Ep 28 Hampstead Pubs Pt 2 - Freemason's Arms, Jack Straw's Castle, Spaniards Inn

This is the second of two episodes covering the great old pubs of Hampstead. This one takes a look at The Freemason’s Arms, Jack Straw’s Castle and Spaniards Inn

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Google map with pubs covered in previous episodes pinned, courtesy of Andy Meddick:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/4/edit?mid=12c-WKa3XiT1qTLydK8psZocUR7Y_Wes&usp=sharing

Or TinyURL: https://tinyurl.com/bduca5dv

The following resources are referenced or quoted frequently in these episodes:

• Ted Bruning  -- Historic Pubs of London (ISBN 978-0658005022) and London By Pub (ISBN 978-0658005022)
• Wikipedia
• https://londonspubswherehistoryreallyhappened.wordpress.com/  by Ann Laffeaty 

Additionally, the  following resource(s) were used / quoted in this episode:

Orwells London:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1OuvLmpOomQ2YFgJKbHbuzMoW4pllJEk&femb=1&ll=51.55538649508973%2C-0.16445213755555077&z=17

Freemason Arms:

https://londonwiki.co.uk/Middlesex/Hampstead/FreemasonsArms.shtml
https://londonskittles.co.uk/index.htm

Jack Straw’s Castle:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-10-06_Hunt_EngelsMarx-T.pdf

Spaniards Inn:

https://camra.org.uk/pubs/spaniards-inn-hampstead-158165
https://izi.travel/en/b19c-the-spaniards/en
https://adam-yamey-writes.com/2020/12/08/the-spaniards/
https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-spaniards-inn-hampstead/
https://numberonelondon.net/2021/04/historic-pub-crawl-the-spaniards-inn/
https://layersoflondon.humap.site/map/records/the-spaniards-inn-spaniards-road-hampstead-london

Intro music:
Vivaldi - Spring Allegro by John Harrison w/ the Wichita State University Chamber Orch

Photo:  Jacob Surland

Website: https://historiclondonpubcast.com/

E-mail: hosteric@historiclondonpubcast.com

Transcript

Welcome to this episode of The Historic London Pubcast. I'm Eric Blair, and I'd like to take you on a journey through the rich history of London's iconic pubs. My goal is to share with you my passion for the great old pubs of London. I want to give you some facts to help you appreciate the history of these hallowed establishments mixed in with some fun stories that make it all go down as smooth as a well poured pint.

This is the second episode devoted to the pubs around the north London village of Hampstead. If you haven't listened to the first episode, maybe you want to start with that one, but it's not absolutely necessary. That episode covered The Flask at Hampstead, The Hollybush, The Duke of Hamilton, and The King William IV. I started that episode with a bit about the area of Hampstead.

Let's also start this episode with some general information before moving to the specifics of the pubs. This time let's talk about some of the famous Literati that most likely were patrons of the Hampstead pubs. Hampstead was long an attraction for Artists and Writers. There's a respectable list of names, but I would like to focus on two who actually lived in Hampstead.

First, Poet John Keats. Keats was born in 1795, in Moorgate, London, to a working-class family. He lost his father at age eight to an accident and his mother at age 14 to tuberculosis. There were modest funds left from his parents and grandparents that allowed him to attend a boarding school, and later Saint Guy's medical school. His passion for the Literary Arts had been ignited during his boarding school days, and by the time he received his Apothecary license, he was resolved not to practice medicine but write poetry full time instead.

He and his two brothers moved to Hampstead in April of 1817, and John began to associate with likeminded folks like Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Most of these guys didn't live in Hampstead like Keats. They simply traveled to the area to discourse with other Literati. The Heath always seemed to attract. 

Keats was considered one of the leading poets of the Romantic Period. He was inspired by nature, like all the Romantic Era Writers, and he loved to take long walks. So, living near The Heath was a natural. Keats wrote in a letter to his brother of the long walk he and Coleridge had taken one day on The Heath. They had talked about a thousand things - nightingales, poetry, poetic sensation, metaphysics. Tuberculosis took more of his brother's, and John moved to Wentworth Place in 1818 on the edge of The Heath, which is now The Keats House Museum.

He was to live here for his remaining life in Britain. He wrote most of his well-known works here. Ode To Aggression, Ode On A Grecian Urn, and his other famous Odes, the poems La Belle Thompson's Mercy, and Endymion. He met the great romantic interest of his life here as well, but his health began to falter like his brother and mother before him. He caught the family curse. Tuberculosis. Doctors advised him to get to a warmer climate. So, in September 1820, he left for Rome. Sadly, he died there five months later. He was only 25 years old. One of the pubs covered in this episode, The Spaniards Inn, lays claim to Keats as a patron, and I believe it wouldn't a bit of ale be nice after a long walk on the heath. We know that most of the other pubs discussed here and in the previous Hampstead episode were in operation when Keats was living nearby. So, I don't think it's much of a stretch to believe that he must have popped into The Flask, The King William IV, and The Duke of Hamilton. None of these pubs are more than ten-minute walk away from his digs.

Think of that when you visit. And the second Writer I would like to consider is one George Orwell. For that, we move on a little more than a century from Keats. Orwell lived about 15 months in the years 1934 and 35, in Hampstead, in two locations, Warwick Mansions on Pond Street and 77 Parliament Hill, on the edge of The Heath. Both are now marked by Blue Commemorative Plaques, and are a 5-to-10-minute walk from where he slipped thus close to the pubs we mentioned. George worked part-time in a nearby bookstore, and his life in Hampstead became the inspiration for his novel, “Keep The Aspidistra Flying.” Also, during this period, his Landlady introduced him to the woman that would become his wife. 

But George never stayed long in any one place, and by the end of 1935, his job at the bookstore and Hampstead were in his rear-view mirror. I don't know if George was a dedicated walker like Keats, but he definitely was a dedicated pub patron. Again, I think it's safe to assume that he took in the Hampstead pubs we mentioned, and during Orwell’s time The Hollybush was around as well. So, lift a glass to John and George. I'm confident that they contributed to keeping these pubs in business so we can enjoy them today. 

The first pub today is The Freemasons Arms, about a ten-minute walk from the village itself and the northern line's Hampstead tube stop. It's even closer to the London Overground’s Hampstead Heath tube stop. These are two similar stop names, but they're on different lines so don't get confused. Located at 32 Downshire Hill, there are records that show a pub at this location in 1819, a time when the area was being built out with mansions and cottages and certainly needed a little libation infrastructure. Ted Bruning in his book Historic Pubs Of London gives a great introduction to the pub,

“The original pub was demolished in the 1930s because it was found to be unsafe. It was described in 1919 as a smallish box of a building covered with creeper. Its structural unworthiness resulted from a tributary of the Fleet River flowing underneath it.”

The pubs of the 1930s have been deprecated for a long time, and not just because they were until recently too new to get nostalgic about. Their design reflected a conscious move away from both one, the excess of the Victorian Gin Palace and two, the unsophistication of the rustic beer house started just before the First World War. But these virtues are back in fashion now and as a result, the improved pubs of the ‘20s and ‘30s have been underappreciated. And one of these, The Freemason’s Arms, is something special. It's a conscious attempt to reinterpret Queen Anne's style. The 1850s and 60s. Its large, airy spaces have the cool elegance demanded by the pub setting. It is essentially one large room, broken up by high back settled and wood and glass partitions, but with the distinction that the wood here is pale rather than the black oak favored by the Victorians.

The calm sophistication with which the architects handled this large space begs the question why are pub designers of today so obsessed with mock Victoriana? A visit to The Freemasons would give them new ideas.” 

Thanks, Ted. As always, well-written.

CAMRA’sWhat Pub website gives us a bit more information, 

“The still large garden was allegedly the site of 17 Century game of Pall Mall, a Dutch ball game which gave its name to Pall Mall. From what I can find. Pall Mall was a game similar to what we moderns know as croquet, and required a bit of space. Part of that space is now the outside garden of the pub and it's lovely on a nice day.” 

CAMRA has one final point for us, 

“The pub has a unique feature that lies in the basement, a full-size Old English or London skittle alley, now the only one in the capital. It has been prone to flooding from time to time as the pub sits above a tributary of the River fleet. But a new manager seems to be on top of things, and hopefully that will be less of an issue in the future. The Skittles alley is run by a club, London Skittles.” 

Thanks, CAMRA.

On my first visit at the pub, we asked the Manager about the basement alley, and he kindly took us down for a look. A couple of years later, when we scheduled our next visit, we made sure to go on the one night a week the skittles club use the alley. We were hoping to just stand back and watch, but the guys in the club were so nice they insisted we join in the game. Great blokes! Fellas, it's now years later and we still remember your kindness. 

Skittles is a term used across the UK for several types of bowling games. This version is called, “London Skittles.” The club has an informative website. Let me read a few sentences from that, 

“The traditional pub game of London Skittles is played with nine pins. Unlike other forms of alley, Skittles is played not with a ball but with a cheese which is thrown, not rolled at the pin. The game is also known as Old English Skittles, and is now played only at the Freemasons Arms in Hampstead.”

I have linked their website in the notes. It gives you more information about the game and its history. They also provide this invitation, 

“If you're looking for things to do on an evening out in London and you like pub games and real beer, come to The Freemasons Arms. We play every Tuesday from about 7:30 p.m.”

 I can personally attest this is a good time. The Freemasons Arms, like several of the establishments in the area, is a Gastropub, so dining is a big part of their business, and the menu has upscale selections, but you can still pop in for a drink only if you like. Either way, I bet you'll enjoy yourself.

Our next pub is a little distant, so as we exit The Freemasons Arms, we might want to consider that The Magdala pub is only a five-minute walk away. That pub is covered in the Episode on True Crime pubs, so if you are inspired to visit The Freemasons, listen to that episode to see if you want to include The Magdala as part of your visit as well.

One final caution. There's another pub in Covent Garden area named The Freemason Arms. Using the phrase ’The Freemasons Arms, Hampstead,’ when first referring to this pub, will permit any confusion. 

Okay, we're off to The Spaniards Inn. Google Maps says that it’s a 30-minute walk. There are buses you can take, but you still have to do a bit of walking. Of course, there's Uber and the like, but if you ask the question, “What would John Keats do?” You know the answer walk! You'd be what the Brits might say, “On Shanks’ Pony.” Your route will likely take you by a former pub that was called Jack Straw's Castle. This is a Grade II listed building, so it's protected from demolition, but somehow the pub that the site contained is no longer around. 

I asked my AI chat buddy what happened to the pub and got the answer, 

“Jack Straw's Castle is a historic building located in Hampstead. It was built in the 16th Century and has been used as a private residence, a school and hotel. The Castle is currently owned by the City of London and is used for events and conferences. 

In 2002, the pub closed and was turned into housing and a gym.”

Okay, give it a look as you pass by on your bus, Uber or on the Shanks Ponies and I'll give you a bit of history. The pub took its name from one of the supposed leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. When the revolt collapsed after meeting King Richard Second's forces, it's said that Jack took refuge at this location. He was supposedly executed with the other revolt leaders. And why did the pub adopt this exact name? There's a story that Straw addressed groups of rebels on The Heath from a hay wagon, and that the wagon became known as Jack Straw's Castle. There's a lot of legend here. It's not clear what is actually true.

Wiki concludes, 

“Whether Straw was a real person, a pseudonym, or simply the result of confusion on the part of chroniclers remote from the events they were describing. He went on to become a part of the popular narrative of the revolt.”

The pub has had some famous patrons. 

Again, from Wiki, 

“Charles Dickens was known to visit the pub, describing it as a place where he could get, “A red hot chop for dinner and a glass of good wine.””

William Makepeace Thackeray and Wilkie Collins also visited. It is mentioned in Bram Stoker's Dracula and also in Harold Pinter's play No Man's Land. One more claim to fame Jack Straw’s Castle was one of Karl Marx's favorite pubs. Funded by his buddy Engels. Marx and his family were able to move out of the squalor of Soho to a better place a little over a mile and a half south of Hampstead Heath in the Kentish Town area. Marx supposedly visited Jack Straw's Castle frequently. Perhaps he liked the revolutionary aspect of the name. 

This paragraph is from a historical research piece by Doctor Tristan Hunt that is linked in the notes,  

“While Marx took the tram down to the British Library reading room to work away on Das Kapital, the three Marx daughters were sent to South Hampstead College For Ladies. The weekend was reserved for romps on The Heath. Jenny Marx, Karl's wife, would conjure up a lavish picnic where Karl would buy flagons a beer from Jack Straw's Castle. There were games of hide and seek, the shaking of Chestnut trees, marches over into Highgate and then on the walk back to Kentish Town, Marx would lead his family in renditions of German folk songs, Negro spirituals and great chunks of Dante and Shakespeare. “We really thought we were living in a magic castle,” as Jenny Marx put it.”

Interesting guy Marxie was, and an avid pub goer. Perhaps there is a need for a future Pubcast episode on Karl's pub life, but for now, we've arrived at The Spaniards Inn. There is a lot of historical information about The Spaniards, some of which might actually be true.

Let me lay it on you. I'll throw in here and there, comments as to the veracity of the various historical tidbits. The building supposedly goes back to 1585, constructed at the boundary between Finchley and the Bishop of London's estates. According to Wiki, an original boundary stone from 1755 can still be seen in the front garden. Opposite the pub is a toll house that was built around 1710. The name came from either two Spanish brothers who converted the building into a pub in the 1700s, and fought a duel with each other over a woman, or from the claim that the Spanish Ambassador and his entourage constructed and or occupied the place in the days of James the First. That's the late 1500s to early 1600s. It's hard to tell what is true, but it's held the name The Spaniards and for a while, so I guess it's just a matter of taking your choice of the origin story. 

Onto further legends. Dick Turpin, the famous highwayman, is associated with the pub. Some say his father actually ran the place. Dick's father was a butcher and innkeeper, and Dick initially followed him in the butchery trade, but soon turned to a life of crime. Dick lived from 1705 to 1739, and was active as a highwayman in the 1720s and 30s. He and his gang did hang out on the edge areas around London, and frequently raided farms and held up travelers along the coaching routes. Places like the rural areas of Marylebone, Putney, Gravesend, Hounslow Heath saw Dick and the boys come and go. So, for a big rural area north of London, which Hampstead was back then, it might not be out of the question that Dick made it up there, but I can't find anything to support it other than The Spaniards Inn claim that he knew the pub well. 

Dick was originally from Hempstead, about 50 miles northeast of London. I wonder if the similarity of that name to Hampstead might be a cause for confusion. What is not in dispute is that although Dick was believed to have killed several men in his life of crime, he was actually tried, convicted and executed for horse stealing in York. This happened in April of 1739. Dick’s story became the stuff of pulp fiction and legend that still is referred to today. For example, in 2024, Apple TV offered a historical comedy series in eight parts entitled, “The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.” 

Let's cover another story that might have a bit more truth in it. In June of 1780, several days of rioting occurred in London and was termed The Gordon Riots.  Wiki tells us,

“The rioting began with a large and orderly protest against The Papist Act of 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British Catholics. Lord George Gordon, head of the Protestant Association, argued that the law would enable Catholics to join the British Army and plot treason. The protest led to widespread rioting and looting, including attacks on Newgate Prison and the Bank of England, and was the most destructive in the history of London.

Some of the rioters marched on Hampstead, intending on attacking Kenwood House, a stately house about one half mile away from The Spaniard's Inn, and at the time the family home of William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield. The Earl was a prominent lawyer, reformer and politician. Murray was a target of the mob because he was Lord Chief Justice when the act was passed, and had been lenient with the Catholic priest in a Court of Justice case.

Mansfield's home in Bloomsbury Square had already been burned by another segment of rioters, so Kenwood House seemed to be next. Giles Thomas was the landlord of the Spaniard's Inn and, working with the steward of Kenwood House, reportedly provided free drinks for all. Keeping the rioters occupied until the local militia arrived. Thus, the house was saved.”

Hmm, so it all becomes clear now. They were not really rioting for politics. They were rioting for free beer. Okay, boys. Count me in. Where's our next meet-up? By the way, Kenwood House is open to the public and is a popular tourist spot. Is particularly known for its art collection. Thank you, Landlord Thomas, for helping preserve it for us.The Spaniards Inn is mentioned in Dickens’ first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

Here's a quote I found, 

“Well, Mr. Rattle, said Mrs. Bardell, I am sure you ought to feel very much honored at you and Tommy being the only gentleman to escort so many ladies all the way up to The Spaniards at Hampstead.”

Also, in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the inn was mentioned,

“By good chance we got a cab near The Spaniards and drove to town.”

The inn and the gatehouse across the road once worked very effectively in stopping horse drawn traffic and pedestrians for toll collection. Now they act as a pinch point for traffic. As recently as 1922, there was an initiative to tear down the gatehouse to resolve this impediment, but it failed, and in 1974 things were finally put to bed when the gatehouse achieved Grade II status, thus making the traffic squeeze permanent. 

With famous folks frequenting The Heath for literally hundreds of years, the inn has a goodly list of famous patrons besides Keats and Orwell, who we discussed in the opening of this episode. The Romantic Era writers Percy Shelley, Byron and Mary Shelley, Painters from the late 1700s and early 1800s, William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds, John Constable. More recent folks, from Alfred Hitchcock to Bob Dylan to Amy Winehouse. Some reviews suggest it is a great place for celeb sighting. If you're into that kind of thing,

Okay, let's talk about what you'll see when you walk in. Ted Bruning once again does a good job of that in Historic Pubs of London, he writes, 

“Whether the Spaniard's Inn has any storage or not, it would still be one of the most atmospheric pubs in London. It has the requisite bare floorboards, black panels and partitions and nicotine plaster. It also has a smashing little snug at the back, a dining room to one side, another room upstairs and a tiny porch room which will seat 9 thin people who don't mind touching.”

The pub appears to give deference to its restaurant trade, so popping in for just a drink at prime times might not be the best way to experience the pub. CAMRA’s website says, 

“It can get very busy from the weekends, so don't be surprised with a long queue just to get a drink on a busy, sunny Sunday afternoon. Drinkers may be relegated to the heated gardens if tables inside are booked for food.”

So, plan your visit. Book a table if you want to dine or go in the off hours. If you just want a drink, you'll want to relax, have a seat, sip your drink and soak in the pub's great ambiance. 

So that brings us to the end of our second episode on Hampstead, but wait, there's still more to come from the other side of The heath - Highgate. There are some great pubs there as well. Highgate will be covered in an upcoming episode. For this one, please like, thumbs up, and subscribe as is your want, and drop me a line or comment at the email in the notes hosteric@historiclondonpubcast.com if the notion strikes you. Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, Cheers!