The Royal Standard of England
A bright and sunny yet very muddy cross country walk out to the Royal Standard of England (& back again via a slightly diffetent equally muddy route), total distance about 14.3km
.
Walkabout 2025 album ... flic.kr/s/aHBqjBXsk2
Royal Standard of England, Englands oldest freehouse:
In Roman Britain, Rome encouraged the Saxon ex-legionaries to settle here in the Chilterns Catuvellauni Kingdom. Families were granted land on which to build and remnants of Iron Age hill forts can be seen near Gerrards Cross and West Wycombe. The Romans started a brick and tile kiln industry in this area, which lasted for around 1400 years. Roman power had ended by 410AD and many more settlers came from Northern Europe - mostly German tribes, Angles, Jutes and Saxons. Taking a walk in the footpaths across the road towards Lude Farm you will see remains of tiles in the soil from an old Roman brick kiln. The heavily wooded Chilterns became an area of resistance by Romano-Celtic Britons tribes that were pushed off their lands by these new settlers. The Saxons were huge ale drinkers coming from lands rich in barley. King Alfred of Wessex had a deer park here and the West Saxons brewed ale here on this site because they had a good supply of water from the old Romano-British well in the garden. The Saxon alewife (the brewer was nearly always a woman) would put a green bush up on a pole to let the locals know the ale was ready. The Brewster’s cottage became the alehouse because it was used as the meeting house for cottagers and tile-makers in the hamlet, who farmed and worked communally by sharing the open fields and woods. Here they could resolve any disputes, barter and make a toast to the goddess of barley. To drink water until 1900’s was to risk your life. Beer was the safest drink -We think it still is!
England consisted of a mix of Anglo-Saxons and Celtic Britons over the next five centuries who eventually united when faced with the threat of Viking invaders. In 1009 and 1010 the last Viking raids took place, they arrived by their longboats along the river Thames at Hedsor Wharf. Here, there was an old Saxon palisade fort where the old Roman bridge crossed the Thames on the Camlet Way. Our Saxon alehouse survived the raids of the Dark Ages because of its secluded location just out of reach of the Thames. The alehouse kept its independence as a Freehouse and avoided being incorporated in the large Lude Estate across the road from the pub, which then belonged to the old Wessex family - the Godwines. Earl Harold Godwine became King Harold II who fell at the Battle of Hastings. The first Royal Standard of England banner was a gold dragon – the same symbol was used as the war banner of the royal house of Wessex. The Norman Conquest was a military expedition without settlers, so life for the alehouse did not change from 1066 (Despite the fact that the Norman rulers thought the Anglo-Saxons drank too much ale!). The alehouse was one of the few places that people could be free of the burden of their new feudal rulers.
The Royal Standard of England
A bright and sunny yet very muddy cross country walk out to the Royal Standard of England (& back again via a slightly diffetent equally muddy route), total distance about 14.3km
.
Walkabout 2025 album ... flic.kr/s/aHBqjBXsk2
Royal Standard of England, Englands oldest freehouse:
In Roman Britain, Rome encouraged the Saxon ex-legionaries to settle here in the Chilterns Catuvellauni Kingdom. Families were granted land on which to build and remnants of Iron Age hill forts can be seen near Gerrards Cross and West Wycombe. The Romans started a brick and tile kiln industry in this area, which lasted for around 1400 years. Roman power had ended by 410AD and many more settlers came from Northern Europe - mostly German tribes, Angles, Jutes and Saxons. Taking a walk in the footpaths across the road towards Lude Farm you will see remains of tiles in the soil from an old Roman brick kiln. The heavily wooded Chilterns became an area of resistance by Romano-Celtic Britons tribes that were pushed off their lands by these new settlers. The Saxons were huge ale drinkers coming from lands rich in barley. King Alfred of Wessex had a deer park here and the West Saxons brewed ale here on this site because they had a good supply of water from the old Romano-British well in the garden. The Saxon alewife (the brewer was nearly always a woman) would put a green bush up on a pole to let the locals know the ale was ready. The Brewster’s cottage became the alehouse because it was used as the meeting house for cottagers and tile-makers in the hamlet, who farmed and worked communally by sharing the open fields and woods. Here they could resolve any disputes, barter and make a toast to the goddess of barley. To drink water until 1900’s was to risk your life. Beer was the safest drink -We think it still is!
England consisted of a mix of Anglo-Saxons and Celtic Britons over the next five centuries who eventually united when faced with the threat of Viking invaders. In 1009 and 1010 the last Viking raids took place, they arrived by their longboats along the river Thames at Hedsor Wharf. Here, there was an old Saxon palisade fort where the old Roman bridge crossed the Thames on the Camlet Way. Our Saxon alehouse survived the raids of the Dark Ages because of its secluded location just out of reach of the Thames. The alehouse kept its independence as a Freehouse and avoided being incorporated in the large Lude Estate across the road from the pub, which then belonged to the old Wessex family - the Godwines. Earl Harold Godwine became King Harold II who fell at the Battle of Hastings. The first Royal Standard of England banner was a gold dragon – the same symbol was used as the war banner of the royal house of Wessex. The Norman Conquest was a military expedition without settlers, so life for the alehouse did not change from 1066 (Despite the fact that the Norman rulers thought the Anglo-Saxons drank too much ale!). The alehouse was one of the few places that people could be free of the burden of their new feudal rulers.