Even just the cursory wander around the English countryside will yield several old pubs, hotels and houses that lay claim to having been visited by Oliver Cromwell, Charles I, and/or the troops of either of them – whether it would be historically accurate or not!
One particular favourite is a pub near Daventry in Northamptonshire that boasts that Cromwell stayed there the night before the Battle of Naseby; if he had, he’d not only have run into the Royalists stationed there, but would have had to have galloped about 40 miles before getting anywhere near the battle! We often joke that if Oliver Cromwell had visited or slept in all the places he’s reputed to have visited or slept in then he would either would have had to have a twin brother or lived to be a hundred!
But whether it’s true or not, it’s always nice to see English Civil War history acknowledged and celebrated, and that’s certainly true in the Yorkshire town of Otley, where one of our members spotted this little plaque on the wall of the Black Bull pub!
