A Perfectly Imperfect History of The Bull & Swan

If you wander through Stamford’s High Street today, it’s easy to imagine this place as a picture-postcard town of honey-coloured stone and polite conversation. But slip inside The Bull & Swan and you’re stepping into a much older kind of story - one that involves a little local colour, a fair few mischievous characters, and a name that’s stuck around for centuries.

In 1684, John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter of Burghley House founded a gentlemen’s drinking club with a wonderfully eccentric name: The Honourable Order of Little Bedlam.

This was no ordinary pub gathering. Members were local worthies - earls, lords, artists and academics - each adopting a whimsical animal persona. There was:

• Lyon himself (the Earl)

• Greyhound

• Stag

• Tyger

• Porcupine…and even Unicorn to name a few

  
  

Whether they met weekly or monthly, records aren’t clear, but the tradition was revived after the Earl’s death by his son in 1705, complete with ceremonial titles and rules to keep the club “honourable” (at least on paper).

Was Bedlam Really at The Bull & Swan?

Historians think the club met at The Bull & Swan because of the inn’s proximity to Burghley House and its long status as a favourite local rendezvous.

So while there’s no smoking gun, it’s delightfully plausible: a hearty group of gentlemen, local ales on tap, robust conversation - and probably plenty of laughter.

A Legacy in Design and Stories

One of the most delightful traces of the Honourable Order of Little Bedlam survives not in dusty archives, but on the walls of Burghley House itself. In the grand Billiard Room you’ll find a series of oval portraits, each painted in the late 17th century for members of the club, complete with their animal-inspired identities - from Lyon and Greyhound to the more eccentric Porcupine and Wild Horse.

Back here at The Bull & Swan, that playful legacy lives on through our bedrooms. Each bedroom wears a name drawn from those original club pseudonyms - Ram, Greyhound, Lamb, Wildhorse, Badger, Stag, Lyon and even Newton, nodding to the polymath Sir Isaac Newton’s own Bedlam identity - weaving history into every stay.

Together, these portraits and named rooms don’t just celebrate eccentricity from centuries past - they remind us that this inn was more than a stop on the Great North Road. It was, quite possibly, where those very characters might have lingeringly toasted their next adventure, just as our guests do today.

And while your supper likely won’t be accompanied by aristocrats in velvet and wigs, the sense of conviviality - of shared stories and spirited company - certainly does.

Hospitality With a Dash of Gentle Riot

What’s charming about this slice of history is that it doesn’t require loud misbehaviour or exaggerated chaos to be fascinating. The Bedlam Club was about belonging, personality, ritual and wit. And that’s a perfect way to think about The Bull & Swan today: a place where history feels friendly, lived-in and slightly mischievous - but fundamentally welcoming.

Same name. Same purpose. Just with better upholstery.