12 THE DOVER ROAD 



or so would bring you into the open country, and 

 among the fragrant hedgerows of the Kent Road. 

 No picture exists of Southwark as Chaucer saw it, 

 but when an ingenious Dutchman — one Antony van 

 der Wyngrerde — made a drawing of Southwark and 

 London Bridge, in 1546, this historic part of the 

 " Surrey side " was still distinctly rural. Orchards 

 and pleasant gardens are seen clustering round 

 St. George's Church, and stretching away to the site 

 of the present Kent Street, and bosky woods flourished 

 where the tall wharves of Bankside are crowded 

 together. Where are those orchards, woods, and 

 gardens now ? Where is Winchester House, the 

 grand palace of the Bishops of Winchester, that 

 looked upon the river ? Where its neighbour, 

 Rochester House ? Where, too, is Suffolk House, the 

 princely residence of the Dukes of Suffolk ? Gone, 

 all of them, like the morning dew ; and the only 

 recognisable object in Van Wyngrerde's drawing 

 is the tower of St. Mary Overie's Church that still, 

 as " St. Saviour's," rears its four pinnacles above the 

 Southwark of to-day. 



The most famous of all the inns of Southwark was 

 the " Tabard," famous not only as an ordinary house 

 of good cheer, but as a hostelry immediately under 

 the protection of the Church, whereto resorted many 

 good folk bent on pilgrimage. The Abbot of Hyde 

 Monastery at Winchester was the owner of the ground 

 upon which the original " Tabard " was built, and he 

 built here not only an inn (which it is to be supposed he 

 let out) but also a guest-house for the brethren of Hyde, 

 and all others of the clergy who resorted to London to 

 wait on the Bishop of Winchester, whose grand palace 

 stood close by. In 1307 did the Abbot of Hyde build 

 the " Tabard," and Chaucer gave it immortality 

 in 1383. At that time the landlord was the Harry 

 Bailly of the " Canterbury Tales " ; a real person, 

 probably an intimate friend of Chaucer's, and Chaucer's 

 description of him is most likely to be a careful 



