The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-03-13
OLD INNS IN ENGLAND RECALL
CATHOLIC DAYS.

Up and down England there still
stand quantity interesting relics of
a phase of hospitality, picturesquely
common in the Catholic days of that
country-pilgrims' inns, of which a
few hOary examples or vestiges still
remain, says the Pilot. The care
which was then exercised for social
well being under Catholic auspices is
recalled by these ancient hOstelries,
which have many interesting associa-
tons both in England and in Scot
land.
The great bournes of religious
pilgrimages in medieval Britain, the
Shrine OF st. Thomas Beckett at
Canterbury, the relics of st. Dunstan
at Glastonbury and others elsewhere,
attracted thousands. of pilgrims, and
were full of guest-houses.
In the pilgrimages to Canterbury
along the Roman road, to visit the
shrine Of st. Thomas, the Abbots es-
tablished hospices, which served an
admirable purpose in lonely places
where robbers and murderers men
aced the traveller. One relic Of such
place is found at the Scottish border
on the ancient way between Jedburgh
and Kelso Abbeys. There exists a
place called "Maisondew" C"Maison
Dieu," French for Gods House"),
which was a wayside resting place for
weary pilgrims.
Between Brecon and Landovery,
Wales, the hamlet of Llanspydid tells
Of refuge for wayfarers having once
stood on the same site. Llanspydid
means "Hospice Church." Signs of
the inn have disappeared, but the
Church still remains, wherein travel
lers gave thanks for their comfort and
safety against the night and wild
men,"
At st. Adams there still remains
the George, one of the pilgrims inns,
possessing an oratory chapel, where
low Mass was said for those lodged
there. st. Adams contained the shrine
Of the protomartyr of Britain. The
New Inn" at Gloucester, built some
TAO years ago, first constructed in the
middle of the fifteenth century by
John Twynning, a monk of st. Peters
Abbey, Gloucester, offered accommo-
dations for pilgrims.
The New Inn still retains all it's
medieval quaintness.
Colchester in Essex possessed many
hospices, being hating place in pill
grimages to Walsingham, and there
also was the Benedictine Abbey of ST.
John. Pilgrims to the shrine of Our
Lady of Walsingham found food and
rest there. Among the ancient inns
there is the Angel.
Canterbury was full of such hos
pices. Chief among them was the inn
that became known later as the
Chequers of the Hope, at the corner
of Mercery-lane, leading to the Cathe-
dral. Today, the appearance of this
once noted hospice is modern and
commonplace, but the lower part of
the walls and the medieval crypt of
the pilgrims period still remain.
The finest of these medieval hotels
yet standing in Britain is that now
called the George, at, Glastonbury
Glastonbury of the Holy Thorn.
What is now, the George Hotel in
Glastonbury was first built in the sec
ond half of the fifteenth century by
Abbot John Selwood for the rest and
succour Of pilgrims. 1t is on record
that the pilgrims who resorted to it
were offered bed and lodging free for
two days, as was the custom in tho~e
guesthouses. The medieval stone
front and other external walls remain
as the hospice was in those far-off
years, but the interior is entirely
changed.