About The Bull Inn
Origins and medieval context
Walsingham has been a major place of Christian pilgrimage since the Middle Ages (it was counted among the great medieval shrines of England), and the buildings around the village green — the Common Place — grew up to serve pilgrims and the abbey community. The timbered Bull public house sits in that Common Place and is thought to have originated as part of the outer precinct of Walsingham Abbey; local accounts and architectural descriptions suggest the building may originally have functioned as a pilgrims’ hostel or associated lodging.
Architecture and early-modern life
The structure you see today is mainly a 15th–16th century timber-framed range (with later alterations), forming part of the block of historic buildings opening onto the cobbled Common Place. Over time the Bull’s role expanded from medieval hostelage to a village inn serving locals, visitors and, later, coaching traffic that passed through the area. The building’s special architectural and historic interest is recognised in its statutory listing.
18th–19th centuries - Inn
By the 18th and 19th centuries the Bull was operating solidly as an inn — with parlours, bed-rooms, cellar and brew-house noted in sale and letting notices. Surviving records (19th-century auction and sale notices) describe the Bull as a substantial freehold property with outbuildings, stabling and a pump supplying “excellent water,” evidence of its importance as a hospitality and servicing site in the village economy.
20th century: preservation and listed status
The Bull’s long survival and its architectural quality led to statutory protection in the mid-20th century: it is recorded on the Historic England list (Grade II*, listed in 1951), which recognises both the building’s age and its group value within Common Place. That status has helped preserve historic timber framing, plan form and the pub’s relationship with the village shrine and other heritage buildings nearby.
The Bull Inn today
Today the Bull remains the village’s social hub — a traditional public house with a few letting rooms, popular with pilgrims, visitors to the shrines and villagers alike. It continues to be described in visitor and local guides as intrinsic to the feel of Common Place, and it has changed hands and management over recent years. The pub still sits opposite the village pump and the remains of the abbey precinct, preserving that visible link between Walsingham’s medieval pilgrimage past and its modern village life.
