The Green Dragon is a
Grade II listed public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
in
Flaunden
Flaunden is a village and a civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Buckinghamshire. Old Flaunden was on the banks of the River Chess
The River Chess is a chalk stream that rises near Chesham in the Chiltern Hill ...
, Hertfordshire, England.
The rear wing, a timber-framed structure, is the oldest part of the building and dates from the early 17th century.
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History
Formerly a residential house, what is now the Green Dragon was built in the early 17th Century, with the front range rebuilt in the early 19th Century and a side extension following in the 1980s. Much of the interior of the pub still contains the original timber frame, whilst the frontage is red brick, and the roof red tile.[ The tap room was built in 1838, whilst much of the rest of the pub has remained unchanged since the 19th century.
Among the Green Dragon's past clientele are two infamous figures, Nazi politician Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet spy ]Guy Burgess
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...
. Von Ribbentrop was a regular at the Green Dragon during the 1930s when he stayed at his weekend house in nearby Latimer during his time as the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom.Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...
. As a result of Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
committing suicide, von Ribbentrop became the first of those sentenced to be executed; he was hanged on 16 October 1946.
Burgess meanwhile often visited the Green Dragon when he stayed in Flaunden with his boyfriend, Peter Pollock, who lived in the Sharlowes farmhouse not far from the pub.[ Burgess would defect to the ]Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in May 1951, however, he is reported to have met with fellow Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...
member Donald MacLean in the Tap Room of the Green Dragon the day prior to their defection.[
The Green Dragon has been under the custodianship of many landlords over the years and with one family in particular, the Burgess' for three generations from 1932 to 2018.
]
Present Day
The Green Dragon is listed on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors register, and is the only pub in Hertfordshire to be listed as having an "interior of national importance". This is due in large part to the snug being made up of two or more high backed settles, of which there are only a handful left in the country.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Dragon, Flaunden, The
Buildings and structures in Dacorum
Grade II listed pubs in Hertfordshire
National Inventory Pubs
Timber framed buildings in Hertfordshire