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This is the ledger stone of Charles Nicholls (c.1629-1692) which is located in St. Mary’s Church in Hitchin. I’m not sure why the “Ætatis suæ 63” bit is in Latin (a throw-back to the pre-Reformation maybe), but he died at the age of 63. I can’t find out much about him, but his son is interesting as Bedfordshire Archives have some of the family records in their collection and they’ve added some narrative about them:

“(1) NICHOLLS FAMILY 1664-1746

Charles Nicholls senior was a Hitchin gentleman who built up an estate round the borders of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire over many years. He was survived by his two children, Charles and Mary, and his widow Agnes who had previously been Miss Peake, Mrs Greene and Mrs Rolf. Charles Nicholls junior became an attorney in Hitchin. He inherited his father’s estate in 1692 and added to it, mainly by lending money with property as security and foreclosing on the ‘mortgages’. These properties included a large estate in the Waldens, Hertfordshire, against which John Cripps had borrowed over 2,000 from Nicholls by 1708. When Nicholls foreclosed, Cripps called him a rogue, rascal and villain, and came near to killing him at Bendish, Herts, one November afternoon in 1709. Nicholls fled in fear of his life to London where he made a deposition about what had happened. The deposition has survived almost entirely and gives a fascinating glimpse of the speech, behaviour, manners and dangers of the period. In the end Nicholls’ foreclosure resulted in Cripps’ dying penniless in the Fleet Prison, London soon afterwards, leaving a widow and two infant daughters. Overall, Nicholls loaned at least 3199 which now, in 2003, would be equivalent to over a quarter of a million pounds.

The period around the end of the 1600s and early 1700s was volatile in financial terms. From 1688, Parliament supplied monopoly rights to mercantile ventures including the East India Company, the Hudson’s Bay Company and later the South Sea Company. This led to great speculation in stocks and shares, with companies starting up and often failing very quickly. Before the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, investors and speculators made fortunes. But fortunes were also lost as these documents show, although the cause is never stated here. Men like Charles Nicholls, who lent money to anyone who had over-reached himself, were the winners because a defaulting borrower seldom reclaimed his property. The estates in this collection acquired by the Nicholls family are : –

1665 Pulloxhill Manor from Pigot and Hale (purchase)
1684 Barton Bridge Closes from Edmund Castell (purchase)
1692 Brotherhood House, Hitchin from Papworth (foreclosure)
1706 Offley from Plummer & Shotbolt (foreclosure)
1709 Stondon from Ansell
1710-19 Hitchin & Ippollitts from Crawley (foreclosure)
1711 Kings Walden & Pauls Walden, Herts from Cripps (foreclosure)
1712 Henlow Grey cottage from Albone (foreclosure)
1715 Pegsden from Ansell (foreclosure)
1722 Pulloxhill leys from Pepyatt (foreclosure)
1723 Foxholes, Hitchin from Draper & Runton (foreclosure)
1729 Chibbley, Pegsdon & Shillington from Tapster & Ansell
1744 Welwyn from Plummer”

It’s an example of how wealth was built up, not necessarily ethically (although nothing changes there with some property owners), during this challenging period, much of it probably still resides in the hands of subsequent generations. Bedfordshire Archives also has this family tree tree for the Nicholls.

Located above the north door of St. Mary’s Church in Hitchin is this large painting of the Adoration of the Magi. It occurred to me (and others will inevitably disagree) that it seemed just a little out of place, as if they had this painting and they weren’t entirely sure where to put it. And it has been moved around the church a little, although it moved to its current position in the early nineteenth century and I don’t imagine it’ll be on any travels in the near future. It was donated to the church by John Radcliffe (1738–1783) in 1774 and his family lived in Hitchin Priory so it was unlikely that a gift from the local gentry would have been declined. The painting itself is a copy of an artwork that came from Peter Paul Rubens’s workshop and it’s fortunate that it came after the Puritans had a little rummage about the church as otherwise this would have likely been destroyed. There’s some authenticity to having this religious imagery in a church, although it’s a little dark and hard to see when it’s high up on a church wall. Anyway, what really intrigued me is that no-one has ever taken it down, it would have only taken one vicar who didn’t like it and it would have gone, with the Victorians being particularly good at this wholesale removal of items.

This is something of an impressive font located at St. Mary’s Church in Hitchin. It’s made from Ketton stone and is thought to date to around 1470 and it has representations of the 12 apostles of Jesus. There was once an additional step here, but the Victorians decided that they’d remove that.

And the font cover, which certainly couldn’t be said to be under-stated.

The quality of the carving is high but then the Puritans came along in the 1640s and knocked the heads of the apostles off. I won’t compare them to any other recent political movement, but the Puritans decided that the Reformation wasn’t done properly and so they went full steam into a more extreme version of it. But, I like the history behind this, it’s something of a survivor and it retains its place in the centre of the church.

I had a spare hour in Hitchin whilst going to Luton Airport, the first time that I can remember actually visiting the town. It was rather more decadent than I expected, there were lots of artisan shops and outlets with lots of people about.

Information about the pub’s history outside of the main door.

“The Angel Vaults

This Grade II listed building dates from c 1765 and was originally a “commodious family home.” In the yard behind the house was the brewery established by the Crabbe family in c 1885. Hitchin Conservative Party moved into the building, remaining here until it became the Angel Vaults. The name is from the medieval inn that stood next-door-but-one, on the site of 1–3 Sun Street. Until the 17th century, Sun Street had been named Angel Street for the preceding two centuries. The old Angel Vaults was an L-shaped, timber and plaster building, with a tiled roof and a coach arch. By the 1950s, it was in a poor condition and demolished, but its name lives on.

These premises were refurbished by JD Wetherspoon and opened in December 2014.”

I can’t unfortunately find any photos of the interior of the building before the conversion, but here’s a Google Street view image from early 2014.

JD Wetherspoon manage to transform buildings in a creative and sensitive manner, with the interior of this structure maintaining some of its original features.

Not least that fireplace.

There is seating at the front of the building, but the main bar is at the rear.

And there’s this side area with the coffee machine and access to the beer garden.

The unique carpet.

I’m not hugely engaged with the muffins that Wetherspoons sell, but they’re so cheap that I decided to get the sausage and egg one, which tasted perfectly acceptable as my morning snack. The beer is the Urban Dusk from Redemption Brewing, which was maybe just a little thin but it was pleasant tasting with a caramel and toffee edge to it. The half pint of beer, unlimited coffee and muffin came to £4.24.

In terms of the beer options available, there was some stuff from Greene King (who operate the pub in the building next door) that I ignored, alongside Thornbridge Jaipur, Adnams Mosaic, Redemption Urban Dusk and Stonehenge Great Bustard.

The milk slightly scared me as it was left out for a long time and had a fly swimming in it. I’m not sure why they weren’t using the usual milk jugs, but the likely reason is someone has pinched it.

As it’s a JD Wetherspoon, I like having a little look at the reviews and the rating is just a little towards the lower end of the scale for the chain.

“Visited last Saturday and found that both coffee machines needed refilling. I waited until a member of staff, who was returning plates to the kitchen was passing and said ‘Excuse me, both the coffee machines need refilling please.’ She snapped back ‘Can’t you see we’re busy?’ Eventually the machines were attended to by another staff member. A little later I went back for a refill, one of the machines still needed refilling, but the other appeared to be working. I selected latte but only got hot milk. Had to go to the bar for a fresh mug, but the barman said there weren’t any so had to rinse it out for me. I returned to the machines, told another member of staff, who came back with supplies and I pointed out the problem with the machine only dispensing milk although apparently working just as the first one passed by again and repeated ‘Can’t you see we’re busy?’ Complained to Wetherspoons customer services who said the staff would be spoken to. I suggested a refund would be appropriate and they replied it wasn’t warranted. Very poor.”

Having spent a lot of time at JD Wetherspoons, because they have cheap coffee and lots of space, there’s definitely a divide between customers. There are some who just wait until the team members fix the coffee machines pro-actively, which they nearly always do as they flash different colours when they’re broken (the machines, not the team members) and seem to accept that the £1.71 for unlimited coffees inevitably comes with some occasional delays as team members are often busy. Then there are those customers who feel the need to seek out team members already busy with other things to inform them that the machine is broken, which they will know. So take your side really, give team members time or demand what you’ve paid for, I suppose both options are acceptable….

“Avoid if there is a concert on at the Hitchin priory. Ordered food via the app, food came in good time but drinks didn’t arrive for over half an hour. Waitress expressed that they were short staffed.”

This is a common problem where the kitchen is quicker than the bar, but then customers end up with their meal and no drink to have with it. Sub-optimal….

“Particular waitress had a very bad attitude and threw down cutlery when pointed out the order was wrong and stropped off in a huff, this was over a gluten free option. The manageress was less than sympathetic and was more than rude and ordered us to leave”

Two sides to every story, I’ve never been asked to leave because I’ve mentioned an order is wrong….

“Service is perfectly to the level you would expect 16 year olds”

And the rest of the review is just more sneering about younger people. I imagine the pub won’t be too disappointed if the customer goes elsewhere.

“Tried going for our breakfast today, we’re going to sit in the garden as it was so lovely and we had our small dog with us, we were just about to order and were told it was company policy NOT to allow dogs even in the garden. What a shame another customer close by it was a rediculas ‘company policy ‘. No social media either so could get a response from them as to why such a policy”

So a one star review because a customer wanted their dog to be exempted from the pub’s long-standing company policy and wasn’t……

“Cold food( 3 MEALS) with a row with assistant about taken it back And just been served a Bailey in a 25 ml shot glass went questioned staff I don’t know ( hate to tell you bailey is a 50 ml)not going back don’t bother going !!!”

Ah, I’m with the customer, bar staff should know you can’t serve Baileys as a 25ml…. Although I think I’d get over it and go back.

“What a sham for a restaurant. But then this is what I have been told to expect at Wetherspoons. I am an ex pat living in Canada where the service culture is king and the customer is looked after. I went in for Sunday lunch and ordered a pint and the ale pie and chips. The beer was great by the way. When the food came the pie and the gravy were stone cold. The chips and peas were hot. I could not attract a waiter’s attention so I walked the food to the kitchen area and found my waiter and told him my food was cold. The first thing he said to me was ‘would you like me to warm that up for you’, not something like very sorry I will replace that straight away. I asked whether I could have a whole new meal rather than warming it up and he said yes but again said we can also warm it up for you pushing me towards this option. At this point I asked to talk to the manager and walked my plate back to my table. A few minutes later a manager appeared who was very apologetic and did offer to refund me my bill so it did appease me but seriously, train the waiters to be more customer oriented. In north America I would have had a refund and a free meal. Clearly England and / or Wetherspoons has some catching up to do unless you want to be married to the classic English ‘fawlty towers` client service model.”

A sham of a restaurant as a customer wasn’t given a free meal and a refund. Hmmmm.

“No sports on the TV… waste of time going there.”

Another plus point for JD Wetherspoon in my eyes.

“Some of our party didn’t get their drinks, felt like I moved to Essex.”

Is this an Essex thing in terms of not serving drinks?

“Arguing in front of the customers is not very good practice”

But very exciting.

“Food appaling if this is supposed to be a gastro pub.”

I don’t think it’s supposed to be a gastro pub if I’m being honest.

Anyway, I’ve digressed once again. I rather liked it here, the building has some history to it, the service was friendly, the surroundings were clean and I felt that there was value for money.