Guildford Snippets – Do You Know? No.4

Published on: 28 May, 2018
Updated on: 29 May, 2018

By Nick Bale, Guildford Town Guides

English gin became popular in England following the accession of William of Orange in 1688. This was helped when the London Guild of Distillers monopoly was broken in 1690.

The Hospital of the Blessed Trinity, also known as Abbot’s Hospital.

Sales grew enormously in the following decades, leading to widespread social problems. Guildford was no exception to this fashion.

Indeed, even one of the residents of Abbot’s Hospital was found distilling gin and “spoiling the ceiling” of his room early in the 1700s. Fortunately for him, he was allowed to stay as a resident with a promise of better behaviour. The question this time is?

Why was he allowed to get off so lightly?

It may seem to some that we are seeing another renaissance in local gin production in 2018, but, as far as I know, Abbo’ts Hospital residents are not, as yet, distilling their own spirits!

If you know the answer or can add any information to my question, please leave a reply in the box below. I’ll give the answers in a week’s time with the next question.

You can find out more of the uproarious events in Guildford in the 18th century on a guided walk, Georgian Guildford starting at Tunsgate Arch at 2.30pm on Tuesday, May 29.

Many thanks to those of you who responded to last week’s question. The aptly named pub was called the Blackfriars.

Visit www.guildfordwalks.org.uk for further inform