The Dirty Habit next to the Pilgrims’ Way is due to reopen in 2026.
The pub was devastated by fire in the autumn of 2022.
The exterior restoration is nearing completion and in the New Year work will begin on the interior.
The reopening, expected late next year around the fourth anniversary of the fire, will see the inn offering accommodation as well as refreshment.
Formerly known as the King’s Head and The Pilgrims Rest Inn, the present name is a reference to the monks of Canterbury who once worked in the local vineyard.
Although the Dirty Habit site is claimed to date from Norman times, the surviving building is mainly early 17th-century.
Sunday’s Quality Street Fair at Merstham saw large crowds on a very short stretch of the Pilgrims’ Way.
The annual event with stalls is the successor to a horse fair operating under an Edward III charter.
The Pilgrims’ Way runs down Quality Street which is named after the 1902 stage play Quality Street. This eventually gave rise to the Quality Street sweet tin.
Yesterday the coconut shy was giving Quality Street chocolates as prizes.
Many other stalls were offering refreshments.
At the end of the street a narrow passage carries pilgrims over the M25 and directly to the church on a hill.
The ancient church is open daily and warmly welcomes pilgrims with offer of a stamp and even tissues and chocolate if required.
Also available is basic accommodation in the church hall -a floor, kitchen and toilet. Booking via [email protected]
Bow fronted houses in Merstham’s Quality Street recall those depicted on the Quality Street tin
The street signThe candy floss stall outside The Forge, former home of Seymour Hicks and Ellaline Terris who starred in the Quality Street play.St Katharine’s church Merstham St Katharine’s church hall where pilgrims can sleep.The Merstham stamp
Proposed change to Whitehill Lane running left to right. The new road through the new estate is likely to be the future access to Whitehill Lane due to the planned A31 roundabout. Sun Lane can be seen running north up the side of planned industrial estate.
Soon after the beginning of the Pilgrims’ Way Stage 2 at Alresford the route follows Whitehill Lane to Bishop’s Sutton.
The lane is now temporarily closed due to the building of an industrial estate and a realignment of the road.
The one mile walk up Whitehall Lane is replaced for now by a 1.5 miles diversion:
On reaching the end of Tichbourne Down road bear left into Sun Lane. Follow this road (pavement on left) north to the railway bridge. Do not cross the bridge but go right to follow a footpath.
At the far end go right along Bishops Sutton Road (pavement on left)into Bishop’s Sutton.
There is a welcome suggestion that in 2027 the reopened Whitehill Lane should become a traffic free ‘green link’.
The good news now is that after walking the diversion you will find The Ship pub at Bishop’s Sutton reopened.
There is a St Bartholomew’s church at Hyde Abbey on the edge of Winchester.
There is also one at Otford where the pilgrims, from Southwark and Winchester unite on the way to Canterbury.
An arm of St Bartholomew was in the care of Canterbury Cathedral from the 1030s until the 1530s. The monks accepted the relic from the Bishop of Benevento, near Naples, in return for a fine cope .
Bartholomew is one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus who first saw him under a fig tree.
The Ship in Bishop’s Sutton is reopening today at 10am.
Kelly Shaw, who grew up in nearby Winchester and worked in its pubs, is the new landlady of the village inn which is mainly late 18th-century but probably dates from the 1600s.
The Ship’s wine list is now entirely organic and the menu will follow the seasons. ‘You won’t find strawberries in winter here,’ insists Kelly who describes The Ship as ‘an all day pub in the truest sense’.
The food can just be described as affordable with snacks at £8 and small dishes £14. Coffee and pastries are available all day in the stables now called The Ship Studio.
The Ship opening times are Tue-Thu 10am-11pm; Fri & Sat 10am-11.30pm; Sun 12-10pm.
Pub food is available Wed-Sat 12-2:30pm & 5:30-9:00pm; Sun 12-3pm.
The Ship is on the Pilgrims’ Way at the corner of the main street and Church Lane which leads to the church.
The pilgrim stamp is obtainable from the church which has an unusual Norman beakhead doorway decoration.
Once the day was known as Our Lady of the Harvest and today it is a holiday in many countries although in England now it is little noticed.
Upper Foyle in Hampshire is rare in having its 13th-century church dedicated to St Mary of the Assumption. This is probably because its patron at the time was Winchester’s St Mary’s Abbey, Nunnaminster.
It is interesting how important the doctrine was considered at that time since it was not finally defined, and the 15 August made a major holy day, until 1950. However, King Alfred the Great of Wessex (871-899) had made the day a holiday.
The 19th-century lord of the manor was Sir Hubert Miller who with his wife spent the autumn in Venice, winter in Rome and spring in Florence.
So he was home for The Assumption and saw that his church had the best vestments from Italy.
Sadly there is no Assumption celebration in the church today nor any service next Sunday.
But the church is usually open for pilgrims to see some of the vestments on display and the window featuring Winchester and Canterbury cathedrals.
Upper Foyle is on the Pilgrims’ Way out of Winchester between Alton and Farnham. Statues of saints are attached to the estate houses.
St Radegun’s Day is Wednesday 13 August which is a good date to visit Canterbury’s Parrot Inn. This is the city’s oldest pub and has a strong claim to having been accommodation for pre-Reformation pilgrims from 1370.
The late 14th-century hall house building is the former St Radigund’s Hall belonging to St Radegun’s Abbey (with an e) near Dover.
St Radegund was a 6th-century German princess and a vegan who founded Poitiers Abbey.
The ‘oldest pub’ claim comes from the understanding that it was an inn or hostel.
Many of the inns in Southwark were permanent London lodgings belonging to a diocese or monastery but open to pilgrim guests when not needed by the bishop, abbot or prior.
A hostel can be collection of buildings and it is known that the Abbot of St Radigund’s main house was at the end of Duck Lane opposite today’s pub. The site is behind The Dolphin in St Radigunds Street. The hostel complex, just beside North Gate, appears to have straddled the city wall.
Canterbury’s Parrot pub, little visited by tourists and opposite a section of the city’s Roman wall, is found down the very narrow Church Lane off The Borough.
The building returned to being a place of hospitality only in 1987 after a long closure and is now in the hands of Shepherd Neame who brew the Pilgrims’ Way ale known as Bishop’s Finger.
The pub’s present name, first used here in the 19th century before lapsing, is inspired by mention of a parrot in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
The Parrot, 1-9 Church Lane CT1 2AG is open all day.
