Which is really England’s oldest pub? Tree-ring dating helps settle debate

Historic England archaeologist says some inns’ claims to date back 1,000 years are inaccurate and oldest is from 1430

With their low ceilings, timber beams and roaring fires, many of England’s inns lay claim to being the oldest in the land and to have been visited by Vikings and Saxons.

But an archaeologist working for Historic England says not one of the more than two dozen pubs that make this claim is being accurate.

While many claim origins dating back 1,000 years, Dr James Wright, a buildings archaeologist, said it was difficult to verify whether any pubs were built and used as inns or ale houses and kept in continuous use prior to the 1400s.

After painstaking investigation, including tree-ring dating on the wooden beams of pubs – a process known as dendrochronology – Wright named the George Inn, of Norton St Philip, Somerset, which has been in continuous use as an inn since around 1430-1432, as the oldest pub in England.

He told the Guardian: “Not one of the claimants to be the oldest pub (and there are over two dozen of them) are even vaguely close to being so in reality.”

Of the George, he said: “The architectural history of the George Inn’s stone and timber suggests that this building has been in continuous service for over 600 years.” He said the pub was set up in the 14th century by the monks of nearby Hinton Priory.

Tree-ring dating had helped “to understand scientifically exactly how old the timbers are,” he said. “Because we know medieval carpenters didn’t muck around at all and they would fell the timber when it was green and build almost immediately afterwards, the actual date of felling gives us the near date of construction.”

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans, Hertfordshire, claims to have been established around AD800, and the Bingley Arms in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, declares on its site: “It’s the original English pub – officially the oldest in Britain – dating back over 1,000 years to a time when Vikings were conquering parts of the country.” Similarly, the Royal Standard in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, boasts that it was a favoured watering hole of King Alfred the Great’s West Saxons in around AD880.

Wright said most of these claims seemed to be “modern marketing strategies”. “The Fighting Cocks is often said to date to AD793. This date was probably not arrived at until 1926 when it appeared on a postcard. Prior to that, it was speculated to date to 1030, 770 and 672,” he said. “There does not seem to be a basis in reality for any of those claims. Instead, the building started as a monastic dovecote, built around 1400. The earliest date when we can say for sure it was active as a public house is the first decade of the 19th century.”

Many of the pubs claiming to be the oldest say they were mentioned in the Domesday Book, but the historian said: “There are no pubs mentioned – at all – in the Domesday Book, so any pub claiming to be in it is having you on.”

Wright added: “The claims are likely to originate less in folklore and more in canny marketing strategies by landlords, tenants, breweries and pub companies. The claims potentially rely upon the public not being aware of how to accurately date historic buildings.”

He provided the Guardian with a list of the pubs he believes to be the oldest in the country. His methodology was to determine that it was purpose-built as a public house, that it had been in continuous service and that there was archaeological, archival or dendrochronological evidence for the existence of significant primary fabric remaining from the original construction.

“I did consider buildings which had been converted and others which had periodically changed in land use,” he said. “Even with those taken into consideration, there are only about 12 to 16 genuine contenders which have been doing trade since the medieval period. Of these, the oldest date to the 14th and 15th centuries.”

George Inn, Norton St Philip, Somerset: late 14th century and 1430-32.

Bull Hotel, Ludlow, Shropshire: 14th and 15th centuries.

King’s Head, Shrewsbury, Shropshire: 1426, 1430-31.

New Inn, Gloucester, Gloucestershire: 1432.

White Hart Inn, Hook, Hampshire: 1419-51.

George Hotel, Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: mid 15th century.

Kings Head, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: 1445-55.

Angel, Grantham, Lincolnshire: circa 1450.

George and Pilgrims Inn, Glastonbury, Somerset: 1461-83.

Saracen’s Head, Southwell, Lincolnshire: 1460s.

George Hotel, Odiham, Hampshire: 1486-87.