Lectures

3rd January 2024: Members’ Evening

At our Members’s Evening on 3rd January Maureen de Saxe gave a talk on the early years of pubs of Wye. Wye was a busy market town, and an important through route to and from the coast, which would have incentivised the brewing and selling of ale – the staple drink, and beer after the arrival of hops in the region in the 1500s. Records suggest that over time there have been at least 20 pubs in Wye.

The earliest record of a pub in Wye is The Bell, dating from the 1300s, although the location is unknown. Addtionally, during the 1300s the Undercroft would have been a tavern selling wine.

The earliest pub for which the location is known is the”Old” Flying Horse (now a private residence) in High Street opposite the Latin School, which dates from the 1400-1500s. Around this time there was also a pub in Olantigh Road called The Red Lion, and a pub called the Chequers near the site of the present Wife of Bath.

About half a dozen pubs were located in Church Street, of which the oldest known establishment is The Kings Head that dates from the1500s. Next to the King’s Head was the Star Brewery, which burnt down early in the 20th century never to be rebuilt. In Bridge Street there were a number of pubs dating from the 1700 to 1800s, including the Swan (Swan House) and The George.

Maureen’s talk was followed by David Perkins who spoke about the writer Laurence du Garde Peach (1890 1974), who authored over 30 Ladybird books in the Adventure from History series.

At university, Peach studied English followed by PhD on 17th century European drama. Peach left academia to follow a prolific career as a full-time writer. He wrote plays for radio and for the stage, including amateur theatre of which he was a great champion, particularly in his home town of Great Hucknow in the Peak District.. Additionally he wrote the screenplays for several films, including The Tunnel (1935) about the construction of a transatlantic tunnel between London and New York. Much of his radio work was dramatisation of history and biography and he was a regular on BBC Children’s Hour.

In the 1950’s Peach started writing for the Ladybird Adventure from History series. The books he authored include the Kings and Queens of England Books 1 and 2, some on individual kings and queens, such as King Alfred the Great, King John and the Magna Carta, Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I, and books on historical figures including Chritopher Columbus, Joan of Arc, Warwick the Kingmaker, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Marie Curie, and Captain Scott.

Margaret Bray