SIR – I notice that whenever an article about the White Horse Inn in Bingley (pictured) appears in the T&A, its ownership is always attributed to the ‘Knights Templar’, properly known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, who wore the famous white tunic emblazoned with a red cross. This order was disbanded in 1312 by Pope Clement IV, having been, probably falsely, accused of heresy.

The White Horse actually belonged to The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, better known as the Knights Hospitallers, whose uniform was a black surcoat marked with a white Maltese cross and who held Crosley Manor in Allerton.

It is thought that a hostelry has been on the site since 1379. The present buildings, however, were originally constructed as a coaching inn in the mid-17th century. The Hospitallers still exist today in the form of their descendant organisations, the St John Ambulance and the St John Eye Hospital in East Jerusalem.

G C Hutton, Oakdale Drive, Bradford