The White Hart Hotel is the town’s oldest surviving inn and has held its official licence since the town’s charter was granted in 1623. As the heraldic emblem of Richard II, the white hart is famously depicted on the King’s personal altarpiece seated on a bed of rosemary with a golden crown. The King’s emblem was adopted by many inns and in 1393, Richard II passed an act making it compulsory for inns to have a sign in order to identify them to the official Ale Taster.
Many important events have taken place at The White Hart, including election dinners, with William Pitt the Elder being a frequent visitor and one of three members of the Pitt family elected to Parliament for the Borough of Okehampton. Elected as MP in the mid 1750s, Pitt went off to dominate British politics in the 18th century, briefly holding office as prime minister and soon after holding the title of 1st Earl of Catham.
The White Hart stands on what was once known as Old London Road, and supplied fresh horses for travellers on the next stage of their journey. The hotel also supplied horse-drawn vehicles for local transport such as wagonettes, gigs and jingles and on market day there could be as many as 100 horses stabled here. Stage coaches were pulled by a team of horses controlled by a postilion, or post boy. The traces, or leather straps on the horses’ harnesses were fastened to a whippletree, a swinging bar in front of the wheels which pulled the vehicle along.
These premises were part of The Trafalgar Way, the name given to the historic route used to carry dispatches with the news of the Battle of Trafalgar from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London. The first messenger in November 1805 was Lieutenant Lapenotiere, who raced to London bearing the dispatches containing the momentous news of Lord Nelson’s victory and death in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, 1805.
