The Tabard was aninn inSouthwark established in 1307, which stood on the east side ofBorough High Street, at the road's intersection with theancient thoroughfare toCanterbury andDover. It was built for theAbbot of Hyde inWinchester, who purchased the land to construct a place for himself and his ecclesiastical brethren to stay when on business inLondon.
The Tabard was famous for accommodating people who made thepilgrimage to the Shrine ofThomas Becket inCanterbury Cathedral, and it is mentioned in the 14th-century literary workThe Canterbury Tales byGeoffrey Chaucer.
The inn was located on the south bank of theThames, just north of where the twoRoman roads ofStane Street andWatling Street merged. It stood near theManor of Southwark, controlled by theBishops of Winchester. Also known as the Liberty of Winchester, the manor lay outside the jurisdiction of theCity of London. Activities that were forbidden within the City of London and thecounty of Surrey, includingprostitution andanimal baiting, were permitted within Southwark, which thus became medieval London's entertainment district. In those times, the Tabard would have been filled with pilgrims, drunks, travellers, criminals, and prostitutes (colloquially known as the "Winchester Geese").
Chaucer wrote that the Tabard was the location where the pilgrims first met on their journey to Canterbury in the 1380s. The inn's proprietor was a man named Harry Bailey:[1]
Bifel that in that season on a day,
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde;
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And well we weren esed atte beste;
TheantiquaryJohn Stow wrote in hisSurvey that by the 16th century it was among several inns at this location in Southwark: "many fair inns, for receipt of travellers, by these signs: the Spurre, Christopher, Bull, Queen's Head, Tabard, George, Hart, King's Head" &c.[2]
Following theDissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century, "the Tabard of the Monastery of Hyde, and the Abbot's Place, with the stable and gardens thereunto belonging" were sold to John and Thomas Master. The goldsmithJohn Mabbe (died 1578) acquired the inn. His son Robert Mabbe pledged a share of the inn to the goldsmithAffabel Partridge for a loan.[3]
The layout of the Tabard Inn was described in a lease in 1540,[4] and in a legal dispute, Partridgev. Mabbe, in 1601. Named rooms in 1601 included a parlour, the dark parlour, a hall, the chamber called the "flower de luce", a kitchen, the cook's lofts, and oven house.[5]
On 26 May 1676, ten years after theGreat Fire of London, a great blaze started in Southwark. The Tabard was among many buildings that were either burned down or pulled down to create fire breaks. The blaze, which took 17 hours to contain, destroyed most of medieval Southwark.King Charles II and his brother theDuke of York were both involved in the firefighting effort. Although the medieval building was destroyed, the site was immediately rebuilt and renamed The Talbot.
In the early 18th century, the new inn was profiting from the growth instagecoach traffic between London and thechannel ports because of the growth inturnpikes. By the early 19th century, the Talbot remained a well-renownedcoaching inn. However, with the advent of therailways, it eventually closed. The building was then converted into stores. It was demolished in 1873.
51°30′14″N0°5′23″W / 51.50389°N 0.08972°W /51.50389; -0.08972
