One Man's Quest
To enjoy a pint in (from) every Black Horse Pub
*****Website in course of revamping*****
"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn"
Samuel Johnson, 1776
Hi, I'm Jon Bratton on the right with pint. On the left is Pete Zulu, formerly a Toy Doll
Article in Sunday Sun 14 Oct 2007
WELCOME to the website devoted to any pub, rub-a-dub-dub, nuclear sub, inn, tavern, hotel, bar, boozer, battle cruiser, ale house, beerhouse, taphouse, pothouse, local, saloon, bierkeller, hostelry, coachstop, ginmill, gastropub or watering hole, anywhere in the World, called Black Horse.
Oh and breweries and beers called Black Horse
...and place names
I shall visit them all for a pint, but also to see whether there is any truth to the S G Wildman Arthurian theory
Why visit every Black Horse for a pint?
Why collect postage stamps?
A man has to have a hobby
And, talking of postage stamps, and bearing in mind I visit
(& photograph) these pubs.... by car ..or occasionally Viking longboat..alright very occasionally..could I blag a pint from the Landlords of those Black Horse pubs where I am unable
to have a drink. Mayhaps I can get them to mail me a pint, in a
suitable Post Office approved container, in return for a plug for their
pub...who'll be the first to email me at
jon@jbratton.com ??
Come on guys, send me a pint
It all started because The Black Horse in Low Fell, Gateshead,* my local, needed this sign repainted
and my pal, & artist Jimothy, commisioned to repaint the sign, was curious about the origin of the name. I went on t'internet and came across Mr Wildman's book about the possibility that black horses commemorate Arthurian victories against the Anglo Saxons
I
told Jimothy that the Black Horse represents the Black Lakeland Fell
Pony as used by King Arthur's cavalry and, as the pub is in Low Fell,
which shares it's name with a place in the Lake District , the sign, in my view, should be of a Black Lakeland Fell Pony, perhaps ridden by Ray Winstone..
Did Jimothy listen? Did he buggary!
He has done the artwork for the sign in the style of Picasso...!!
I ask you !!
This pub is slap bang in the middle of the Low Fell Conservation Area and the Local Authority and, particularly, the neighbours will no doubt wish to say yea or thrice neigh (Cubist horse, geddit?)
Low Fellas...let's have a heated debate!!
* If you have arrived here from a far flung corner of the World,
Gateshead
is part of Newcastle Gateshead a cityand town, (passionate places,
passionate people), sitting either side of the mighty River Tyne in the
North East of England about 65 miles south of the English / Scottish
border. It is a tad less than 55° N in latitude, which equates to
Vancouver...nearly...,the southern tip of Alaska and the only other
cities in the World sitting on 55°N are all along the Trans Siberian
railway eg Russia's third largest city and Siberia's largest,
Novosibirsk, population 1.5 million
The
pub sign was painted in the style of Picasso...to match the
impressionist oil paintings commisioned by Chris, the Landlord, and
which adorn the Black Horse Lounge.
This
is Jimothy with his famous Sunflowers in a Broon Ale Bottle, shown in
the Lounge.
My Quest
Anyhoo, that's what got me started.
Luckily,
for me and those pesky Saxons, King Arthur's cavalry were not mounted
on red lions as there are over 600 ( and, some say, up to 800) of
them. The Red Lion name vies with The Crown for the most popular pub
name (The Crown wins by miles if you include those that have "Rose and"
added to it)
The pubs called The Black Horse, (including those
ending with Inn or Hotel or starting with Old, New or Ye Olde or called
Blackhorse, with no space or even, I ask you, Le Cheval Noir) only
number about 330 (and are beaten, by a short head, by the 350 or so pubs
called White Horse). By the time I had identfied all the Black Horses
around the country I decided there wasn't too many to prevent me from visiting them all, starting with the ones in the local area.
I'll take the rest of my life to do it.
It's
a dafter copy of a more practical idea by my brother, Rob, who decided
to have a pint in every one of the 200 or so pubs in Gateshead and the
results of his quest, now completed, can be viewed on his
very nice website
To see the Black Horse pubs I have visited so far CLICK HERE
and for those I have yet to do Click Here
***************************************
..and now for something different...but not completely
Bay Horse-My Theory
This
is my theory, this theory of mine, developed by me In the course of
looking at Black Horses. I became curious about the inn sign "The Bay
Horse". On the face of it, it is just another recognised colour of a
horse. This being the case it might be expected to be, more or less,
evenly distributed around the country...but it is not. Apart from 5
isolated Southern examples, Bay Horse pubs are found only in the North,
predominently Yorkshire but also Lancashire, Northumberland/Durham and a
few in Scotland. What's more they are found in clusters...York has a
confusing number of Bay Horses and in Felling there are two so close
together they are identified as the Top Bay Horse and the Bottom Bay
Horse.
There has to be a reason for this feast/famine
distribution and there is....or at least there is my theory... for I
cannot find any reference to this uneven distribution anywhere, not even
in Mr Wildman's book where it ought to have been to add weight to the
fact that an uneven distribution like this has to be more than just
chance
My theory is that the bay horse in the inn sign is not a
generic brown coloured horse but a Cleveland Bay, a specific breed of
horse emanating from the Cleveland area of North East England. In the
Cleveland area itself...Middlesborough and surrounding towns there are a
few pubs actually called "Cleveland Bay" It is Britain's oldest breed
of horse. (Throughout the middle ages the Monastic houses in the North
East were the principal breeders of pack horses. The ancestors of
today's Cleveland Bays, particularly on the female side, were such pack
horses bred in the Yorkshire Dales).
The Black Horse List
Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
Red Row, Beamish, Stanley, County Durham DH9 0RW
Tel: 01207 232569
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse Tavern
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
Black Horse Inn
For website CLICK HERE
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
115, Moss Bank Rd, St. Helens, Merseyside WA11 7DF
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
http://www.blackhorsewoburn.co.uk/
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
http://www.blackhorseclifton.co.uk/
• Functions For Up To 100• 21 En Suite Rooms • Licensed For Civil Ceremonies• Conferencing For 2-80 • Four Poster Room Available• Superb English Breakfast • All Rooms En-Suite• Award Winning Restaurant Black Horse Inn
Black Horse Inn
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The Black Horse Inn
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The Black Horse Inn
Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
63, Albert Rd, Bexley, Kent DA5 1NTTel: 01322 52337The Black Horse
Aylesbury Rd, Mobwell, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire HP16 9AXTel: 01494 862537The Black Horse
366, Canterbury Rd, Densole, Folkestone, Kent CT18 7BGTel: 01303 892263Black Horse Contractors Ltd
Unit 6, Georges Farm, West Buckland, Wellington, Somerset TA21 9LETel: 01823 665421The Black Horse
64, Magdalen St, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2BPTel: 01842 762717The Black Horse
14, Overend, Elton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE8 6RUTel: 01832 280240The Black Horse
Main Rd, Cherhill, Calne, Wiltshire SN11 8UTTel: 01249 813365The Black Horse
Birdham Rd, Apuldram, Chichester, West Sussex PO20 7EHTel: 01243 784068The Black Horse
66, Siltside, Gosberton Risegate, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE11 4ETTel: 01775 840995The Black Horse
St. Johns Rd, Thatcham, Berkshire RG19 3SYTel: 01635 862550The Black Horse
Frome Rd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 0DUTel: 01225 752632Black Horse
372, Two Mile Hill Rd, Kingswood, Bristol, Avon BS15 1AHTel: 0117 967 3132The Black Horse
16, Kidmore End Rd, Emmer Green, Reading, Berkshire RG4 8SETel: 0118 947 4111The Black Horse
Frogmore St, Tring, Hertfordshire HP23 5AZTel: 01442 890066Hastings Rd, Telham, Battle, East Sussex TN33 0SHTel: 01424 777767The Black Horse
Coventry Rd, Marton, Rugby, Warwickshire CV23 9RHTel: 01926 632766The Black Horse Hotel
35, High St, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB25 0HPTel: 01223 811366The Black Horse
2, Fotheringhay Rd, Nassington, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE8 6QUTel: 01780 782324
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
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The Black Horse Inn
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The Black Horse Inn
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Black Horse Inn
Blackhorse Inn
Old Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn & Restaurant
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The Black Horse Hotel
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The Black Horse Hotel