The Talbot Hotel was built in 1626, but parts of the location can be dated back to the early 1500s. Prior to this place being a coaching inn, the building was used by the Guild of Our Lady of Oundle, where monks would've lived and traded with merchants.The Tabard or Tabret as it was called, would've been a particularly lucrative asset for the Oundle Guild. However, following Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, the regency council of the boy-king Edward VI, seized the assets of a whole range of other religious bodies, including Guilds like the one at Oundle. All its lands and buildings were taken by the Crown in Easter 1548, and sold on the 3rd April 1550 to two London property dealers, who then sold the buildings on. In an entry listing titled 'Bury Street' in The Oundle Terrier, Thomas Power is stated as owning a guest house or tenement called 'Le Tabret'. He held possession of the house until his death in 1572, when it passed on to his wife Susan. In his Will he states he owned a place 'cawled the tabard, now in the occupation of Wyllym Dynnys'. There are no later references to either the Le Tabret or The Tabard.

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The first introduction to The Talbot name was written in 1617 in a decree of the Justices to the High Constables of Corby, where the citizens of Oundle were ordered to deliver 100lbs of butter to The Talbot for the King's larder. In 1626 The Talbot Inn was rebuilt extensively and expensively. The most interesting aspect of the rebuilding is viewed from the courtyard where much of the structure is said to have been taken and used from nearby Fotheringhay Castle, once a medieval beauty and royal palace. It was at Fotheringhay Castle that Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded in 1587. When Mary's son James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne in 1603, he sold Fotheringhay into private hands. The castle was still intact by 1625, but was left abandoned. It was gradually demolished and elements of the building's fabric were reused in various other buildings, including the rebuilding of The Talbot Inn according to tradition. Despite no records of materials from the castle being purchased and reused for the rebuilding of The Talbot Inn, one story claims that the developer William Whitwell obtained the windows of the castle's Great Hall, as well as the oak staircase which is said to be the same staircase Mary Queen of Scots walked down to her execution. The oak staircase sees the imprint of a royal crown on one of the upper posts, said to have been made by Mary herself with her signet ring, as she walked down the stairs to her execution in anger. Another legend has it that her executioner stayed at The Talbot Inn the night before her death, and dined on pigeon pie.

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Very little is known about The Talbot Inn during the 1700s. In 1755, some of The Talbot Inn's guests came from Ireland, and were likely horse dealers who came to English markets. They left their mark on the Inn with love messages scratched onto some of the 500 year old window panes in the South section of the building, and they're still visible today, with the names of Fanny Nunn of Enniscorthy, County Wexford, and Polly Winter of Cork. It's not clear who owned The Talbot Inn around this time, but we know that the innkeeper was a man called Thomas Ellis, who prospered well here in the 1780s. In 1791, a passenger-coach operator in Oundle called George Smith (possibly related to previous owner John Smith) launched 'The Brothers', an elegant coaching business that he ran with four other Oundle gentlemen, with one being Thomas Ellis the innkeeper at The Talbot Inn. It ran between Oxford and Peterborough three days a week, with one of the stops being at The Talbot. In August 1796, Stephen Hodges who ran a rival coach company became the new innkeeper of The Talbot, but fell back into possession of the Smith family once more up until 1922.

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One afternoon in November of 1829, Oundle had a huge surprise, when the Duke of Wellington stopped at The Talbot Inn to changeover horses on his way to Woburn Abbey. At this time he was also the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Another surprising figure who was given a hero's welcome was Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan. He was a member of the Light Brigade who fought in the Crimean War. He arrived at Oundle Train Station in January 1855 and was given a great reception at The Talbot Inn, with then owner John William Smith reading an address of appreciation on behalf of the community. Heading into the 20th Century, the Smith family ownership of The Talbot Hotel began to spiral downwards. Within the first 5 weeks of World War 1, Jack Smith the owner's son was killed at the Battle of Marne aged just 25. His grief was amplified when his younger brother Edmund Percival Smith was killed at Gallipoli on the 1st May 1915, aged 51. 9 months later, Jack suffered a heart attack and died suddenly on the 14th February 1916, aged 57. His widowed wife Mary took control of the business, but with no male heir she knew the building had to be sold off.

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As of 2009, The Talbot Hotel is run and owned by The Coaching Inn Group, a company focused on refurbishing and revitalising historic coaching inns for the modern age, whilst keeping the historical aspects intact.

Staff and hotel guests have experienced plenty of interesting paranormal activity and ghost sightings.

 

A White Lady dressed in Elizabethan clothing has been seen on the Oak Staircase and Bedroom 102, believed to be the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots herself.

 

Poltergeist activity like cups being moved from table to table have been witnessed first hand by staff. Who is causing this phenomena, and could it be one of the previous owners of this fine coaching inn?

 

Auditory phenomena like taps, bangs and footsteps are heard through the building, and the presence of monks or priests in cloaks have been sensed by our team mediums here during our initial recce.

 

In the Whitwell Suite, strange footsteps have been heard and a ghostly shadow figure seen walking at one end of the building towards the stairs.

 

Bar staff have reported hearing spirits mimicking the voices of other staff members, and visitors who have stayed overnight at the hotel have reported hearing the sounds of horses travelling up the courtyard. Is this residual auditory phenomena from when this hotel operated as a coaching inn a few centuries ago?

DATE: Saturday 5th October 2024

 

TIMES: 9:00pm - 3:00am (arrive 15 minutes early and wait patiently at the courtyard until a member of our team greets you)

 

LOCATION: The Talbot Hotel, New Street, Oundle, Northamptonshire PE8 4EA

 

PARKING AT EVENT: Rear Car Park on site via Drumming Well Lane, Local Street Parking. Please note car parking charges may apply.

 

REMAINING BALANCE: Needs to be paid FOUR WEEKS prior to the event date. Failure to pay your remaining balance before this deadline will result in you forfeiting your places and your places will be sold on.

 

WHAT TO BRING: A torch, a warm coat/jacket, sensible footwear, any equipment you wish to bring along (your responsibility), your positive and open-minded energies.

 

PLEASE NOTE: Bringing alcohol or drugs to this event is strictly prohibited. If anyone arrives at the event under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they will not be allowed to stay for the night and will be asked to leave immediately.