Courtesy of Wikipedia. Image by Edward Betts 19th April 2006
Hidden away down Saffron Hill just off Faringdon Road, is one of those London pubs with a great literary secret.
Saffron Hill gets its name from the herb that originally grew here in local gardens. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
But by the 19th century the area had taken a distinct turn for the worse and was described by Charles Dickens as a squalid neighbourhood – the home of paupers and thieves. Not so nice. In Dicken’s novel Oliver Twist, this is where the Artful Dodger takes the unsuspecting Oliver to Fagin’s den.
Dickens in his research of the area, was known to frequent the One Tun Pub and it was here where he came across a well-known London low life called Ikey Solomons.
Dickens thought the tucked-away pub perfect as a meeting place for his fictitious characters – Fagin (based loosely on Solomons), the downright nasty Bill Sikes and the unfortunate Nancy.
Courtesy of Wikipedia. Watercolour of Fagin from Oliver Twist by ‘Kyd’. Citca 1889 Joseph Clayton Clarke (1857-1937)
In the book, the pub’s name was changed for more dramatic effect to The Three Cripples (which was actually the name of a cheap boarding house next door).
The One Tun pub was rebuilt in 1875 century so what you see today isn’t the pub Dicken’s frequented, but it’s a good bit of London literary history all the same.
By the way, it’s one of the last two remaining pubs in London to trade under the name One Tun. A ‘tun’ was the name of a large cask or barrel used for storing beer or wine (252 gallons), and eventually became the ton – a unit of measure.
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