Horse and Groom

Twyford

Windsor Forest

The Hare Hatch was one of the old gates into Windsor Forest, presumably where hares were often seen.

This part of the forest was an area sacred to the Saxon people and called the 'Frith' (Maidenhead Thicket is the only remaining woodland portion remaining). The hamlet emerged on the edge of this forestland, apparently as summer pasture for local livestock, as indicated by the names of Deane Farm and the Deane fields.

The Great Bath Road

Though farming always remained the main industry in Hare Hatch, the building of the Bath Road through the hamlet gave it a great boost as a stopping off place for travellers to and from London. Hare Hatch hospitality was largely centred around the Horse and Groom, an ancient coaching inn.

Here is a curious early map from 1676, listing the villages encountered on the road to Bath and Wells, and their distances from each other:

Highwaymen

The area was particularly well known for being frequented by Highwaymen. The first of the legendary highwaymen were Royalist officers who "took to the road" when they were outlawed under the Commonwealth. These were men familiar with the relatively new-fangled pistols, which gave them an advantage over their victims, who were usually only armed with swords.

While many of the highwaymen were thugs pure and simple, it cannot be denied that some of them had a certain flair. There was Twysden, Bishop of Raphoe, who was shot and killed while carrying out a robbery on Hounslow Heath, just up the road from Hare Hatch towards London, though it was later given out that he had died of 'an inflammation'. Others returned money to needy victims, and released women and children unmolested, including the children of the Prince of Wales, held up at Hounslow in 1741.

To be robbed by a famous highwayman was regarded as something of an honour. When James Maclaine accidentally wounded Horace Walpole while attempting to rob him, the antiquarian bore no grudge and wrote to tell him so. In June 1750, Maclaine also held up Lord Eglington, taking 50 guineas and his lordship's blunderbuss.

Claude Duval

The most gallant of the local highwaymen was probably the French-born Claude Duval, who was fashionably dressed and gallant, loved by ladies of all classes, and never used violence on his victims.

The most famous episode of Duval's career was recorded by William Pope in 1670, shortly after Duval’s execution. According to Pope, Duval held up a coach with a nobleman and his lady. Seeing they were about to be captured, and determined not to appear afraid, the lady took out a flageolet and played. Duval thereupon took out one of his own and played as well. He commented to the noble that his wife played extremely well, and would, no doubt, dance just as well, and asked her to dance. They danced on the heath and when they were done Duval escorted her back to the coach. There he remarked that her husband had neglected to pay for the music, and stole four hundred pounds from him.

Despite the inefficiency of the authorities, few highwaymen survived beyond their early twenties. Betrayed for blood-money, or by their own carelessness, most of them ended their short lives on Tyburn Tree, where felons were hanged. Most died well, and when they were dead, their bodies were returned to the scene of their crimes, there to hang rotting in iron gibbets, or in chains, as a lesson to others. The bodies of felons were hung in gibbets “that in order to deter others, his punishment should not cease at the place of execution but his body should be suspended between earth and Heaven, as unworthy of either, to be buffeted by winds and storms.” So plentiful were the gibbets on the Bath Road that they came to be regarded as landmarks, and even figured on 18th century maps.

The a’Bear family

On digging around into the history of the pub and of Hare Hatch, we came across details of an indenture made on November 7th, “..in the 28th year of our sovraigne Lord Charles the second (1676) between Thomas A'Beare, of Wargrave, yeoman, and Richard Blyth, of Sonning, gent. The former in consideration of £250 conveys Long Withall, Barnes, stables and offices, and Northerend Close, Middle Close, Coppinscroft, and the Old Orchard, Kindfield, and the Holt: the land was bounded by property of RaIph Newbery, gentleman, and Thomas Kent.”

The lease at a rent of one peppercorn expires in 2176 A.D. The parties contracted that the purchase money should he paid without “deduction of taxes or impositions of Royal Aide Subsidy.” In other words, for 500 years there is to be a rent of one peppercorn a year – which is where the expression “peppercorn rent” comes from. I wonder if the rent has been kept up?

The A’Bears were a very important local family. They lived at Bear Place, a grand house built in 1784 by David Ximenes, which stands amid the many 'Bear' place-names of Northern Hare Hatch. It sits on the slopes of Linden Hill, once known as 'Bear Hill'. It adjoins the woods of 'Bear Ash' and is only a stone's throw from 'Bear Corner' - now commonly referred to as 'A'Bear's Corner'. It is one of the pseudo-manors of the parish of Wargrave. There is little evidence that it ever held the formal status of 'manor,' despite the medieval moat of a manor-type house still being a prominent feature of the park today

The Leigh-Perrots

There are many other country houses in the area, the most interesting of which is perhaps 'Scarletts'. It was built about 1765, by James Leigh-Perrot, the maternal uncle of the authoress, Jane Austen. He lived there very happily with his wife, Jane, for many years. Having no children, his heir presumptive, James Austen, visited him there several times. It is not recorded whether his more famous sister, Jane, ever accompanied him, but she did visit her uncle and aunt at their house in Bath. Poor Mrs. Leigh-Perrot spent some time in prison in that unfortunate city, as well as in Ilchester, when she was falsely accused of shop-lifting.

Richard Lovell Edgeworth

A good friend of the Leigh-Perrots was Richard Lovell Edgeworth, who acknowledged the help he received from his friend in his experiments of telegraphing from Hare Hatch to Nettlebed by means of windmills – a grand distance of five miles.

Richard Lovell Edgeworth was father to 22 children by his four wives, and invented, among other things, a machine to measure the size of a plot of land, as well as, in 1770, the caterpillar track.

The Horse and Groom

The name of the pub was particularly popular during the 18th Century, due to the increased mobility of the population at this time in history, enabled by the construction of ‘through-roads’ such as the Bath Road which gave easier access to the West Country. It was during this time when the Horse and Groom was known to be the ‘hub of hospitality’ in Hare Hatch.

As we have seen, the coaching inns grew rich due to the tales that frequented society concerning highwaymen, and the ‘Maidenhead thicket’, adjacent to the Horse and Groom, was particularly dangerous. Travellers seldom crossed the thicket after dusk for fear for their personal safety and possessions, which was good news for the landlord of the Horse and Groom.

Today, the Horse and Groom is still popular with motorists and travellers going to and from London, and it supports Twyford and the surrounding areas, all without a highwayman in sight.