This fine old building is the Woolpack Inn, Bocking. Or at least it was in times past. Today it is divided into three 'cottages,' the far one selling for just under £300,000 if you are interested. The two outer buildings have dates of 1590 carved into them, the old Woolpack is dated around 1660, There are of course many 'Woolpack Inns' around these parts. Wool was England's greatest export for many years and until recently the Lord Chancellor sat on the 'Woolsack' in the House of Lords, this to represent England's wealth! Today the speaker sits on a pouf! Very apt! Not sure what the carvings are supposed to represent but there are many in this long road. An attractive road apart from the constant traffic that thunders down here throughout the day and night. The houses are very old and attract the 'best' type of resident, I do not live here. A man named Savill bought the pub in 1779 and his family were still running the place in 1841, it appears to have closed shortly after this as old photographs show the buildings as housing. There were many more public houses in the past, partly because of the poor water, partly as eating places, and partly because the English are drunks I tell you! 1590 to 1660 concerns Raleigh, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Elizabeth as Queen. James VI & I became King of two nations and he called it 'Great Britain' for the first time. We have the gunpowder plot, English settlers at Jamestown, plague, fire and war. We can speculate as to how the residents of this area dealt with those occurrences but I wonder if the needs of the moment meant more to them than national events? News spread very fast, although slower when there was no 'Twitter' service, and people in small villages and towns would have been aware of much outside their own area. Most surely would not have wandered that far from home unless war called, wouldn't they? I wonder? The house has recently been sold, if next door cost £300,000 then this would be more, I didn't make an offer.
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