Sunday, 31 December 2017

The White Hart Inn, Bath

The White Hart Inn, Bath was Bath's oldest recorded inn, dating back to at least 1503.  Jane Austen used it as a location for characters in Persuasion, whilst Charles Dickens immortalised the landlord Moses Pickwick in The Pickwick Papers.  Moses Pickwick succeeded his uncle, Eleazar Pickwick "the most celebrated of Bath's landlords".

The White Hart was demolished in 1867 and replaced by the Grand Pump Room Hotel.  This in turn was demolished in 1959 and replaced by Arlington House, "a bland, collonaded Baldwin-style building".  The White Hart Inn was on the junction of Stall Street and Westgate Street.The flyer below, from 1828, advertises all the coaches running from there.

The advertisements below are undated but belong to the pre-railway era, both advertising coaches from the White Hart Inn, Bath.

By 1844 the coaches now link to the railways.

The postcard shows the "White Hart Inn" in the coaching era, along with the Guildhall, Bath.


1 comment:

  1. Hi - I am the author of the novel Death and Mr Pickwick, published by Random House in 2015, which tells the story behind the creation of The Pickwick Papers. There's some great material you have here, and I have just put a link to this blog on the novel's facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/deathandmrpickwick/posts/1258684010932115 All the best Stephen Jarvis

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