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Elm Tree Inn - Knicker Bunting, Smugglers, Spies & Bouncing Bombs!

Elm Tree Inn, Langton Herring in South Dorset is a 400-year-old hostelry with a colourfully checkered history - that includes smugglers, bouncing bombs, espionage and knicker bunting. Originally leased by the Prince of Wales, it became a known haunt for wreckers and smugglers. Wreckers plundered cargo from shipwrecks. The dangerous shingle banks and deep waters off nearby Chesil Bank led to many local shipwrecks. Folklore has it that wreckers would tie a lantern to a cow’s tail and the gentle up and down motion would simulate that of a ship at anchor. Passing captains would mistake the false light for a safe harbour. Disaster would follow.

A fisherman who had cheated others on the size of his catch was chased through the village in 1780 and was hung from a beam at the Elm Tree Inn. In 1834, William Whittle was sentenced to death for smuggling and for assaulting a Revenue Official. Following a petition for clemency, signed by more than 600, he was transported to Australia. The village’s isolated position made it an ideal base for smuggling.

During World War II, engineer Barnes Wallis stayed at the Elm Tree Inn while tests were taking place on his ‘bouncing bomb’ in the nearby Fleet Lagoon. It is believed Prime Minister Winston Churchill also stayed at the inn.  Portland Naval Base spies, Harry Houghton and Ethel ‘Bunty’ Gee regularly used the inn, during the Cold War as a meeting place with their Russian handler, Gordon Lonsdale. His real name was Konon Molody and his cover story was selling juke boxes and bubble gum. After their release from prison, Houghton and Gee opened a bed & breakfast in Poole.

In July 2009, Langton Herring found itself short of funding for the village fete. So someone suggested pants as an alternative bunting. Even the vicar contributed and the village’s ’knicker bunting’ even made the national media.

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