Raleigh Chopper

It's 400 years since the death of Sir Walter Raleigh and here at his favourite pub The Virginia Ash we are marking the occasion with some very traditional dishes he would have loved if he popped in today for a pint, a pie and of course a pipe of his famous tobacco!
Join us on Monday evening 29th October for some lovely comfort food classics and meet our very own Sir Walter! Considering how he died we won't be serving chops (he was beheaded), but as well as our usual dishes our specials for the night will include:

So why not come and join us to mark occasion, raise a glass to Sir Walter and enjoy some heart warming home cooked food for this special Knight!

Well, as you might already know, Sir Walter sailed off to America, set up Virginia and brought back tobacco to England (hence 'Virginia Ash'). He was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1st who Knighted him in 1585. Unfortunately Walter secretly married one of the queen's ladies in waiting without royal permission. They were both sent to the Tower of London. After they were eventually released the couple retired to Sherborne New Castle, which Raleigh had built in the grounds of the old castle. Unfortunately for Walter, he had been involved in a plot against James 1st some years earlier, so when Queen Elizabeth died he was imprisoned again...finally being released in 1616 in order to mount an expedition to find the gold of 'El Dorado'. Whilst on this misson his soldiers attacked a Spanish outpost and on his return, to appease the Spanish, Walter was arrested again and eventually executed on 29th October 1618, when he was beheaded in front of a large crowd.

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​• THE VIRGINIA ASH, SHERBORNE ROAD, HENSTRIDGE, SOMERSET BA8 0PL •

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