THE Grade II-listed Bull’s Head pub has it all – log fires, river views, good beer, decent food and of course a secret tunnel to an island so you can escape when the need arises.
Located in Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, West London, the boozer has been serving up pints on the Thames path since the early 16th century. And now it’s Swift Half’s Pub of the Week.
Across the river sits Oliver’s Island (or Eyot it is is actually known), a mini-island stretching less than 100m and an alleged bolthole of anti-establishment stalwart Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil war.
As rumour has it, Cromwell had set his headquarters in the Bull’s Head and, when the heat was on from King Charles‘ Cavaliers, he would hop in the tunnel and hide on the ait (another name for a river island).
Apparently Cromwell was stitched-up by a local woman who revealed his hideout to the King’s men leading him to hotfoot it down the tunnel to the secret island.
Historians believe though that it is more likely that Cromwell was having a swift half in the alehouse in 1642, after two of his regiments suffered a surprise attack and defeat.
But does the secret tunnel between the pub and the island really exist?
According to the Bull’s Head manager, Barbara Smith who spoke to My London – quite possibly.
“It’s funny you know because we had an elderly man come in for lunch one day and he swore he had played in a tunnel under here as a child,” she said. “The basement here is massive, so maybe he thought that was a tunnel, but who knows?
“We’ve investigated the basement but there are little side rooms blocked off that you can’t get into and some of the corners are not accessible, so anything could be hidden there really.”
She continued: “You can only go onto the island once a year now during the Tide festival, but it’s really overgrown. There are remains of a little cottage that was kept by the river tollkeepers.
“But in the middle there’s this massive stone that used to be a marker for the tidal Thames. It’s got engravings all over it. Apparently that stone was moved from its original position and you have to ask why?”
Barbara explained her theory that the entrance to the tunnel lies underneath this stone.
Whatever the truth, the little slice of England certainly retains it’s historical charm.
“Sometimes this place gets called the last village in London,” said Barbara. “So much has changed over the last couple of hundred years but right here it’s like living in a little historical bubble. The Thames still comes up over the tide path.
“I would love it if they found the tunnel,” she said. “I would do guided tours and hampers for picnics to a pirate island.”
