THE GEORGE, NORTON ST. PHILIP.
Somersetshire abounds in old-world villages, more particularly the
eastern division, or rather the eastern side—to the east, say, of a line
drawn from Bristol to Crewkerne. This line would intersect such
famous historic places as Wells and Glastonbury, but in our limited
space we must confine our attention more particularly to more remote
spots. One of these, for example, is the village of Norton St. Philip, midway between Bath and Frome, which possesses one of the oldest
and most picturesque inns in England. This wonderful timber building
of
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projecting storeys dates mainly from the fifteenth century, although it
has been a licensed house since 1397, and upon its solid basement
of stone the "George" looks good for many centuries to come. It was
formerly known as the "Old House," not that the other buildings at Norton St. Philip are by any means new. It is merely, comparatively
speaking, a matter of a couple of hundred years or so.
THE GEORGE, NORTON ST. PHILIP.
Many are the local stories and traditions of "Philips Norton Fight," for here it was that the Duke of Monmouth's followers had the first real
experience of warfare; and the encounter with the Royalist soldiers
was a sharp one while it lasted. Monmouth's intention of attacking
Bristol had been abandoned, and during a halt at Norton on June 27,
1685, his little army was overtaken by the king's forces under the
young Duke of Grafton, Monmouth's half-brother. The lane where
fighting was briskest used to be remembered as "Monmouth Street,"
possibly the same steep and narrow lane now called Bloody Lane,
which winds round to the back of the Manor Farm (some remains of
which go back quite a century before Monmouth's time), through the
courtyard of which the duke marched his regiment to attack the
enemy in flank. The other end of the lane was barricaded, so Grafton
was caught in a trap, and had difficulty in fighting his way through.
Both armies sought protection of the high hedges, which, take it all
round, got the wo
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rst of it; but Grafton lost considerably more men than Monmouth,
although a cannonade of six hours on both sides only had one victim.
An old resident living fifty years ago, whose great-grandfather fought
for "King Monmouth," used to relate how the duke's field pieces were
planted by the "Old House," his grace's headquarters; and the
tradition yet lingers in the inn that Colonel Holmes, on Monmouth's
side, finished the amputation of his own arm, which was shattered
with a shot, with a carving knife. Some of the ancient farmhouses
between Bath and Frome preserve some story or another in
connection with "Norton Fight," and George Roberts relates in his excellent Life of Monmouth that early in the nineteenth century the
song was still sung:
"The Duke of Monmouth is at Norton Town All a fighting for the
Crown Ho-boys-ho."
There are some curious old rooms in the "George"; and it is
astonishing the amount of space that is occupied by the attics, the
timbers of which are enormous. Up in these dimly lighted wastes,
report says that a cloth fair was held three times a year; and one may
see the shaft or well up which the cloth was hauled from a side
entrance in the street. The fair survives in a very modified form on
one of the dates, May 1
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st. Upon the first floor, approached by a spiral stone staircase, is
"Monmouth's room," the windows of which look up the road to
Trowbridge. The open Tudor fireplace, the oaken beams and uneven
floor, carries the mind back to the illustrious visitor who already was well aware that he was playing a losing game, and knew what he
might expect from the unforgiving James. At the back of the old inn is
the galleried yard, a very primitive one, now almost ruinous, with
rooms, leading from the open corridors, tumbling to pieces, and floors
unsafe to walk upon. Through the gaps may be seen the cellars
below, containing three huge beer barrels, each of a thousand
gallons' capacity. A fine stone fireplace in one will make a plunge
below ere very long.
But Somersetshire owns another remarkable fifteenth-century
hostelry, the "George" at Glastonbury, in character entirely different from that at Norton St. Philip. The panelled and traceried Gothic
stonework of the front, with its graceful bay-window rising to the roof,
is perhaps more beautiful but not so quaint, nor has it that rugged
vastness of the other which somehow impresses us with the rough-
and-tumble hospitality of the Middle Ages. "Ye old Pilgrimme Inn," as
the "George" at Glastonbury once was called, was built in Edward IV.'s reign, whose arms are displayed over the entrance gateway.
Here is, or was, preserved the bedstead said to have been used by
Henry VIII. when he paid a visit to the famous abbey.
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