INNSIDE INFORMATION

Sorry about the pun – it’s probably something I caught from reading the “Mercury” – but browsing through my collection of seventeenth century Hertford wills and inventories I came upon one of the latter I had forgotten, perhaps not surprisingly, since I transcribed it at least twenty years ago. Having rediscovered it, I was instantly reminded of my article “Much Ado about Tippling” in last year’s Journal, for it was an inventory of the contents of the King’s Arms, Hertford, compiled on 31 August 1646, eight years after the case described. It was not a probate inventory, but one listing the goods of the then landlord, Jonas Danyell, “confiscate to the Maior and Burgesses of Hertford to the use of the Corporation” – in other words, Danyell was being distrained for debt, which is why it appears in Volume 20 of the Corporation Records in HALS (Vol.20 fo.242 ff). Readers who may be wondering whether Elizabeth King’s tenancy had been abruptly terminated following the events recorded in my article can be reassured: the lady was still there as late as 1641.

The first thing that can be said of the King’s Arms was that it was no humble alehouse. There were six major bedrooms, all named, as was common at this period. They were, in order of listing, “The Lyon”; “The Bell”; “The Half Moon”; “The Rose”; “The Starre Chamber” – not, one might think, the most felicitous name for a bedroom in the first half of the century – and “The Crowne”. Assuming these to have all been on the first floor or even higher, what lay beneath?

In “the room next Chandlers shop” (Edward Chandler was a draper) there were two more beds, one a “field” bedstead – rather like a modern “camp” bed – and a “trundle” bed, a low bed on castors that, when out of use, would normally be stored under a conventional bedstead. The main downstairs room, of course, was the hall, not to be thought of in modern estate agent’s jargon. Quite apart from the furnishings, what are interesting are the “two little drinking rooms”, possibly alcoves off the main hall. Between the room next Chandler’s shop and the hall was the parlour, also named: “The Court of Gardy”. If we may infer from the contents, it was quite small and intimate: perhaps the room where Onyon and Smith , concealed themselves when Robert Stephens came looking for them? Next to the hall was the buttery, then another named room, “the Grayhound”(sic), again seemingly small and intimate, and then the little room rather curiously described as “the Brick room”, possibly a brick-built lean-to on the main timber-framed house. Its contents make strange reading: a form, a standing bed, a bench and – a henpen! Lastly came the brewhouse.

The appraisers then went into the yard. But where was the kitchen? It, the larder and an adjoining room are listed after the yard. This may indicate detachment from the main house, common’ enough in medieval times, but archaic for 1646. With the contents of the cellar being listed afterwards it is more likely that this was an annexe attached to the main house, but only accessible from the yard.

There were stables in the yard, but no mention of livestock. A barn is said to contain “three and a half acres of hay” – a rather odd way of estimating the contents. Wood valued at no less than £5 is listed – a considerable fire risk.

Lastly the appraisers valued the linen in the house. For an inn, the list is not impressive : six pairs of flaxen sheets; six pairs of coarser ones (probably towan or canvas); a mere four pairs of flaxen pillowbeeres (pillow cases); seven tablecloths, sixty-six napkins and only one “Dyaper” towel! Most of the curtains listed are bed-curtains: only the “Crowne”, clearly the best bedroom, boasted a window curtain.