurk within this pub!

On the corner of

Commercial Street

and

Fournier Street

in Spitalfields, East London stands the most famous pub in Jack the Ripper history, the Ten Bells.  (Ripper Tours take you there) and was constructed in 1752. The Ten Bells was where several of the victims of Jack the Ripper drank most notably Mary Kelly and Catherine Eddowes.  The Pub has changed very little since the early hours of November 9^th 1888 when Mary Kelly, Jack the Ripper’s final victim, left the pub. During the 1970’s and 80’s the pub was renamed by the landlord as the Jack the Ripper, the brewery reverted back to its original name in 1989.

Last but certainly not least, as truth be told there are so many pubs and so little time to take it all in....

Did someone order another round?

The Red Lion Inn - Weobley - England.  This two-storey timber framed building dates from the 14th century.  Herefordshire through time -- Weobley town walk.   One stop along the way is The Castle in Weobley which was probably built in timber in the late 11th century by the de Lucy family and converted to stone in early 13th century.

...and so ends our journey to pubs for today.......but I'm sure we will be back to them again one day! 
                                          Thanks everyone!