Yorkshire The Hairy Bikers' Pubs That Built Britain

Pubs have been at the heart of Britain for hundreds of years.

Cheers, mucker!

-In city taverns...

-And village inns.

Landlords have pulled pints for locals, travellers and, well,

the odd king or two, myself included.

Try and have a drink now.

-Oh!

-LAUGHTER

But with 30 pubs closing every week, our historic taverns need defending.

Step! Step!

We're heading out to discover amazing stories

linked to the nation's watering holes.

-Not far to go.

-How far?

-Oh, a couple of miles.

-What?!

From the Wars of the Roses...

To shipbuilding on the Clyde, we've ditched our bikes

so that we can sample an ale or two.

Get in!

This is very good!

THEY LAUGH

So, join us for...

Today, we're in Yorkshire and itching for a 17th-century fight.

We're here to find out about the bloodiest battle

in the English Civil War.

And the pubs caught up in the crossfire.

Picture the scene - it's 1644, the Civil War,

and we've signed up to fight with Oliver Cromwell and his army.

Aye, we're going to battle against King Charles I.

-But first, we're off to the pub for a swift half.

-Are we?

Aye, that's what soldiers did before a battle - Dutch courage!

-I can't say I blame them, can you?

-No!

-Whoa!

We're heading back to the mid-1600s.

Charles I had decided to rule England alone

without the help of Parliament.

Not surprisingly, Parliament was peeved and, by 1642,

it had had enough. Civil war broke out.

The war raged for nine years with the King's forces

fighting the Parliamentarian army across the country.

But the story we're telling today is that of the biggest

and most important battle - Marston Moor, fought near York in 1644.

First stop, a pub in the market town of Otley

to check out their stories and their beer.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Eeh, Otley - a right proper Yorkshire town

-and it's a proper Yorkshire pub.

-It looks right good, our kid!

And The Black Bull - do you know, it's the oldest pub in Otley?

-It's as old as the Civil War itself.

-Really, almost 400 years?

-That's got to be a lot of old bull.

-No.

Well, that's what we're here to find out. Come on, trot on.

Just over 370 years ago,

locals hoping for a quiet pint were in for a bit of a shock

when the Parliamentarian army turned up for a pre-battle beverage.

Here to tell us more and give us a quick Civil War crash course

is historian Dr Andy Hopper.

-Crikey! It's quite a way down into this pub, Kingy.

-Isn't it?

-Hello, Andy. Dave, nice to meet you.

-Andy, how are you? Nice to meet you.

-Not bad, thanks.

-You've got them in, God love you.

So, Andy, do tell us about this pub's role in the English Civil War.

Well, the story is that the Parliamentarians came here

the night before the battle and drank the pub dry.

You can see the outline of the old door that was there

during the Civil War, through which the soldiers would have entered.

That's amazing. That really is like a portal into the past,

a door into history.

So, Andy, when I was a little lad, I had the little Ladybird books

that always talked about the battles

between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers.

Can you explain what's a Roundhead and what's a Cavalier?

Well, they originated as terms of abuse,

so Cavalier comes from the Spanish "caballero",

meaning "horseman",

and we all know what Englishmen thought of the Spanish at this time.

-Yes.

-Roundhead is a social snub, a sneer,

an insult suggesting all the Parliamentarians

are London apprentice boys who had their hair cropped short

as a sign of their lower status.

So, we've got the Cavaliers, or Royalists, on the King's side

and the Roundheads, or Parliamentarians, on the other.

Is it fair to think

that the aristocrats of the land were Royalists

and the ordinary people of Otley were Parliamentarians, then?

Well, not exactly.

A lot of nobles did support the King,

a lot of gentry families, but there were some on Parliament's side, too,

so the wars really split the nation.

They split families, they split communities.

Here, Andy, I think Si would make a good Cavalier

with his luscious locks and his airs and graces, don't you?

Are you going to take that from him?

Absolutely not!

-There he is with his dandy's clothes and all loveliness...

-No, no...

Driving a Bentley.

No, Kingy, I've always been a man of the people

and I don't care what they call it - Roundhead through and through.

No - SLAPHEAD through and through!

Hey, Kingy, keep it civil, like the war. Get it?

Anyway, back to the battle.

The Parliamentarian soldiers that were billeted here,

they were on their way to a big battle, weren't they?

Yeah, Marston Moor was the biggest

and bloodiest battle of the civil wars.

It was about controlling the north and seizing York.

York was the north's capital, under control of the King.

Strategically, the Roundheads needed to take the city,

but the King's men were marching west from York to take them on.

Meanwhile, the Roundhead soldiers in Otley,

unaware of the looming battle, supped their pints.

Probably by this 16th century fire,

believed to have been discovered when the pub was renovated.

And it's not the only discovery, according to landlady Audrey.

It seems that some Roundheads left for battle

without a crucial bit of kit.

A pub can bring a Roundhead like me

and a Cavalier like him together. It's the glue that binds.

Aye, it is, yeah.

In fact, you probably don't know this,

but when they did a renovation a few years ago,

they actually found some armour here.

-You're joking?

-Really?

-Yeah.

Stephen, who is a local of ours, he'll know more about it.

-He's a historian.

-Hello, Stephen, Dave.

-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

-And you, hello.

-There you were in the corner there.

I know, I'm hiding away.

So, did some poor Parliamentarian soul leave his armour upstairs?

In 1981, I received a phone call.

The local landlord had found some armour

whilst restoring a room upstairs.

-He tapped the wall and found a cavity.

-Wow!

I came over and he brought down two sacks of armour.

-The form of armour dates directly to that period.

-Right.

Well, it absolutely validates, then,

the connection between the Civil War and this pub. How fantastic!

-And this pub and the Battle of Marston Moor.

-Yeah.

The armour, which has since been sold to collectors

for thousands of pounds,

is thought to have been left as payment for beer.

Can you imagine that, Kingy,

settling your tab by pawning your armour?

You'd have to be really drunk to do that, wouldn't you?

-Or very stupid.

-Yes.

-Yes.

'Stephen's brought in some Roundhead helmets,

'just like the ones found upstairs.'

This gives us at least an idea of what you've found

and if the hat fits, Mr Myers, I think you should wear it.

What do you reckon?

I think they had smaller heads in those days.

-I think they probably did. Ooh!

-Ooh!

-No, hold on.

I don't think they had glasses in the Civil War, did they? Hold on.

Do you know what? That's the first hat you've had that suits you.

LAUGHTER

Audrey, landlady, I've got 300 mates outside.

I'll swap you my helmet for 300 pints.

Look after the lads, we'll look after you.

That'll definitely sup the pub dry, wouldn't it? Crikey!

Don't you know there's a war on? THEY LAUGH

Try and have a drink now.

-Oh!

-LAUGHTER

-Do you do straws, landlady?

-I do feel I'm living history now.

-Ooh!

-Thank you.

-My pleasure.

-Well, cheers to Roundheads and cheers to Cavaliers.

-Cheers.

-Seagoing parrots and us.

-Cheers!

'It's all fun and games now,

'but the war was no laughing matter at the time.'

I tell you what, though, Dave, as nice as that was,

here's a sobering fact for you.

Did you know, mate, that a higher proportion

of the British population died during the English Civil War

than in any other wars?

Surely not the First and Second World Wars?

Astonishingly, yeah, it is -

one in ten of the adult male population died,

which was five times that of World War II.

-Good grief, that certainly makes you think, doesn't it?

-Doesn't it?

-Aye.

Probably time for some light relief. Pub signs - every pub has one.

-And every sign has a story.

-Here's some of our York favourites.

The Three-Legged Mare, known as The Wonky Donkey to locals,

is a charming device used to hang three people all at once.

There's even a replica in the beer garden.

Beats having bouncers, I suppose!

Workmen at The Golden Slipper found a 14th-century shoe

hidden in the pub walls - apparently to repel evil spirits!

Hmm, well, mate, if it's powerfully repellent and smells medieval,

then it's probably yours, mucker.

Named after the little alleyways,

or snickets as they're known round here,

The Snickleway Inn is so haunted, it boasts FIVE supernatural spirits.

In that case, I'll take a poltergeist with my pint

and a pickled egg, landlord.

Back on our Civil War trail, it's time to down tankards,

pick up arms...

And prepare for one of the bloodiest battles on British soil.

Right, you Royalist rogue, it's time to FIGHT!

-I'm off to Marston Moor to get my armour.

-Oh, are you?

I am going to take up the invitation

of a fellow in a very large and posh castle.

-Right, I'm off.

-Really?

Right, we've picked our sides. While Myers heads east

to join his Roundhead band of brothers at Marston Moor...

..I've come to splendid Ripley Castle, north of Harrogate,

to meet Sir Thomas Ingilby,

whose Royalist rellies got right stuck in defending the King.

-Sir Thomas, how do you do, sir?

-Very pleased to meet you.

And you, very pleased to meet you, too.

What a magnificent place Ripley Castle is!

-We're very lucky, it's so beautiful.

-It is indeed, it is indeed.

And how long have your family lived here?

Just over 700 years and, trust me, it feels like that!

So, actually, your ancestors would have fought in the Civil War, then?

They did indeed.

Sir William Ingilby fought at the Battle of Marston Moor

and we've got his portrait inside if you'd like to see it.

Oh, I'd love that! I think we'd all love that, that'd be fantastic.

-Excellent! Follow me.

-I will, sir, thank you.

'The Ingilbys raised a troop of horses to fight at Marston.

'Unlike those Roundhead lushes in the pub,

'they managed to keep hold of their armour.

'And it was worn by one very surprising soldier,

'closely related to the lord of the manor.'

What a fantastic house!

Ah, so this is the fellow! This is the man.

This is it - Sir William Ingilby,

who fought at the Battle of Marston Moor,

-and his sister Jane also fought there.

-Did you say Jane?

-Yes.

-Right.

His sister Jane went to Marston Moor disguised as a man,

wearing a full suit of armour, and was slightly wounded at the battle.

What a good lass! Proper northern girl, that! Get stuck in!

She was a very redoubtable character.

She was initially known as Trooper Jane and then,

in later references, they call her Captain Jane

so she not only fought, but was actually promoted as well.

Crikey! If you could only bottle that Cavalier courage!

Hold on, come to think of it, Sir Thomas has

and it's based on an old family beer recipe.

This is a recipe book from the period,

which was written by Mrs Elizabeth Eden,

the head housekeeper at the castle.

So we gave the recipe to a local brewer

and they had a play round with it and we've actually bottled it now

and it's about the only part of my heritage that makes me any money.

-And Crack Shot - why Crack Shot?

-Named after Trooper Jane Ingilby.

-Because?

-Because she was a crack shot. She had two pistols.

-Oh, that is fantastic!

-A lady to die for.

-A lady to die for!

Well, a lady to run away from, if you ask me!

'Those Roundheads wouldn't stand a chance against Trooper Jane.

'Good luck, Mr Myers.'

'Luck? I don't need luck.

'Us Roundheads have skill...and beer!'

The beer you get up here - cor, bad stuff!

It'll taste better after a victory, my man, better after a victory.

'I'm joining pikemen Derek and Robert

'at the site of the Battle of Marston Moor.

'These chaps eat, drink and breathe Civil War re-enactment.'

Gadzooks, gentlemen, what are you drinking?

It's ale, but it's very, very, very weak.

Ooh, it's well watery, isn't it?

Well, they've probably watered it down as well, knowing this army.

You're here on Marston Moor.

Would the soldiers have drank before they battled?

-They would always get as much down them as possible.

-Uh-huh, uh-huh.

You never know when you're going to get another one, if at all.

That's true, it's true.

And you, gentlemen, we're all on the right side,

the Parliamentarian side.

Is this what the soldiers would have worn, then?

-Yes, this is a pikeman's outfit.

-And, Derek, this is a pike.

-Yeah.

It's long, isn't it? I didn't think they were this length, the pike.

-Yep, that's 16ft.

-Cor! So, what was the job of the pikemen?

The main job was to protect the other foot soldiers,

the musketeers, from the cavalry and to hold ground on the battlefield.

-It would be an impenetrable barrier, wouldn't it?

-And that's the point.

'The Royalist cavalry would have been faced

'with up to 6,000 pikemen - a truly fearsome sight.'

One thing that I'm learning very quickly about the English Civil War

is the scale of the battle, the scale of the conflict.

-I had no idea. It was a huge, huge piece of British history.

-Oh, yes.

'On the evening of July 2nd 1644,

'nearly 50,000 men gathered in this Yorkshire field.

'At stake, control of the north.

'That's 50,000 men...plus one.'

I tell you what, lads, the armour's quite restrictive!

-Pikeman Myers reporting for duty, sir.

-Ah!

-Ah!

-There's a friend.

Reinforcements!

-This armour...

-Do you know what one of these is?

-That's a pike, sir.

-Have you used one of these?

-I was good at javelin at school.

'We might just be three men in a field,

'but, on the day of the battle, there would have been

'up to 28,000 of us Roundheads stretching almost a mile.'

Derek, in the teeth of the battle,

this must have been truly terrifying.

It was really terrifying,

expecting that people are coming forward to you.

They'd come closer and closer and closer and closer

until you could see the whites of their eyes.

'Armed with just a pointy stick,

'the pikemen would have faced a row of gun-wielding musketeers.'

MUSKET FIRE

Bang!

And a whole mass of smoke comes rolling over. You're a pikeman.

You're a defence and you've got them firing at you. You want to run away.

"Fear none but the Lord, sir! Stand your ground!"

And, again, another volley of fire and another volley of fire

and your men are falling around you.

'While we pikemen stood our ground, the cavalry,

'led by Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell, charged the Royalists.'

-GUNSHOT

-The musket - another volley.

There's smoke, you can't see. You taste the flames in the air.

-BUGLE PLAYS

-You get the order -

charge your pike.

-And down.

-Charge, men!

-And they're running.

-Another fire...

-Aargh!

Guys are dying by your side.

The officer shouts, "Move into the place of the dead! Move on!

"March on!" Step! Step! Step!

And now the musketeers are coming in.

Fire!

Recover.

The power of the musket!

You can imagine, Derek, the carnage, with 20,000 muskets going off.

It must have been terrifying with the smoke and the noise.

The thing is, at the end of the day, we Parliamentarians won,

thanks to muskets, pikes, Cromwell's cavalry.

We smashed the Cavaliers' lines.

I think we've earned a victory pint.

-We'll go for a pint, sir.

-Thank you very much.

The beer's on me. Thank you so much.

'After two hours, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War was over.

'The Parliamentarians lost just 300 men,

'the Royalists over 3,000 and they lost the north.'

But the day wasn't quite over yet

for Royalists Sir William and sister Jane.

After their defeat at Marston, they fled back to Ripley Castle.

Good grief! That's not easy to get off, is it?

So, William Ingilby, he comes back to Ripley Castle.

He's taken his armour off, which, I have to say,

-is not the easiest thing to do.

-Not quite.

-And then what happens?

To his utter horror, a short while later,

who should turn up at the front gates

-but the rebel general Oliver Cromwell?

-What?!

Yeah. He was demanding shelter for the night in the castle.

Sir William leapt into a secret hiding place,

leaving his sister, Captain Jane, to sort Cromwell out.

Hold on, hold on - so, he scarpered and hid

and left the woman to go and open the front gates to Cromwell

to tell him to get to lost?

Yes, absolutely, and, at first,

flatly refused to allow Cromwell or his men anywhere near the castle,

saying that she strongly intended to defend the place against allcomers.

-Really?

-And, thankfully, they reached a compromise,

which was that Cromwell was allowed to spend the night

in the castle library,

but only if Trooper Jane was allowed to sit opposite him

with her two pistols on her lap to prevent him

from searching the house for her brother,

who she knew was concealed upstairs, and also to preserve her own virtue.

But just imagine how he took this.

I mean, there he was, having just won the greatest military victory

of his career, destroyed the King's armies in the north of England,

then finding himself held at gunpoint by a woman.

I mean, he could hardly race outside the following morning and say,

"You'll never guess what happened to me last night, lads!"

Out of interest, then, where did Sir William hide?

He hid just in the priests' hiding place,

which we only found completely by mistake in 1964.

'Priest holes were secret hiding places

'built during the Elizabethan era, when Catholicism was outlawed.'

And here is the secret priests' hiding place.

Wow!

Well, it's got a small seat inside, a small air vent,

and poor Sir William must have spent the whole night in there.

So, have you ever been in, Sir Thomas?

Yes, I have, and it's not particularly comfortable,

although it's now mainly occupied when the VAT man comes to inspect.

-SI LAUGHS

-No change there, then!

'There's a chap that can tell a cracking tale.

'It goes to show history doesn't have to come from books.'

Indeed, our great British boozers are packed full of tales.

Time to meet a local who loves talking about his local.

Meet retired postie Dennis.

He loves his history as much as he loves his local,

Ye Olde White Harte in Hull.

I just love the place. Everything's spot on.

Yeah, I just love it, yeah, yeah.

This pub is heaving with revolutionary history,

but blink and you might miss it.

The fact it's down an alleyway

and especially with it being in the town centre makes it unique.

Lots of people don't know that it's here.

This building's been a pub for over 200 years

and Dennis has been drinking in it for the past 20.

It's a traditional old pub as we know what a pub is, as regards

all the new ones that are springing up around the town here,

and it suits me.

Exactly what I want when I come to a pub - friendly atmosphere,

good staff, management OK, yes...

LAUGHTER

He's a right little cheeky chap, but he loves his history

and he likes showing people round the building.

'You can say that again!

'Dennis takes tours around the Plotting Parlour.'

If you just want to come on the right-hand side

and we've got the Plotting Parlour.

Back in the 1640s, before the Civil War,

this building was the home of the Governor of Hull.

Now, this chap wasn't a fan of the King

and famously plotted against him in one of these rooms.

A plot that's said to have kick-started the Civil War in 1642.

They all met here in this room here

and that's where the Plotting Parlour got its name

and they all agreed

that the King would not be allowed into the city gates.

-OK?

-Thank you.

Keeping the royal hands off Hull cost the Governor his head.

By the 1700s, his home became a pub.

As well as the Plotting Parlour,

there's so much history about the building.

You can see in the fireplace here,

where the network of tunnels used to be underneath.

There's a small window there and that was one of the tunnels.

That one actually led to the Holy Trinity church,

which is about a five-minute walk round the corner.

So, if you're popping in for a pint

and fancy a bit of a back story with your beer, Dennis is your man.

As regards being the history guy, yes,

I do tend to get certain locals - there's the landlord,

there's the bar staff -

I've been known to have the mickey taken out of me or whatever.

I think it's just for the fact that they cannot do it

and I'm the only one who can actually do it

-and I'll raise a glass to you.

-APPLAUSE

And we raise a glass to you, Dennis.

For last orders, we've marched east of Marston Moor

to the Royalist stronghold of York.

We're picking up the story after the ferocious battle

at a pub commandeered to patch up the wounded Royalist soldiers.

There is Ye Olde Starre Inne!

It'll be down the little-e alley-e.

You would have missed it

if it hadn't been for Ye Old Starre Inne sign-e thing-e.

This pub site is the oldest in York.

Back in 1733, the landlord struck a deal with a neighbour

to span it across the street.

He paid five shillings a year,

but the money had to be spent in the pub.

Canny, eh?

Not easy to find, this place, is it?

'Local author Pete Coxon is waiting to fill us in

'on the bloody aftermath of the Royalist rout.'

-Hello!

-It's a devil to find, this place. Tucked away, isn't it?

-How are you, Pete?

-I'm fine, thank you very much.

So, it dates back to the Civil War, this?

Yeah, and 1644 is the exact year

in which the Battle of Marston Moor was fought.

Gosh! Flipping 'eck!

Let me show you inside. There's some interesting rooms here.

This must have been a Royalist pub,

with York being the capital for the Royalists in the north.

That's right and after the Battle of Marston Moor,

the surviving Royalist soldiers headed back towards York

and it was in this pub

that a load of the wounded soldiers were treated.

Yes, and why particularly was it this pub, then, Pete?

Well, it is a big pub - lots of space.

In fact, the cellars below us were the operating theatre

and this room was actually the morgue,

where they brought the bodies up

of the people who didn't survive the operations.

Cos some of the injuries must have been so traumatic,

what with musketballs and cannonballs.

Well, even a musketball could do a lot of damage.

It could smash a bone and that might mean an amputation

and if you were in a pub like this,

perhaps you were a little bit more fortunate than most

because you might get a shot of brandy

or something before the op, but, otherwise,

a patient would just have to bite on a strap of leather

and be held down while the surgeon went to work,

sawing through the bone.

-That is brutal!

-Oh!

It was grim work, often carried out by barber surgeons,

the 17th century equivalent of war medics.

So, this hospital was basically a bunch of hairdressers in a pub.

On the plus side, you could get your moustache waxed

while they took your leg off.

That was over 370 years ago, but, since then,

customers have witnessed some spooky goings on.

'Former manager Stuart recalls one couple legging it

'out of his pub after seeing a soldier stroll in.'

What they saw was an apparition of, like,

a Cavalier was the way they described it

and he just walked straight past them,

straight from this room here into the back, down the stairwell,

which goes down to the bottom,

which apparently was used as a billet hospital during the siege.

Right, there you were, eating your chips,

dipping it in your tartare sauce,

and then there's a Cavalier that walks through

-and disappears down to the cellar!

-Precisely, yeah.

Did you believe them, Stuart?

You know, you're always a little bit sceptical,

but, ultimately, cos one of them wouldn't come back in,

he just wouldn't walk through the door and he was honest.

You felt he was honest when he was talking to you.

-You see, I do believe that walls have memories.

-So do I.

There must be so many memories and so much history in this building.

I'd like to think that there was something there.

The pubs that we've been in in this programme,

they are so full of memories,

so full of people's lives and so full of history.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Well, what a great pub and I'm pleased to see it's still here,

-so cheers to you.

-Cheers!

You can tell he's a landlord - he doesn't drink!

-He's a great talker, though.

-Isn't he?

From battlefield to barside,

it's been a cracking pub crawl through England's Civil War.

-Oh!

-LAUGHTER

Just a shame you lost, eh, Kingy?

All right, all right, give it a rest, Myers.

Listen up, my little spark plug,

I've got a great pub quiz question for you.

In days of old, when pubs like this used to brew their own beer,

there used to be a government man called an ale-conner

whose job it was to test the quality of the beer.

Do you know how he tested it?

Er, loads of free pints.

-Nah, he used to pour some on a bench and sit in it.

-Get out of it!

It's perfectly true.

If his leather breeches didn't stick to the bench,

then the beer wasn't of sufficient quality, you see.

There wasn't enough sugar in the beer!

-Strange, but true.

-Well, I never!

-Cheers!

-Cheers, mate, cheers!

It's fascinating, isn't it?