History of "The Old Sun" Harlington

The Old Sun is an attractive half timbered construction with an inglenook fireplace. It was built as a private residence prior to the civil war of the 1640’s. It has been rumoured that King Charles 1 was hidden nearby during his flight from Cromwell.

Two events that could not have escaped the attention of the early inhabitants of the ‘Sun’ Cottage were the arrest of John Bunyan in the parish for field preaching. This was on the 12th November 1660. Secondly Charles ll visited the village in the 1670’s to see his former mathematics tutor Edmund Wingate. The hearth tax returns for 1671 suggest a population of 302.

‘Sun’ Cottage remained a private residence for 150 years and by the 1780’s was in ownership of John Robinson, a saddler, who lived in Ampthill. He became acquainted with John Morris, a brewer in the town and sold him the cottage on a 750 year lease on the 29th October 1785. After Morris remodelled the building it became a public ale-house, being given the name of The Sun Inn. Its sign depicts the sun in splendour originating as the badge of Edward lV.

The nineteenth century saw the opening of two other ale-houses in Harlington, The Carpenters Arms in 1822 and the Harlington Arms in 1871. The three houses catered for the travellers arriving at the newly built railway station as well as the local trade. The census for 1871 gives a population of 546.

Morris brewers delivered their beer from Ampthill first by horse drawn dray and latterly by steam powered wagons which had difficulty negotiating the steep incline of Sundon Road. During 1926 Morris’s were bought by J.W.Green brewers of Luton. Greens daughter (Mrs Sidney Tabor) lived at Harlington Manor for over fifty years. J.W. Green purchased Flowers Breweries of Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1954 changing the firms name to Flowers Breweries Ltd. Finally the Whitbread Group amalgamated with Flowers in 1962.

For over two hundred years the ‘Old Sun’ Harlington has played an important part of the history of Harlington. The present day modernisation is just another chapter in its history.

The Sun Inn - The Rising Sun - The Old Sun