The Packhorse Inn

Lunch with friends today at the Packhorse Inn at Moulton, near Newmarket.

Blips 2 and 3 explain the significance of the name.  Moulton was on the transport route for goods such as corn, cloth, poultry, fish, salt and hops between Bury St Edmunds to the east in Suffolk, and Cambridge between the 14th and 18th centuries.  Not as significant as the salt route, or incense route or silk road, but an important economic trading route in this part of England.

The method of transport was by packhorse, and it was important that the track was safe for both the animals and the goods they were carrying.  Blips 2 and 3 show this remarkable bridge - The Packhorse Bridge.  It really is beautifut.  built of brick, flint, and stone, it is constructed with these narrow masonry arches, was only wide enough for horses crossing it in single file, with low parapets so as not to interfere with the panniers borne by the hoses holding the goods they were transporting.

So much history, and the Packhorse Inn provided a very good lunch - although these days it does not have to rely on its goods arriving by packhorse, but has the straw statue as a reminder.