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NOTTINGHAM PAST & PRESENT: OLD INNS
THE TRIP TO JERUSALEM, 1913
The Trip to Jerusalem, Brewhouse Yard, is a remarkably interesting building. The date on its sign is 1190 and this no doubt refers to the original foundation of some ale house which has now disappeared, for the present house is merely a front to some very interesting and ancient rock chambers in the rear. It is a Tudor structure and there appears to be no authentic record of it before 1760, when it is spoken of as 'The Pilgrim'.
The origin of its name is obscure : In 1677 Thoroton speaks of Brewhouse Yard as a 'Receptacle for Fanatics'. Amongst these 'Fanatics' was a sect calling themselves the 'Philadelphians' or 'Family of Love', and referring to each other as 'Pilgrims'. It is possible that this body may have met in this house and so it got its name 'The Pilgrim', and it is easy to see how 'The Pilgrim to Jerusalem', which is a natural extension of 'The Pilgrim', became colloquialised into 'The Trip to Jerusalem'.
Anciently there was a curious court held at Cotgrave under the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem and styled 'The Master and Lieutenant's Court of Shelford'. It had jurisdiction over a large number of widely scattered places including 'The extra parochial liberty of Brewhouse Yard'. It would be interesting to connect the Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem with this inn.
Be that as it may, there is no doubt whatever that the cellar and the brew house, cut out of the solid rock, and the upstairs music room with its shaft driven through the rock up to the level of the platform of the Castle grounds, are extremely interesting and very ancient features.