Mystery of signed floorboard points to Three Compasses pub

It was taken up from the front room of one of the Victorian villas on Maldon’s Promenade Park, once in the ownership of my maternal grandmother’s family.

On the reverse side it is dated “March 21st 1898” and is signed in thick pencil by the carpenter, Arthur Benson.

Not only has he left us his name, but he tells us that he hailed from West Hanningfield.

A year or so ago I was talking to a friend about the item and he asked if I had ever been to “that really old pub there”.

I hadn’t, but was then determined to visit Arthur Benson’s old stomping ground, including the pub.

So one Sunday morning shortly afterwards, we set off in my friend’s 1936 Austin 7 Ruby (affectionately named ‘Alice’) and headed out of town, via Spital Road.

I can’t really travel anywhere by car (whether old or modern) without spotting historic landmarks on the way.

The first, naturally enough, was the “spital” – St Giles', founded in 1164, but consisting of a fragment of the 14th Century hospital chapel.

• Arriving in style in an Austin 7

We were soon passing new housing and, in particular, Ben Cobey Avenue, named after the brave young soldier who once lived in Church Street and was killed in Mons in 1914.

Over the old borough boundary, sitting on ancient ‘Limebrook’, mentioned in our oldest surviving Charter of 1171, and we were in the parish of Woodham Mortimer.

Red brick, gabled Woodham Mortimer Hall sits next to the parish church of St Margaret and opposite the obelisk erected by the Coopers Company, in 1825.

I mourn the passing of the little school building that once stood alongside and Alan Brush’s race course, then we have Woodham Mortimer Place, sitting in its park and the Oak roundabout.

Second exit on to the old Southend Road and, on the right, is The Grange, former headquarters of 37 (Home Defence) Squadron during the Great War.

We continued on the road until we reached Bicknacre, with its priory ruins of around 1250, and pressed on to the Hanningfields. East Hanningfield first with church and pubs, but along Pan Lane, crossing over the busy A130 and we reached our destination – West Hanningfield.

Nowadays most people understandably associate West Hanningfield with the 880-acre reservoir, but this was only formed in 1957 and the village, although only small, is a lot older than that.

During Arthur Benson’s day, 430 people lived there and it consisted of 2,818 acres, primarily focused on agriculture.

Entering via Church Road we spotted the church. Dedicated to St Mary and St Edward, it has a distinctive timber west tower attached to its Norman nave.

Then we noticed the village hall, built in 1968 and refurbished in 2000, and clearly an important centre for the local community. But then the same might be said of the pub, where we pulled into the car park.

• The Victorian floorboard signed by Arthur Benson which sparked the journey

The Three Compasses is a real house of history – even the sign is derived from the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, which existed in 1271 and received its Royal Charter in 1477.

Parts of the building (particularly the east range) are as early as the 15th Century – say around 1425, but there are additions of the 16th Century (an inserted stack) and major “improvements” at the hands of the Victorians.

It is now quite rightly a Grade II listed building and its ancient ambiance, low beams, bars and window bench seats can be accessed and enjoyed by all. It isn’t entirely clear when it became a hostelry, but a list of landlords displayed inside goes right back to the year of Nelson’s birth – 1758.

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As we crossed the threshold and walked in I thought about my floorboard and about Arthur Benson.

Landlord Samuel J. Saunders would have been behind the bar in those days and doubtless knew Arthur and all the other village Bensons – Charles, from Hall Farm, Colin, of Helmons, and William, at Pynnings.

When we visited, we spoke about this incredibly rich heritage with the long-term landlady, Rose Cotton (who has run the pub since 1971), and enjoyed an excellent pint of her well kept ale that, despite the passage of over 100 years, Arthur would have rated just as highly as we did.

We had discovered a “new” new pub, but our time travel was quickly over and we needed to return to Maldon following the same route that a certain builder would have taken in his cart, laden with freshly cut floorboards.

• The roll call of innkeepers at the Three Compasses in West Hanningfield