A History of
the Nelson Arms

The Nelson Arms Tavern was originally three
14th century farm cottages that belonged to
Castle Farm, part of the Bishop of Winchester's
estate & residence at Farnham Castle.
The sequential numbering system in Castle Street
(houses are numbered up the hill, then down the hill),
still acknowledges this by giving the tavern the
numbers 50, 51, & 52. The frameworks of these cottages
form the rear section of the tavern where the ceilings are
at their lowest. The cellar beneath also follows this pattern
and disappears mysteriously into a sealed tunnel that is
rumoured to run to the Castle.

In the early 1600’s, only the north (uphill) part of the building was a Public House, and it was known as the Hand-and-Pen, named for the Scriveners that worked in Castle Street duplicating important legal documents for the Bishop & Law Courts of Winchester. Most of the interior structures you can see in this part of the tavern were in-situ at this time, with the load-bearing beams and uprights believed to have been recycled from a Tudor warship.

Although Farnham suffered much damage during the English Civil War (1641-1651), during the 1600's, the tavern grew towards what is now the large lanterned fireplace. At this time, this fireplace was an even larger Inglenook with built-in seating, and the Bar was served via a hatch in the opposite rear corner where (now partially built over with a staircase) the tiled floor remains from the time this was refurbished as a Jug & Bottle area (an early type of off-license). There have been several sightings of a ghost in Civil War period dress in this area, the most recent of which is from the current (and less sceptical than he was before) Landlord.

From the Nelson's rear courtyard you can see the three pitched roofs that cap the footprint of the original buildings. The fourth pitched roof (on the corner of Park Row) caps an extension built by a carpenter named Robert Knight after he purchased the building in 1729. The extension he built contained a large oven/fireplace (now the Bar area containing the Lager pumps - the ceiling of which is the bottom of this chimney), and by 1739 the tavern was known as The Bakers Arms.

Robert Knight obviously made a better Publican that he did a Baker as The Bakers Arms thrived during the 18th Century and eventually occupied the Bakery towards Park Row as the tavern does today. Eleven hand-carved ivory fish from this period, used in drinking games by 18th Century Anglers, were discovered in the Park Row corner during renovations in 1926 and are now in the possession of the Surrey History Centre.

The present name is a result of local support for Admiral Horatio Nelson before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (before- unusual/possibly unique amongst establishments of the same name). His visits to the town to see his paramour, Lady Hamilton, who lived on Firgrove Hill (in a grand house since replaced by Trafalgar Court), no doubt played a part in this. Their last meeting in Farnham is believed to have been in the grounds of Farnham Castle and there are many rumours of Nelson's
incognito (and not so incognito) visits to the tavern. The Arms displayed outside the tavern support these rumours as they are of a design that predates the Battle of Trafalgar and are also unusual in that they are hand carved.

The tavern once held a famous 'Nelsons glass eye’ and Palm Leaf lodged in one of the wooden beams, but alas these were liberated long ago.

“Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat”
-Let he who earns the palm bear it