Viewing the 'Stroud Green Badge' at the Victoria & Albert Museum

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  • Latest on the Stroud Green Badge and the Stapleton Tavern, from eminent historian Gillian Tindall.

    She says the Stapleton Hall Tavern was never inside the Tudor manor house (as claimed in the book I have) but has always been on the site of the present pub at the bottom of Crouch Hill - it goes back to at least 1735, when it was 'The Green Man'.

    She wrote: "A surveyors' map made when Stroud Green Road was getting built up in 1868 (Stapleton Hall Road was laid out a few years later) clearly shows `Stapleton Hall Tavern' exactly where the pub is today, in the intersection between the beginning of Crouch Hill and the just-being-laid-out Mount Pleasant Road. Stapleton Hall itself is a good hundred yards away.

    "The Green Man at Stroud Green was registered as an inn in 1735 and may have been there some time already. The inn-keeper, Mr Rogers, died in a fall from his horse while riding home from Islington in 1759 and his widow had changed the name of the pub to Stapleton Hall Tavern by 1765, when a meeting there for the `Ancient Order of Stroud Green' was advertised, and again in 1767. The related `Corporation of Stroud Green', with its joke mayor-and-aldermen evidently met there again in 1773, which is the date of the inscription on the back of the medal you have seen. That's your connection."
  • edited 5:27PM
    ... just cos a pub was shown there in the 1860s does not mean it has always been there, and the earlier taverns connected with this immediate vicinity were all (it seems) called The Green Man.

    It is likely one could similar spurious assertions for longevity claims for other buildings shown on that map)

    More evidence needed .. how about the eminent Ms Tindall gets to the some land records to back this light-weight assertion.
  • edited 5:27PM
    I just viewed the 1862 map of the area: Edward Stanford's 24 plate, "6 inch to the mile Library Map of London & Its Suburbs", which was published in 1862 --- <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-_Stroud_Green,_London_(Stapleton_Hall_1862).jpg" "target=_blank">see here</A> --- and there is NO Stapleton Hall Tavern "<i>where the pub is today, in the intersection between the beginning of Crouch Hill and the just-being-laid-out Mount Pleasant Road</I>"... so ADGS, I am sorry to dissapppint you, but that pub is a later building ... so much for Ms Tindall's "emminence" ... she owes you a drink!
  • edited 5:27PM
    sorry ADGS ... I meant .... krappyrubsniff is owed a drink ... dohh!
  • Yes, I agree that Stanford's 1863 map does not show the pub, but these Lonsdon-wide maps tend not be be very reliable on individual detail whereas, for obvious reasons, a surveyors' map when a small section is land is actually being laid out for building has to be accurate.
    The reason that it is now generally accepted by Hornsey historians that Stapleton Hall and the pub were never one and the same building derives, indeed, from land records, which indicate a series of tenant farmers in Stapleton Hall throughout the eighteenth century.
    Yes, there were other Green Man pubs in the general area north of London, which is why one needs to be careful.
    GT.
  • edited 5:27PM
    Well, I for one do not at all buy your argument based on the hearsay evidence you offer here ... but nonetheless good luck with your publishing activities ...
  • edited 5:27PM
    @mpc - easy tiger.
  • edited 5:27PM
    Here is a little more to add ... which suggests that the Stapleton Hall Tavern <b> was </b> located in Stapleton Hall in the later 1700s.

    In the Victoria County History (see note 1) we read: <I>Known as Stapleton Hall, it stands near the north-west end of Stapleton Hall Road [...]. In 1765 it was licensed as the Stapleton Hall Tavern</I> ([according to] M.R.O., MR/LV8/40) (see note 2)
    [...]
    <I> It was the Stroud Green Conservative club by 1888</I>.

    Notes:
    (1). <I>Victoria County History : A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate</I> by T F T Baker, C R Elrington (Editors), A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, M A Hicks, R B Pugh (1980), at pp.146-49. Available at: www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22522#n55 ; consulted 7 December 2010.

    (2). M.R.O. Middlesex Record Office. On the incorporation of Middlesex within Greater London on 1 April 1965 the office became known as the Greater London Record Office (Middlesex Records), now the London Metropolitan Archive.

    The Victoria County History (VCH) was founded in 1899 and originally dedicated to Queen Victoria, the VCH is an encyclopaedic record of England's places and people from earliest times to the present day. It is without doubt the greatest publishing project in English local history, having built an international reputation for scholarly standards. Based at the Institute of Historical Research in the University of London since 1933, the VCH is written by historians working in counties across England. Available at www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/NationalSite/Home/Main ; consulted 7 December 2010.


    .
  • You are quite right that the Victoria County History is normally a very much respected source. However, in this instance, I am afraid it made a hash of Stapleton Hall, and the fact is recognised by the present generation of people concerned with the VCH - the relevant volume is quite an old one.There was a general lack of scholarly scrupulousness, and it must be said common sense, throughout the entry. Even at a cursory reading, it becomes clear that what is stated in one para. contradicts another: that is, the Stapleton family either appear on the scene in 1609 or do so through a marriage in the eighteenth century, but both propositions cannot be true. I would again refer interested parties to the current (2010) bulletin of the Hornsey Historical Society where all this is laid out in detail by John Hinshelwood, and the probable true original builders of the house named.
    I would also point, as further evidence that the VCH's normal checking systems went on the blink at this point, that Stapleton Hall is not at the north-west end of SH Road but the the south-west one.
    GT.
  • edited 5:27PM
    Go Gillian!
  • edited 5:27PM
    Stapleton Hall Tavern/Green Man and Stapleton Hall were always separate the latter being the main house to a farm and estate. It still stands and was the Hornsey Conservative Club until 1986-ish when it was sold and several fantastic old trees made way for the flats and car park there now.

    See below The Song for the Ancient Corporation of Stroud Green which is perhaps what they sing when leaving the Sugar Lounge?

    'The Corporation's Song'
    The Song for the Ancient Corporation of Stroud Green appears in Fraternal Melody a song book of 1773, by a certain William Riley also containing, among many others, 'A Song for the Corporation of Grays inn Lane', and 'An Ode for the Corporation of Southwark'.

    Among the subscribers to this song book are: Robert Grant, jun, Recorder of the Ancient Corporation of Stroud Green; Sheriff Richardson of the Ancient Corporation of Stroud Green; Sheriff Whittow of the Ancient Corporation of Stroud Green.

    Song for the Ancient Corporation of Stroud Green
    Set to Music by the Author

    Ye Sons of Jollity and Mirth
    Of each denomination,
    Attend, while I declare the worth,
    Of Stroud Green Corporation:
    Tho' weak my Verse, 'tis strictly true,
    And Free from adulation,
    The praises then let me pursue
    Of Stroud Green Corporation.

    To fair *ASTREA's name we pay
    Respect and veneration,
    Of her we tune the vocal Lay
    At Stroud Green Corporation
    Long may She here with us reside,
    And know none alteration
    +May She still flourish far, and wide,
    Like Stroud Green Corporation.
    * Justice
    + from the motto of the Corporation
    Justitia floreat, ut noi ab origine

    When met to take a cheerful Glass
    In mutual recreation,
    How sweetly do the minutes pass
    With Stroud Green Corporation:
    Each Alderman his quota pays
    And that's in moderation,
    No longer than he like, he stays
    With Stroud Green Corporation.

    For Albion, happy would it be,
    Were those in higher station,
    From Brib'ry, and Corruption, free
    At Stroud Green Corporation;
    But such high Crimes we're taught to shun
    At out Initiation,
    Which, brighter than meridian Sun,v Makes Stroud Green Corporation.

    The mirthful Scenes we here enjoy
    Exceed all expectation,
    And Pleasure, which do never cloy,
    Attend out Corporation;
    For to improper Company
    We ne'er give invitation,v Lest they disturb the Harmony
    Of Stroud Green Corporation.

    What *ORDER can with this compare,
    And boast such regulation?
    Or such immunities does sharev As Stroud Green Corporation?
    In Brimmers since there's no deceit,
    Take each a fit Potation,
    'Twill make our happiness complete
    At Stroud Green Corporation.
    *or Society

    May Peace and Plenty ever smile
    Throughout the British Nation,
    And Pleasure all our cares beguile
    At Stroud Green Corporation;v Here's Health, Success, prosperity,
    To this Association,
    Fill ev'ry Glass, and drink with me
    To Stroud Green Corporation.
  • edited 5:27PM
    Cool. Very pirates of penzance
  • edited 5:27PM
    Fits nicely to the tune of Good King Wenceslas.
  • edited 5:27PM
    Rubbish drinking club if you could remember ALL the verses in ye olde song!?!?
  • edited 5:27PM
    Link to article in the Hornsey Journal mentioning "the community website StroudGreen.org": [Stroud Green Badge](http://www.hornseyjournal.co.uk/news/features/a_sparkling_tale_of_local_history_unpinned_by_the_stroud_green_badge_1_769120)
  • edited 5:27PM
    Crikey. Good show. It'll be in the dead tree version of the paper on Wednesday.

    I trust the Stapleton is already planning Stroud Green day (wenches included).
  • edited 5:27PM
    I hereby volunteer as a wench for the occasion. I believe that Misscara has a wench costume in her armoury too.
  • edited 5:27PM
    Right then, who's who in that pic, l-r?
  • edited 5:27PM
    Hmmm, not sure they will want to "out" themselves on SG.org - although some are easy to guess....
  • edited 5:27PM
    Only six people in the picture are to my certain knowledge SG.orgers. Two names missing........
  • edited 5:27PM
    This is tremendous. It's pure G.K. Chesterton in spirit. Go to it!
  • edited 5:27PM
    Haven't we already entered the later, less fun stages of The Napoleon of Notting Hill, where the younger generation take it all too seriously and pointless wars are fought and died in over postcodes?
  • edited 5:27PM
    This is bloody brilliant. Marvellous work, krs
  • edited 5:27PM
    Thank you, emine. I look forward to a pint of porter and a handbagging from Mrs KRS when she sees the wenching remarks :-(
  • edited 5:27PM
    That's more than likely when Mrs KRS sees the actual wenches! I'll have to keep an eye on Mr Wisteria.
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