Named for the manor – the ancient estate and its lord, the fundamental unit of the old English countryside and feudal order
The Manor Arms holds a hundred and sixty-six reviews and a 4.2 – a solid score on a fair sample – and it carries a classic and traditional English name from the deep history of the countryside: the manor, the ancient estate and its lord, the fundamental unit of the old English rural and feudal order.
The manor
“The Manor Arms” bears the name of the manor – one of the most fundamental institutions of old England. The manor was the basic unit of the medieval and later English countryside – the estate held by a lord, comprising the land, the manor house, the farms and the village, worked by the tenants and villagers who owed service and rent to the lord of the manor. For many centuries, the manor was the fundamental building-block of English rural society – the great estate at the heart of every village, the lord of the manor its master, the whole system of land, service, rent and rule that ordered the old countryside. It is a name deeply rooted in the history and structure of old England – the manor, the estate, the lord and his lands.
The lord of the manor
At the heart of the manor was the “lord of the manor” – the landowner who held the estate, exercised authority over its lands and people, and held the manorial rights and privileges. The lord of the manor was a genuine and powerful figure in old English society – the master of the estate, the holder of the land, often the local squire or noble who ruled the village and its surroundings. The phrase “lord of the manor” survives to this day as a byword for the grand local landowner, the master of the great estate. To bear “the Manor Arms” – flying, as the “[Something] Arms” form implies, the heraldic arms of the lord of the manor – is to evoke this whole traditional world of the estate, the lord, and the old rural order. It is a name of genuine tradition and history, rooting the pub in the deep structure of the old English countryside.
The old rural order
The manor evokes the whole world of the old English countryside and its traditional order – the great estate and the manor house, the village and its people, the lord and his tenants, the ancient rhythms of rural life and land. It is a world that shaped England for a thousand years – the manorial system, the great estates, the villages gathered around the manor, the whole structure of land and society that defined the old rural England. Much of this world has passed, but its memory lives on – in the great country houses, the village names, the field patterns, and in pub names like “The Manor Arms” that keep alive the memory of the manor and its lord. It is a name rich with the tradition and history of the English countryside.
There is genuine tradition and history in the name – the manor, the estate, the lord of the manor, the old rural order of England. It is a classic, traditional English pub name, rooted in the deep history of the countryside and flying the arms of the lord of the manor. Its solid score across a fair sample marks it as a good and worthy pub, worthily bearing its traditional English name. The Prat’s history desk raises a glass to the lord of the manor, and to the old rural order of England.
The pub
A solid, well-regarded pub doing a fair 4.2 across a fair sample, traditionally named “The Manor Arms” – after the manor, the ancient estate and its lord, the fundamental unit of the old English countryside.
Verdict
Solid, well-regarded, and traditionally English – the Manor Arms, evoking the manor, the lord and the old rural order of England.
Have a pint at the Manor Arms, and raise it to the traditional name – the manor, the ancient estate, and the lord of the manor, the fundamental unit of the old English countryside for a thousand years.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
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