Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem
The front of the pub in 2005
Location within Nottingham
General information
Location	1 Brewhouse Yard
Town or city	Nottingham
Country	England
Coordinates	52°56′57″N 1°09′09″W / 52.94930°N 1.15260°W / 52.94930; -1.15260
Completed	c. 1650–60

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham is one of several pubs in England which claim to be the oldest. The pub building rests against Castle Rock upon which Nottingham Castle is built. The pub claims that it was established in 1189 AD. However, there is no documentation to verify this date; the earliest parts of the current building date from around 1650. The pub is attached to several caves carved out of the soft sandstone of Castle Rock, which were originally used as a brewhouse for the castle, and which appear to date from around the time of the construction of the castle in 1068 AD. The earliest record of a pub is in 1751, when the building was being used as an inn with the name The Pilgrim.

With a history dating from circa 947 AD, the Porch House in Stow-on-the-Wold could be the best claim to oldest inn. There is a long-held tradition that part of this building was once a hospice built by order of Aethelmar, Duke of Cornwall in 947AD on land belonging to Evesham Abbey. During alterations in the early 1970s, some timber in the building was carbon dated to 50 years either side of 1000 A.D., which would seem to confirm the claim for the age of the building, although not listed as an inn.

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is one of several places which claim to be the oldest pub in England - other pubs which claim to be the oldest include Ye Olde Salutation Inn and The Bell Inn also in Nottingham, and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans. The pub claims that it was established in 1189 AD - the year that Richard the Lionheart became king and Pope Gregory VIII called for a Third Crusade to the Holy Land; however, there is no documentation to verify this date. Evidence suggests that caves in the rock against which the pub is built, were used as a brewhouse for Nottingham Castle, and may date from around the time the castle was built in 1067. The oldest parts of the current building were constructed between 1650 and 1660, though a map by John Speed shows a previous building in existence in 1610. By 1751 the building was being used as an inn with the name The Pilgrim, and was shortly after that date purchased by William Standford. The first record of the use of the name Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem dates from 1799.