In 1944, the D-Day Landings, when 156,000 allied British, American and Canadian troops crossed the English Channel to attack and weaken German forces, marked a turning point in World War II. Months of planning had taken place with extensive talks held between UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Dwight Eisenhower. Officially, some discussions took place at Wilton House, a splendid Palladian mansion just outside the cathedral city of Salisbury. However, word-of-mouth history says that these were sometimes reconvened at the Haunch of Venison pub, which sits in a row of timbered medieval buildings on Salisbury’s Minster Street. The tiny Ladies’ Snug, known as The Horsebox, was just the right size for top-secret conversations over glasses of Scotch, and it’s still there, perfect for intimate drinks. Given that the Grade II-listed pub has a 700-year-old history, with older roof timbers thought to come from sailing ships, this is not its only human interest story. It also boasts an array of ghostly visitors and, by an old disused bread oven, displays a macabre mummified hand, said to be the ex-property of an 18th-century card player who was caught cheating.
The Haunch of Venison, 1 Minster Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire; haunchpub.co.uk
Photo: Chris Talbot, Wikimedia Commons. Photo on Home page: Winston Churchill during D-Day preparations.