The Lollards Pit public house as seen from Gas Hill

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 5 Sep 2019

This Grade 2 listed 15th century former dwelling house with later alterations and extensions later became a pub originally called the King's Arms Inn (to 1975) and in the 1990s became the Bridge House public house, with originally comprising three rooms, a bar snug and a living room. It is currently trading as the Lollards Pit (from 2012) > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5776390 due to its close vicinity to this location. Legend has it that the building was once used as a women's prison and that it is haunted by the ghost of a woman. For a view of the pub sign see > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5776390. The nearby location known as the Lollards Pit, after which the pub is named, was a site chosen in the mid-16th century for the execution by burning of heretics. It was an old chalk pit on the edge of the Thorpe Woods, approximately opposite Bishop Bridge (where the Lollard's Pit public house is also situated), which in 1544 had been leased to John Goldyng. Long after the location had ceased to be used for executions it was considered an evil place and avoided by people, but by the 19th century it said to have become a camp site for travellers. The pit has since been built over.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0