One Man's Quest
To enjoy a pint in (from) every Black Horse Pub
Look up ^^^ See the Guestbook. Why not sign in after you've browsed...perhaps you're a Black Horse neigh-bour or customer or publican or maybe you're interested in history or just a web surfer...any road up I'd love your comments
This website is about the history of the inn sign Black Horse, the theory that it may be connected to Arthurian legend in that Black Horse pubs may be in places of Romano Brit victories against the invading Saxons. It lists every Black Horse pub, inn or hotel in the UK and the World and includes the numerous Black Horse pubs that have closed down, been demolished or have scandalously changed names. It also offers original & personalised oil paintings (acrylic) to the pub trade but mainly...
It catalogues one mans quest to visit every Black Horse pub and, hopefully, enjoy one of their pints
"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn"
Samuel Johnson, 1776 
Hi, I'm Jon Bratton
You'll find me HERE, HERE, & HERE
WELCOME to the website devoted to any pub, rub-a-dub-dub, nuclear sub, inn, tavern, hotel, bar, boozer, battle cruiser, ale house, beerhouse, taphouse, pothouse, local, saloon, bierkeller, hostelry, coachstop, ginmill, gastropub or watering hole, anywhere in the World, called Black Horse.
Oh and breweries and beers called Black Horse
...and place names
Article in Sunday Sun 14 Oct 2007
CLICK HERE for the text of the news piece
I shall visit them all for a pint, but also to see whether there is any truth to the S G Wildman Arthurian theory
Why visit every Black Horse for a pint?
Why collect postage stamps?
A man has to have a hobby
And, talking of postage stamps, and bearing in mind I visit
Narrow boats used on canals are sometimes incorrectly called longboats
(& photograph) these pubs.... by car ..or occasionally Viking longboat..alright very occasionally..could I blag a pint from the Landlords of those Black Horse pubs where I am unable to have a drink. Mayhaps I can get them to mail me a pint, in a suitable Post Office approved container, in return for a plug for their pub...who'll be the first to email me at
jon@jbratton.com ??
or sign the guestbook
Come on guys, send me a pint
It all started because The Black Horse in Low Fell, Gateshead,* my local, needed this sign repainted
and my pal, business partner & artist Jimothy, commisioned to repaint the sign, was curious about the origin of the name. I went on t'internet and came across Mr Wildman's book about the possibility that black horses commemorate Arthurian victories against the Anglo Saxons
I told Jimothy that the Black Horse represents the Black Lakeland Fell Pony as used by King Arthur's cavalry and, as the pub is in Low Fell, which shares it's name with a place in the Lake District , the sign, in my view, should be of a Black Lakeland Fell Pony, perhaps ridden by Ray Winstone..
Did Jimothy listen? Did he buggary!
He has done the artwork for the sign in the style of Picasso...!!
I ask you !!
This is Jimothy & Chris, as reported in the Sunday Sun, showing the artwork intended to become the digital vinyl used on the sign CLICK HERE for the text of the Art-icle.
There's now a bit of a furore going on in the pub with a whole group of 'dyed in the wools' considering it a sacriilege to put a 20th century 'modern' image (c 1910's) on an 18th century (c 1770's) traditional coaching inn. They may have a point. Personally, I think only the horse bit of the painting should be used. If that was made into a large cut out and attached to the wall on studs (to be 3D) it would look stunning, and certainly a talking point... until told to take it down
This pub is slap bang in the middle of the Low Fell Conservation Area and the Local Authority and, particularly, the neighbours will no doubt wish to say yea or thrice neigh (Cubist horse, geddit?)
Low Fellas...let's have a heated debate!!
* If you have arrived here from a far flung corner of the World,
Gateshead is part of Newcastle Gateshead a cityand town, (passionate places, passionate people), sitting either side of the mighty River Tyne in the North East of England about 65 miles south of the English / Scottish border. It is a tad less than 55° N in latitude, which equates to Vancouver...nearly...,the southern tip of Alaska and the only other cities in the World sitting on 55°N are all along the Trans Siberian railway eg Russia's third largest city and Siberia's largest, Novosibirsk, population 1.5 million 
The pub sign 'draft' was painted in the style of Picasso...to match the impressionist oil paintings commisioned by Chris, the Landlord, and which adorn the Black Horse Lounge. This one, for example is the Black Horse at Night after Van Gogh. I say "adorn" but these paintings have been described as Marmite Art...you either love 'em or hate 'em
Publicans
Would you like your pub painted in this Marmite style?
Love it or hate it...it's a great talking point
Discounted Price £250 all in, framed and sent to your door .. For details email
jon@jbratton.com
This is Jimothy's famous Sunflowers in a Broon Ale Bottle, also on show in the Lounge. Framed and mounted Prints are availabe for
£39.99 ...P&P Free
(Good value considering the one in just any old vase was sold in the 1980's for £40 million and would fetch twice that if sold today)
Alternatively, you can have your own original 15 sunflowers in any can or beer bottle of your choosing for just £250 all in, framed and sent to you. Sit back for a few years and some Japanese chap will give you millions for it...that's conjecture, rather than a guarantee Terms & Conditions apply
Email jon@jbratton.com
Art-icle by Pauline Holt in Sunday Sun 7 Oct 2007
Text of article HERE
My Quest
Anyhoo, that's what got me started.
Luckily, for me and those pesky Saxons, King Arthur's cavalry were not mounted on red lions as there are over 600 ( and, some say, up to 800) of them. The Red Lion name vies with The Crown for the most popular pub name (The Crown wins by miles if you include those that have "Rose and" added to it)
The pubs called The Black Horse, (including those ending with Inn or Hotel or starting with Old, New or Ye Olde or called Blackhorse, with no space or even, I ask you, Le Cheval Noir) only number about 330 (and are beaten, by a short head, by the 350 or so pubs called White Horse). By the time I had identfied all the Black Horses around the country I decided there wasn't too many to prevent me from visiting them all, starting with the ones in the local area.
I'll take the rest of my life to do it.
It's a dafter copy of a more practical idea by my brother, Rob, who decided to have a pint in every one of the 200 or so pubs in Gateshead and the results of his quest, now completed, can be viewed on his
very nice website
To see the Black Horse pubs I have visited so far CLICK HERE
and for those I have yet to do Click Here
CLICK for this site's Guestbook
***************************************
MY OWN SHAMELESS ADVERT
I HAVE A WHOLE BUNCH OF NEARLY NEW CATERING & BAR EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
CHILLERS, SERVE OVER COUNTERS, TABLES, CHAIRS, FRIDGES, FREEZERS
We operated a cafe at our Newcastle shop until recently, hence a quantity of cafe stuff to be disposed of
BRITANNIA BAR TABLES etc
email jon@jbratton.com if interested
******************************************
..and now for something different...but not completely
Bay Horse-My Theory
This is my theory, this theory of mine, developed by me In the course of looking at Black Horses. I became curious about the inn sign "The Bay Horse". On the face of it, it is just another recognised colour of a horse. This being the case it might be expected to be, more or less, evenly distributed around the country...but it is not. Apart from 5 isolated Southern examples, Bay Horse pubs are found only in the North, predominently Yorkshire but also Lancashire, Northumberland/Durham and a few in Scotland. What's more they are found in clusters...York has a confusing number of Bay Horses and in Felling there are two so close together they are identified as the Top Bay Horse and the Bottom Bay Horse.
There has to be a reason for this feast/famine distribution and there is....or at least there is my theory... for I cannot find any reference to this uneven distribution anywhere, not even in Mr Wildman's book where it ought to have been to add weight to the fact that an uneven distribution like this has to be more than just chance
My theory is that the bay horse in the inn sign is not a generic brown coloured horse but a Cleveland Bay, a specific breed of horse emanating from the Cleveland area of North East England. In the Cleveland area itself...Middlesborough and surrounding towns there are a few pubs actually called "Cleveland Bay" It is Britain's oldest breed of horse. (Throughout the middle ages the Monastic houses in the North East were the principal breeders of pack horses. The ancestors of today's Cleveland Bays, particularly on the female side, were such pack horses bred in the Yorkshire Dales). CLICK HERE
The Black Horse List
Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
Red Row, Beamish, Stanley, County Durham DH9 0RW
Tel: 01207 232569
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
Black Horse Tavern
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
Black Horse Inn
For website CLICK HERE
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse Inn
The Black Horse
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The Black Horse
115, Moss Bank Rd, St. Helens, Merseyside WA11 7DF
The Black Horse
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http://www.blackhorsewoburn.co.uk/
The Black Horse
The Black Horse
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The Black Horse
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http://www.blackhorseclifton.co.uk/
• Functions For Up To 100• 21 En Suite Rooms • Licensed For Civil Ceremonies• Conferencing For 2-80 • Four Poster Room Available• Superb English Breakfast • All Rooms En-Suite• Award Winning Restaurant