This is my latest article to appear in the Towcester Town Crier Old Towcester 8 – Early history of the Saracen’s Head Inn The Saracen’s Head was Towcester’s predominant inn for much of the 18th and 19th century apart from the period between 1782 and 1840 when the New White Horse Inn (Museum Court) eclipsed it in size. Precisely when the Saracen’s Head first opened for business is not known but its architectural style suggests the early years of the 18th century. Although the Saracen’s Head was owned by the Earl of Pomfret in 1728 it is not recorded in a rental of 1720 and there do not appear to be any documents within the Fermor-Hesketh archive relating to the inn’s purchase. There is no doubt that the present building was standing in 1732 and its construction is likely to have been between 1700 and 1728. Perhaps it was built for Sir Thomas Fermor on the site of buildings and land already owned by him? The 1720’s were a period of great advancement for Thomas Fermor. He had inherited the estate and became the 2nd Baron Leominster in 1711. In 1721 he inherited the title of the Earl of Pomfret and in 1727 had obtained the important Royal appointment of Master of the Horse to Queen Caroline. His country home, Easton Neston House, was one of the finest modern houses in England. It would have been to his advantage to have a modern inn in close proximity to his country seat where visitors could be temporarily housed if there was insufficient accommodation at the house or where visiting tradesman & officials could be accommodated. Perhaps it was the 1727 Royal appointment that spurred him on to have the Saracen’s Head built. There is no written record of why it was called The Saracen’s Head so this has to be speculated. My guess would be that it was named after the famous London inn of that name that went back at least to Henry VIII’s reign (it was demolished in 1868 when the Holborn Viaduct was constructed). There is a painting of that inn by Lawson Stewart in the Museum of London which shows it had been altered and improved about the same time that the Towcester Inn was built so it could have acted as a guide to the new inn’s design. The Earl of Pomfret’s first publican of the Saracen’s Head was William McConnell, a former soldier of Duke of Argyle’s regiment of foot and a Chelsea Pensioner, who had to pay £107 13s a year in rent - a high sum. The illustration shows how the inn may have looked in his time circa 1730. On the ground floor were four parlours, a scullery and kitchen. When full the inn could accommodate 24 visitors overnight but had stabling for 84 horses. This illustrates the Saracen’s Head importance as a ’posting house’ providing horses for travellers along Watling Street and the coach trade. McConnell was also the local postmaster and Towcester was a significant point in the country’s postal system as some mail would be brought up from London and redirected from here to other towns. One of McConnell’s accounts books for the postal work in the 1740’s survives at the Record Office. The front and back of the book is covered with’ Tow Cester ‘ franking marks where the postal clerk had tested his ‘frank’ first before using them on letters. Inside the cover is neatly written “Many inconveniences attend mankind” suggesting McConnell or one his staff were having a bad day!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 06:56:35 +0000
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