QUEEN ELIZABETH ONCE-STAYED AT THIS INN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 65

QUEEN ELIZABETH ONCE -STAYED AT THIS INN.

NEARLY 400 YEARS OLD. AN INN THAT SHELTERED QUEEN ELIZABETH. One of the quaintest old inns in the south of England is ihe Running Horse Inn at Lentherhead,' in Surrey-. It dates back to 1500, and it is on record that Queen Elizabeth slept here for a night on lier way to visit Sir John More, at Loseby Hall. To the thousands of bicyclists who pass through L Q atherhead on their way to Dorking and Guildford the Running Hcrse must be familiar enough, although probably few of that hurrying crowd ever think it worth Avhile to dismount and examine the ancient inscriptions on the house. The inn stands at the bottom of the Jiill adjoining the biidge over the Mole (socalled beeaiise at one point it burrows underground), and in the old days it served as a shelter for travellers avlio were unable to cross the ford owing to floods. SomeAvhsre about tie year 1520 the inn wps owned by one Mistress Elynor Running or Rurnmyng ; and the name of the house is probably a play upon her name. The poet laureate to Henry VII celebrated the good dame in verse, which ha entitled "The Tunning of Elynor Running." It is related of her that she Avas in the habit of giA"ing short measure of beer, and in consequence was rolled down Leaiherhead Hill in a barrel. There is a painting of this dame on the inn wall. It is very indistinct, but appears to represent an elderly woman wearing what was known as an '" extinguisher hat.'' The pictui'e is dated 1520, and bears this legend : The inn itself is a quaint, gabled structure, which has probably been added to from time to time, but no -portion of it appears to be particularly modern.