John Griffiths

This is a walk around the historic inns of Hoddesdon provided by friends of the Lowewood Museum -

This walk (about half a mile) starts at the Clock Tower and takes in the central part of the town.  Two things have influenced Hoddesdon’s history: first, the town is situated about 20 miles from London on The Old North Road, a major route to the north, and second, it has been a market town since 1253.  So it has had both through-traffic and local visits from traders in the surrounding area.  The town has found it profitable to offer accommodation, food and drink, which has given rise to inns of various sizes and quality.

There were several inns in the triangle of land to the north of the Clock Tower but these were finally swept away when the area was redeveloped in the 1960s.  The most notable was The Maidenhead which occupied the southern corner of the area.  Now cross the road to The Star.

Introduction to the walk and the first Inn the long gone Maidenhead Inn

The Star, despite its appearance, is Hoddesdon’s oldest surviving inn, dating from1450.  The red-brick frontage was a Georgian addition.  It was known as The Star in 1518 when it was owned by John Borrell, a serjeant-at-arms to Henry VIII.  When Lord Burghley bought it in 1580 it was called The Black Lion and by 1826 it was The Salisbury Arms, a name it kept until 2014 when it reverted to the original name of The Star following a major refurbishment.  The work carried out then revealed an open-hall structure and Tudor wall paintings of national importance.  Being one of the largest buildings in the town the Star has been used for various purposes as well as serving as an inn: for example, court meetings, as the town’s post office and inland revenue office, for civic dinners and, around the end of the 19th century, as Hoddesdon Town Football Club’s headquarters and dressing room.  Now continue south to the White Swan.

As you approach the White Swan you will pass a section of cobble stones in the pavement outside the butcher’s shop.  This shows where there was a smithy; it occupied the site for about 200 years and was one of several that was kept busy during the coaching era.  The White Swan, which dates from the 16th century and originally just called The Swan, is another of the town’s major inns; in 1756 it was recorded as having 16 beds and stabling for 60 horses.  Like The Star and The Bull, it had a ‘gallows’ sign (a long wooden beam) spanning the road; the truncated end can still be seen on the bay above the door.  Continue as far as Lord Street.

].  The red brick building (currently a gentlemen’s hairdresser) on the corner of Lord Street was built by local worthies in the 1880s as part of a temperance movement.  Known as The Coffee Tavern, it offered coffee and soup as an alternative to alcoholic drinks that were so readily available elsewhere in the town.  Cross Lord Street.

Nothing now remains of The Bull which occupied the site (Peacock’s) south of Lord Street.  For more than 400 years it was the most prominent building in the town and one of the few places able to host sizeable meetings.  As well as serving as an inn, it was used for both public and private functions.  Political parties used it as their headquarters at election times and in the 18th century it hosted sessions of the County Justices.  The Hoddesdon Society and several conservation bodies fought hard to save it, but in vain, and it was demolished in 1964.  Caffe Nero occupies the adjacent building which was also an inn, The Chequers, from the 15th to the 18th century.  Continue to Fawkon Walk.

The name Fawkon Walk probably derives from a corruption of ‘falcon’, the bird of prey.  The Falcon on the Hoop was the name of a tavern mentioned in manorial court rolls in the 1390s, one of the earliest records we have of a named inn.  Another inn on this site was the St George, also dating from the 14th century and quite a substantial place with six bedrooms and stabling for 40 horses when it was demolished in 1846.  The last to survive on this site was the Griffin, pulled down before WWII.  Continue walking south as far as the Golden Lion.

On the way, you will pass the site of an inn called The Red Lion (where Flames now stands), demolished around 1860.  There is a legend that Mary Tudor paused here on her way to London to claim the Crown after hearing of the death of Edward VI, her half brother.  The Golden Lion dates from 1535, possibly earlier.  It was originally called the White Hind.  It still retains some interesting architectural features, including a ‘blind’ staircase which at one time led to a front door at first floor level – so that luggage and perhaps passengers could be brought into the inn from the top of a coach.  The landlord for a time in the middle of the 20th century was William Starbuck; was this the first ‘Starbucks’ in the country?  Once you have seen the Golden Lion. Now retrace your steps a few yards, cross the road at the lights and start to walk back up the east side of the High Street.

The Cross Keys and The Crown & Mitre were situated on this section of the High Street but both had gone by the middle of the 19th century.  As you walk back along the High Street try to imagine what it was like 200 years ago at the height of the coaching era.  In 1835, for example, there were 27 scheduled coaches and 4 mail coaches every day; they would stop to change horses and let passengers get refreshments.  The town’s inns, with stabling for more than a thousand horses, were the town’s major source of employment.  Now cross Conduit Lane.

From Rathmore House to Conduit Lane where the Cross Keys used to be

On the next part of the High Street you will pass several buildings that once housed small inns.  The first is the Fox, closed in the 1930s.  The site is now occupied by Miami Carpets and The Eye.  Next is the site of an inn, The Griffin, approximately where the library is.  The name and licence were transferred to a building on the opposite side of the road.  The large gate next to the library was the entrance to the inn yard.  As you continue you will pass the sites of several small inns, which all disappeared or were converted to shops long ago: The White Swan (another one), the White Hart and The White Horse.  Pause at the War Memorial, the last point on this walk.

From Conduit Lane to the War Memorial past where the Fox used to be

The building set back beyond the post box on your right was, 400 years ago, an inn called The Thatched House.  It was mentioned by Izaak Walton in his book The Compleat Angler.  Like the great majority of inns at the time it brewed its own beer.  In 1700 it was bought by William Plomer who started to develop the brewery.  Over the next 200 years a succession of owners expanded the brewery until it was one of the largest in the county; known as the Hoddesdon Brewery or Christie’s Brewery it eventually had a tied estate of 163 inns, mostly in Hertfordshire.  Brewery buildings occupied the area to the north and east of The Thatched House which by this time had been converted into brewery offices.  The brewery was sold and closed in 1928, after which many of the buildings were demolished or converted to other uses, and a public road, Brewery Road, was created through the brewery yard.  One old inn that you can see from here is The Bell, a private house in the 16th century but later an inn called The Hollibush, then The Blue Bell and finally The Bell; it is in Burford Street so not strictly part of the High Street scene, but included here to complete the walk.  
There are (and were) other inns in Hoddesdon but this walk is mainly concerned with the High Street.  More information, photographs and artefacts can be found in Lowewood Museum.

Hoddesdon Inns - a history

10 ECHOES

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The Echoes

Introduction to the walk and the first Inn the long gone Maidenhead Inn

The Star

The White Swan

The North corner of Lord Street

The Bull

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Hoddesdon Inns - a history

room 10 ECHOES

DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO DISCOVER THIS TOUR AND MANY OTHERS.

The Echoes

Introduction to the walk and the first Inn the long gone Maidenhead Inn

The Star

The White Swan

The North corner of Lord Street

The Bull

Discover more geolocated content in our apps.

Are you a creator?

Get in touch

Echoes creative apps

Echoes labs

About us

10 ECHOES