The Tabard
The Tabard was an inn in Southwark established in 1307, which stood on the east side of Borough High Street, at the road's intersection with the ancient thoroughfare to Canterbury and Dover. It was built for the Abbot of Hyde in Winchester, who purchased the land to construct a place for himself and his ecclesiastical brethren to stay when on business in London.
The Tabard was famous for accommodating people who made the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and it is mentioned in the 14th-century literary work The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Early history
The inn was located on the south bank of the Thames, just north of where the two Roman roads of Stane Street and Watling Street merged. It stood near the Manor of Southwark, controlled by the Bishops of Winchester. Also known as the Liberty of Winchester, the manor lay outside the jurisdiction of the City of London. Activities that were forbidden within the City of London and the county of Surrey, including prostitution and animal baiting, were permitted within Southwark, which thus became medieval London's entertainment district. In those times, the Tabard would have been filled with pilgrims, drunks, travellers, criminals, and prostitutes (colloquially known as the "Winchester Geese").
Chaucer wrote that the Tabard was the location where the pilgrims first met on their journey to Canterbury in the 1380s. The inn's proprietor was a man named Harry Bailey:[1]
Bifel that in that season on a day,
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde;
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And well we weren esed atte beste;
The antiquary John Stow wrote in his Survey that by the 16th century it was among several inns at this location in Southwark: "many fair inns, for receipt of travellers, by these signs: the Spurre, Christopher, Bull, Queen's Head, Tabard, George, Hart, King's Head" &c.[2]
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century, "the Tabard of the Monastery of Hyde, and the Abbot's Place, with the stable and gardens thereunto belonging" were sold to John and Thomas Master. The goldsmith John Mabbe (died 1578) acquired the inn. His son Robert Mabbe pledged a share of the inn to the goldsmith Affabel Partridge for a loan.[3]
The layout of the Tabard Inn was described in a lease in 1540,[4] and in a legal dispute, Partridge v. Mabbe, in 1601. Named rooms in 1601 included a parlour, the dark parlour, a hall, the chamber called the "flower de luce", a kitchen, the cook's lofts, and oven house.[5]
Destruction and replacement
On 26 May 1676, ten years after the Great Fire of London, a great blaze started in Southwark. The Tabard was among many buildings that were either burned down or pulled down to create fire breaks. The blaze, which took 17 hours to contain, destroyed most of medieval Southwark. King Charles II and his brother the Duke of York were both involved in the firefighting effort. Although the medieval building was destroyed, the site was immediately rebuilt and renamed The Talbot.
Closure
In the early 18th century, the new inn was profiting from the growth in stagecoach traffic between London and the channel ports because of the growth in turnpikes. By the early 19th century, the Talbert remained a well-renowned coaching inn. However, with the advent of the railways, it eventually closed. The building was then converted into stores. It was demolished in 1873.
See also
- The George Inn, Southwark, a surviving nearby coaching inn
- White Hart, Southwark, a demolished nearby coaching inn
Notes
- ^ Southwark: Famous inns, Old and New London: Volume 6 (1878), pp. 76–89, accessed: 16 June 2008
- ^ Quoted in Walter Thornbury and Edward Walford, Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People and Its Places (London) 1893:76.
- ^ William Rendle & Philip Norman, Inns of Old Southwark (London, 1888), pp. 405-411.
- ^ Philip Norman, 'Tabard Inn', 13:1 Surrey archaeological collections, (London, 1896), pp. 28–32
- ^ Hubert Hall, Society in the Elizabethan Age (London, 1887), pp. 82, 162
External links
- The Tabard Inn in Southwark, another nineteenth-century engraving
- v
- t
- e
- Windermere
- former
- Assembly House
- Black Lion
- Bull & Gate
- The Camden Head
- Cittie of Yorke
- The Crown
- Devonshire Arms
- Dublin Castle
- The Duke of Hamilton
- Edinboro Castle
- Fitzroy Tavern
- The Flask, Hampstead
- The Flask, Highgate
- The Gatehouse, Highgate
- George and Dragon
- Greene Man
- The Holly Bush
- The Magdala
- Museum Tavern
- The Old Bull and Bush
- Old Red Lion
- Old White Bear
- Ye Olde Mitre
- The Perseverance
- The Pineapple
- Prince of Wales, Highgate
- Princess Louise
- The Queen's
- Rising Sun, Fitzrovia
- The Rocket
- Ship Tavern
- Sir Richard Steele
- Spread Eagle
- The Washington
- Wells Tavern
- The Wheatsheaf
- The Winchester
- The World's End
- The Yorkshire Grey
- former
- Aragon House
- Black Lion
- Blue Anchor
- The Cock
- The Cross Keys
- The Dove
- Duke of Cumberland
- Eight Bells
- The George
- Golden Lion
- Hampshire Hog
- The Hop Poles
- Hope and Anchor
- The King's Head
- Laurie Arms
- Princess Victoria
- The Queen Adelaide
- Queen's Head
- Rutland Arms
- Salutation
- The Swan
- Temperance Billiard Hall
- The White Horse
- former
- Coachmakers Arms
- The Favourite
- The Old Fire Station
- Seven Stars
- The Castle
- Queen's Head
- Seven Balls
- former
- Anglesea Arms
- Bunch of Grapes
- Chelsea Potter
- The Churchill Arms
- Coleherne
- The Cross Keys
- Drayton Arms
- Elgin
- Fox and Pheasant
- Gloucester Arms
- The Goat
- The Greyhound
- The Hansom Cab
- The Hollywood Arms
- The King's Head and Eight Bells
- The Phene
- Prince of Teck
- Scarsdale Tavern
- The Shuckburgh Arms
- Windsor Castle
- The World's End
- Zetland Arms
- former
- Crooked Billet
- former
- Green Man
- former
- Admiral Duncan
- Admiralty
- The Albert
- Angel and Crown
- Argyll Arms
- The Barley Mow
- The Beehive
- Carlton Tavern, Kilburn
- The Champion
- The Cheshire Cheese
- The Clachan
- Coach and Horses, Hill Street
- Coach and Horses, Soho
- Coal Hole
- Comptons of Soho
- Crocker's Folly
- De Hems
- The Devereux
- Dog and Duck
- Duke of Wellington, Belgravia
- The Duke of Wellington, Marylebone
- The Duke of York, Fitzrovia
- The Edgar Wallace
- The Flying Horse
- The French House
- The George
- The Green Man
- The Grenadier
- The Harp
- John Snow
- Lamb and Flag
- The Marquis of Clanricarde
- The Marquis of Granby
- The Mitre
- Morpeth Arms
- Nag's Head
- Nell Gwynne Tavern
- Newman Arms
- The Old Bank of England
- The Old Bell
- The Old Shades
- The Only Running Footman
- Paxtons Head
- Pillars of Hercules
- Plumbers Arms
- Prince Alfred
- The Punch Bowl
- Red Lion, Duke of York Street
- Red Lion, Westminster
- St Stephen's Tavern
- The Salisbury
- The Sherlock Holmes
- The Ship
- The Ship and Shovell
- Silver Cross Tavern
- The Spice of Life
- Star Tavern
- Sun and 13 Cantons
- Swan Inn
- PS Tattershall Castle
- Two Brewers
- Two Chairmen
- The Victoria
- The Warrington
- Warwick Castle
- Westminster Arms
- White Lion
- The White Swan
- The Wilton Arms
- The Yorkshire Grey
- former
- The Bell
- The Black Friar
- The Centre Page
- The Cockpit
- Dirty Dicks
- East India Arms
- George and Vulture
- The Globe
- Hand and Shears
- The Harrow
- Hoop and Grapes, Aldgate High Street
- Hoop and Grapes, Farringdon Street
- Jamaica Wine House
- The Jugged Hare
- Old Bell
- Old Doctor Butler's Head
- Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
- Ye Olde Cock Tavern
- The Olde Wine Shades
- The Punch Tavern
- Rising Sun, Carter Lane
- Rising Sun, Cloth Fair
- The Ship, Hart Street
- The Ship, Lime Street
- Simpson's Tavern
- Staple Inn
- The Tipperary
- Viaduct Tavern
- former
- Bell Savage Inn
- Blossom's Inn
- Boar's Head Inn
- Bull and Mouth Inn
- The Fortune of War Public House
- The Intrepid Fox
- London Tavern
- St Paul's Tavern
- Swan with Two Necks
- The Devil Tavern
- White Hart
- Category
51°30′14″N 0°5′23″W / 51.50389°N 0.08972°W / 51.50389; -0.08972