Plotting Parlour

I had hoped to see a few buildings as part of this year's Heritage Open Days but in the event we only managed two - the church at Holme on Spalding Moor and The Olde White Harte inn in Hull.

This is the Plotting Parlour of the Olde White Harte, which is claimed to have played a pivotal part in the English Civil War. In the 17th century the inn was the home of Sir John Hotham, a Parliamentarian and Governor of Hull, and the history of the inn states that

Arrogantly believing in the right of kings to rule without the advice and recognition of Parliament, Charles I prompted a revolution whose seeds were sown in Ye Olde White Harte. When King Charles approached Hull, Sir John and MPs Peregrine Pelham and Sir Henry Vane retired to the Plotting Parlour. Acting on Parliament's explicit instructions, at 11 o'clock on the morning of St George's Day, April 23rd 1642, King Charles was refused entry to Hull. Sir John's defence set a revolutionary pattern: all future kings were to find their powers severely limited.