THE WHITE SWAN

THE WHITE SWAN - A LITERARY LONDON PUB

On Monday, Jim ?and I (Henry ) walked from Kingston to Richmond along the Thames Path (south side). Afterwards, for refreshment, we popped into The White Swan – a quaint pub built in 1787.

The White Swan is a good name for a pub related to royalty. The reigning monarch owns all swans on open water. Henry IV's wife Mary de Bohun of Hereford, Henry VI’s wife Margaret of Anjou and Henry VIII’s wife Anne of Cleves, all had a white swan in their coat of arms. The pub is located on a small quiet street, off Richmond Green, about 100 yards from the Thames and on the site of the original moat of the old Tudor palace . So, a pub related to royalty!

Richmond Palace was where Henry VIII lived and three former monarchs died (Edward III, Henry VII and Elizabeth I). It is now demolished. Anna Castle researched Richmond Palace for her novel Let slip the dogs .

Out the front of the pub, I bumped into Jeremy Howell , contributor to The Copperfield Review , looking relaxed as he finished off a pint and a smoke. We had a brief catch-up chat. Jeremy approved of the Kingston-Richmond riverside route we had taken: ‘Very nice!’

Jim and I went inside to order pints of bitter. I chose a pint of Otter for its low alcohol content (3.6 percent). We sat in the small beer garden at the back. The Otter beer slipped down easily.

We noticed, about every 5 minutes there was a plane overhead on its way to Heathrow - that seemed closer to a ‘business as usual level of flights’ rather than a ‘Covid-19 level’.

On the subject of flying: Marc Bolan , of T. Rex , wrote the lyric Ride a White Swan :

'Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways / Ride it on out like you were a bird / Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam / Ride it on out like you were a bird'

Marc also once lived fairly nearby at 142 Upper Richmond Road . Click on the next link for more on Marc Bolan’s London .

Juan Eduardo Cirlot in his?Dictionary of Symbols called the swan a ‘symbol of great complexity.’ Swans feature in myths, legends, literature all around the world. In Hans Christian Andersen’s ?The Ugly Duckling a cygnet thinks he is unattractive but grows into a beautiful swan.?In Greek mythology there is the story of Leda and the Swan and W.B. Yeats wrote this poem on the subject . The white swan appears in plenty of poetry. Here are three examples by: Owen Sheers , ?Moondamp Roses and Jacob Thompson . Many of William Shakespeare's works feature swans including As You Like It :

'And wheresoe'er?we?went,?like Juno's swans?still?we?went coupled and inseparable.' (Act 1 Scene 3)

The White Swan, 26 Old Palace Lane, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1PG

If you liked this article,?there are other London literary pubs listed here.