PEOPLES PUBS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: march 2010 :: RMTnews 32 PEOPLE’S PUBS - Words by Mike Pentelow, Pictures by Peter Arkell L eader of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 Wat Tyler and his followers called at this tavern (called the Rose and Crown pub in those days) to "quench their thirst with flagons of ale" before marching up to London to demand from the king that they be freed from bondage. Dartford had been one of the early towns to revolt on June 5 against the hated poll tax imposed by Richard II, and on their way to London the rebels took over Tyler's home town of Maidstone five days later. By the time they reached Mile End in east London so many peasants had joined them that the king met them there and agreed to their demands to pacify them. He said he would free them from their bondage to the lords if they allowed him to stay king. But it only took a few days for the word of the king to be proved worthless. The king met Tyler at Smithfield on June 15 and asked him to disperse his followers. Tyler replied "with a great oath" that he would not leave until the king put in writing what he had promised and signed it in a charter. He demanded there should be no more serfdom and that all men should be free and equal with no more lords, and that the possessions of the church be seized and divided among the common people. Playing for time again, the king agreed to this (once more on condition that the monarchy was retained) and once more ordered them to disperse. Tyler ordered a jug of ale which he drank in one go, for which he was accused of showing contempt for the king by the Mayor of London, William Walworth, who arrested him. When Tyler resisted Walworth stabbed him in the neck and other noble lords followed up by plunging their swords into his body. His wounded body was carried by his supporters to St Bartholomews hospital for treatment. But Walworth and his men followed them there and dragged Tyler out and beheaded him in the middle of Smithfield. They then took the head on a pole to the king at Clerkenwell. The king promptly knighted Walworth as a reward (a gruesome early example of the honours' system). Shortly after this the king, who had promised freedom to the peasants, had them slaughtered on the spot, and effectively crushed the revolt. Four hundred years later Tyler was hailed for his valour in standing up against the odious poll tax by Thomas Paine. He stated: "All his proposals made to Richard were on a more just and public ground than those which had been made to John by the Barons [Magna Carta in 1215]... If the Barons merited a monument to be erected at Runnymede, Tyler merits one at Smithfield." Sadly, the only commemoration of Tyler at Smithfield is the dagger which killed him, in Fishmongers Hall. The Chartists also honoured the memory of Tyler in the 1840s, naming one of their brigades after him, and picturing him on the banner of the Sheffield brigade. The pub is in "The Real Ale Pub Guide" of 2009 (edited by Nicolas Andrews). * Jack Straw was the other main leader of the Peasants' Revolt, and had a pub named after him called Jack Straw's Castle (recently turned into flats and a restaurant) at North End Way, Hampstead Heath. This was where he addressed from a hay wagon thousands of the rebels. In the 19th century the pub was often visited by Karl Marx when picnicking on the heath. Another pub, however, survives to celebrate Straw and the revolt. It is the White Lion in Fobbing, Essex, the village where Straw was born and bred, and where the revolt was first sparked off. A plaque on the pub explains it is "to commemorate the villagers of Fobbing who, in the year 1381, stood for the freedom of the English people against oppression. Oh what avail the plough and sail, or life, or land, if freedom fail." Inside a notice describes how Straw drove the poll tax collectors out of the village and demanded a freedom charter. Straw, like Tyler, was beheaded, while his fellow Fobbing villagers John Gildborne (who has a close named after him) and Thomas Baker were hanged for their part in the uprising. At nearby Pitsea, the 600th anniversary of the revolt was marked by the opening of the Wat Tyler Country Park by the then TUC general secretary, Len Murray. WAT TYLER 80 HIGH STREET, DARTFORD, KENT