02 Apr 2006 If Only Walls Could Talk

This London Sunday Times story is interesting:

A pub must pay a fine for a murder on its premises more than 300 years ago.Auditors discovered the long-forgotten penalty for The Swan in Ipswich, Suffolk, while balancing the books for the town’s St Mary Le Tower Church Charities.

The annual bill of 40 shillings, equivalent to 2 pounds, seems to be a punishment for a killing in 1664 when Charles II was king…

Here’s a home page for a Swan hotel and restaurants (possibly not the correct one?), which dates back to the 1400s. The website notes that the “Old Bar” (possibly the scene of the murder?) has “memorabilia, including badges and signatures of the American airmen stationed at Lavenham during World War II.”