The Bingley Arms: History of Britain's oldest surviving pub that dates back 1,000 years and used to be a safe house for persecuted Catholic priests

The original name for the Bardsey-based pub was The Priests Inn.

History of The Bingley Arms

The Priests Inn was used as a safe place for persecuted Catholic priests.

In the 1500s two priest holes were built in the pub to house Catholic clergy fleeing from persecution following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The priest holes are still accessible today; the bigger of the two is commonly used for Christmas parties.

The building is thought to date back to 905AD and was changed to a courthouse from around 1,000AD where offenders were taken to the pillory across the street.

A yew tree is located in the beer garden, which predates the Bingley Arms.

The hostelry is said to have been referenced in the Domesday Book and is thought to to be even older than its recorded date.

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The pub was traded as The Priest’s Inn until 1780, when the Lords Bingley bought the building and changed its name to The Bingley Arms.

According to a Yorkshire Post interview with the pub owners in 2019, the pub still houses the remains of an underground passageway that used to connect between the inn and the village’s equally ancient church, All Hallows, which dates back to 950AD.

It is thought that one of the only Dutch ovens in England still in its original position and a stone inglenook fireplace, which is centuries-old, were discovered during renovations in the 1700s.