Out & About Winter 2018

What they bought:

The Three Swans Hungerford

the premises in this case were in use as an inn. Although the use of the premises as an inn before 1645 is as yet unverified, there is a long history of a substantial building on this site going back to at least c1470. A traditional and historic building, The Three Swans still maintains the original archway where horsedrawn carriages would enter into the rear courtyard. Today, the inn boasts 25 bedrooms, a restaurant, bar and coffee lounge as well as a cosy snug. It provides the perfect sanctuary after spending an energetic day perhaps climbing Walbury Hill, the highest in Berkshire, enjoying the views from Silbury hill, communing with the ancient past at Avebury Stone Circle or having had a day at Newbury races. Families are welcome and food is servied all day in the the

Thomas, Neil and the competition winners enjoyed the hospitality of the The Three Swans, Hungerford, where they were able to show off their purchases and savour a well-earned cup of coffee and sandwiches. The Three Swans in Hungerford has been providing sustenance and a bed for the night to weary travellers for nearly 400 years. The earliest definitive reference to the Three Swans occurs in an inquisition held in 1661, concerning lands given for the maintenance of a school in Hungerford. Thomas Smith the elder, gent, by an indenture dated 15 March 1645, gave 40 shillings per annum by way of a rent charge to enable two poor boys to attend a school in Hungerford. The rent charge was from “an inn on the east side of the High Street called the Three Swans, then and now in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Strangeways, vintner”. In a Hearth Tax of 1663/4, Thomas Strangeways paid for eight hearths, a very large number, indicating

restaurant. There is also a coffee shop in-house. For more information visit www.threeswans.net

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