PONTEFRACT PUB CRAWL

ADDED 24 FEBRUARY 2006

It was noted in a previous letter from Beatrice Thorpe, that she mentioned a short piece concerning Robin Hood and a pub crawl. I have a postcard which I believe was printed around 1913 which gives a further account of that piece.

The Inns of Pontefract

One day, ROBIN HOOD and his merry men set off from the NEW INN to visit their companions in the ancient Borough. They held a NAG'S HEAD awhile, until they heard the BLUE BELL ringing in the UNITED KINGDOM, from which they boarded a MAIL COACH, setting out on which they passed a place containing the dead bodies of many beasts, and saw a RED LION and ELEPHANT closely attended by a BLACK BOY. They next cleaved the TURKS HEAD and proceeded to oust the FOX from his lair. Then they rested themselves under the leaves of the ROYAL OAK, and beheld in the distance the celebrated LEAP OF NEVISON. They then ANCHORED awhile with HOPE of that name, to view in the background that product of civilisation, the RAILWAY HOTEL. Marching back to the town, they proceeded to storm the OLD CASTLE under the command of the immortal WELLINGTON. Seeking fresh fields and pastures new they beheld in their journey a WOODMAN in the act of felling a tree, and a DOLPHIN flapping his fins in the Fair; also a dead WHITE SWAN slain by a man named Hartley. Rolling past a GOLDEN BALL, they refreshed themselves with a little PINE APPLE, then proceeded onwards. Leaving the ROSE to its CROWN and the WINDMILL with its flowing sails and Magnet Ales, they dined with the CORPORATION at the ARMS, in Salter Row. Resting awhile they proceeded on their journey, and passed a BLACKAMOOR watching a WHITE HART, and still further the curious sight of that relic of pre-historic times a GREEN DRAGON, and a GARDENER with folded ARMS watching a GREYHOUND competing with a GOLDEN LION for a QUEEN'S prize. Wandering aimlessly back, they found a MALT SHOVEL, leaning up close by side with a CROWN & ANCHOR. Turning at this stage into a network of lanes, they beheld a CURRIER folding in his ARMS a CROSS of KEYS, and a CARTNER'S ARMS held out in meek supplication to the Established Church, never to withold its present intervention between him and his isolated neighbour the STARKIE'S

J. Derrick Smith
24 February 2006

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