Home > Essex > Great Hallingbury > Hop Poles Hop Poles
Date of photo: 1967	Picture source: John Cutting
The Hop Poles was situated at Bedlars Green. This pub closed in 2014.
Local newspaper review by John Cutting, 1967
Hop fields were at one time a familiar sight in the Essex countryside. The plant was introduced into the county during the 16th century and in the reign of the first Elizabeth the trade of making hop poles led to extensive cutting down of the trees in Hatfield Forest. Two hundred years later the cultivation of hops in this part of the country started to decline and finally died out around 1890. There are in East Anglia a number of inn signs commemorating this attractive plant which has always been associated with the brewing of beer. It is probable, however, that the sign on the wall of the inn at Great Hallingbury represents the arms of the Houblon family who lived, for many years, at Hallingbury Place. (The French name for a hop pole is houblon). One famous member, Sir John Houblon, is remembered today as the first Governor of the Bank of England. Great Hallingbury which, today in the shape of a five-pointed star, tends to engulf Hatfield Forest was described in Domesday Book as a place with “woodland for 600 swine and 25 acres of meadow.” Hatfield Forest, famous for its hornbeams, is now the property of the National Trust but until 1924 it was privately owned. The Hop Poles was then the blacksmith’s shop attached to the estate. The resident smith was, apparently, offered the freehold of the property for a modest sum but he was unable to accept and the building was bought by Benskin’s Brewery who set up the inn. There is evidence, however, that beer was brewed at the smithy many years before. The blacksmith’s shop was invariably the meeting place where villagers would congregate and exchange news and gossip. It was natural, therefore, for an enterprising wife to offer beer to the assembled company and many an old inn started life as a smithy. Much of the house has been “restored” at various times but there is enough of the original fabric left to show that the inn is an 18th century timber-framed building. Adjacent to the Hop Poles the original forge is still in position. The present landlord, William Blake, has made various changes to the interior of the inn during the past twelve months. The public bar has been enlarged and William hopes that the brewery will agree to extend the saloon by incorporating one of the ground floor living rooms. William is a keen gardener and has plans to cultivate the seven acres of land that belong to the inn. So far, however, he has found the soil unrewarding. Among many attractive paintings in the saloon is a picture showing, in all its glory, the lovely garden attached to the 16th century cottage near Moreton which was William and Eleanor Blake’s previous home. The artist is Ann Dallas who is Eleanor’s sister. There is a remarkable bench made out of a billiards table which was once at Hallingbury Place while the table in the bar is made from a couple of shove-halfpenny boards. In the public bar there is a well placed darts board and, over the counter, are the antlers of a stag which was found dead in the garden at the back of the inn when William first took over. There is always a welcome at the Hop Poles but a stranger is advised not to be misled by an invitation to have a drink, couched in refined accents, immediately he enters the inn. The voice belongs to Jeeves, a mynah bird, who is a permanent resident in the bar. On Bedlar's Green the old village pump still stands but an adjoining power station which once supplied water to all the residents has been pulled down. From the Green there is a public foot-path which leads to the middle of Hatfield Forest. Apparently however, a large sign bearing the words “Private Road” dissuades many travellers from using this right of way. Although the number of farming employers continues to grow smaller the population of Great Hallingbury has increased considerably over the past few years as modern housing estates are built. There is no reason why the Hop Poles should not attract a wide range of people from the surrounding area. In the Forest wood cutters no longer strip the branches of the hornbeams to provide mill-cogs and pulley blocks and many of the the famous old houses have been demolished. Around Great Hallingbury however, in the light of the moon on a winter’s evening it is still possible to visualise the scene so well expressed by the poetess who wrote: “The stately homes of England, How beautiful they stand! Amidst their tall ancestral trees, O’er all the pleasant land.”
Brewers: Ind Coope (East Anglia) Ltd
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