HISTORY >



The Falcon has had a rich history over the past 400 years. Until 1650, the buildings and site of The Falcon was Bletsoe Mill belonging to the St John family. In 1727, the mill was turned into a coaching inn and public house with the first official mention of ‘Falcon Inn’ dating back to 1757 when the building was made the official meeting place for Lieutenancy and was the site for legal proceedings in the area.

This usage continued throughout the 19th Century. In 1859 the Victorian writer Edward Fitzgerald wrote his famous 'The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám' whilst he stayed here. In a letter he describes the Falcon as: 'An inn, the cleanest, the sweetest, the civilist, the quietest, the liveliest and the cheapest that was ever built or conducted. On one side it has a garden, then the meadows through which winds the Ouse, and on the other the public road with its coach and horse hurrying to London, its market people halting to drink, its farmers, horsemen and foot travellers, so as one's humour is, one can have which ever phase of life one pleases: the quietitude or bustle, solitude or the busy hum of men.’

See Bedfordshire County Historical Notes

If you mention pubs and spirits in the same breath it is likely that alcohol intake is blamed as a possible cause for the experiencing of ghostly phenomenon. Yet paranormal writer Damien O’Dell, in his book ‘Ghostly Bedfordshire: A Haunted History’ suggests that a young stable hand, employed at the inn centuries ago, now haunts The Falcon.