“IT is not just birds, bees and butterflies that have seen a dramatic fall in their numbers in recent decades: there has been an equal catastrophic decline in the number of pubs across the country, in rural areas as well as urban”.

With this ominous statement and reference to “three pubs a day” closing their doors, Settle historian and archaeologist David Johnson introduces his fascinating new book Time Please! - Lost Inns, Pubs and Alehouses of the Yorkshire Dales, writes Colin Speakman.

But David isn’t concerned about real ale or where to find it in many fine old inns and pubs that have survived in the Yorkshire Dales. David is concerned about the lost heritage of the many ale-houses, inns and taverns that have vanished over the centuries and why they existed in such numbers at all. He offers readers a fascinating piece of social history, which illuminates many aspects of life in rural England well beyond the Yorkshire Dales. It is as much a history and overview of changing social, economic and travel patterns, as drinking habits.

For people living in pre-mechanised times every journey whether on foot, on horseback or by carriage took far longer, meaning that refreshment stops were needed on roads and even tracks at frequent intervals, often at the start or end of a day’s journey that now takes a few minutes by car. Also at a time when typhoid or cholera were all too common, “small beer” weak in alcohol, was often a safer drink than the local water supply, so ale-houses were there to meet the needs not just of inebriates.

In the Middle Ages, it was sufficient to put up a bush or bough on a pole outside your house to offer passing strangers a glass of home-made ale - or in later years hop-flavoured beer from the village brewer. Wayside ale-houses sold both ale and basic food, and sometimes were known as bait-houses meaning places food - mainly plain bread or oat cake – could be bought cheap. Inns, generally in villages or market towns, offered not just food but overnight accommodation, whilst taverns, generally in towns, were bigger establishments and might even offer wine. The growth of turnpike roads and stagecoach networks of the 18th and early 19th centuries also resulted in the opening of larger, grander coaching inns in the market towns. But most villages and even hamlets also offered beer-houses purely for local needs – the precursors of the local “public house”, a name by the late 19th century shortened to “pubs” .

Drunkenness and licentiousness were as common throughout the ages as they still are in our cities on Friday nights, and David records the various attempts by the Government and local Justices to control not just the quality and selling of ale but the behaviour of drinkers. Premises had to be licensed from 1551 and over the years measures were even taken even to stop games such as skittles; Morris and Maypole dancing all being banned in the 17th century. You could also be fined for “drinking at the time of Divine Service”

But perhaps the most fascinating aspect of David’s meticulous research is his discovery of so many buildings or in some cases ruins of buildings, which once served communities in the Dales as ale-houses and inns. Sometimes they were opened on old packhorse or drove roads in quite wild and remote places to provide packmen and drovers with ale, food and rest (albeit “dossing” in flea-infested straw). A famous Drovers Inn at Gearstones above Ribblehead is now an outdoor centre. Some such as the Cock and Guns near Garsdale or High Dyke on The High Way near Mallerstang, are little more than skeletal ruins, whilst The Lone Head on Boss Moor near Bordley is a mere pile of stones. You can also wonder around market towns and see former inns such as the Ship Tavern in Skipton or the William IV transformed to shops or guest houses.

David’s meticulous detective work, superbly illustrated by excellent contemporary and historic photographs, has brought these long lost centres of rest, refreshment and conviviality to life. In many cases they are no longer part of living memory (though the Masons Arms at Eastby was a recent, much lamented casualty of property developers). In his appendix around 150 lost ale-houses, inns and taverns are listed – some dating back to the Middle Ages, others only to the 19th century when many were opened in the busier towns to meet the needs of workers in the growing industries of the Dales and beyond. Nor were all in use in one period of time, but reflect changing economic activity, social habits and transport. In the 21st century their loss also reflects a steady decline in pub-going and even alcohol consumption, with supermarkets, restaurants and clubs now provide a far higher percentage of the nation’s intake.

Perhaps a key message of Time Please is for us to not just to seek out these historic places in the villages, hamlets or even wilder places of the Dales, but to make good use of those Dales hostelries that survive – as much vital focal points for Dales communities now, as they were in the past.

Time Please!-Lost Inns, Pubs and Alehouses of the Yorkshire Dales is published by North Craven Heritage Trust and is available from various local retailers, and online from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust: ydmt.org/shop and the Yorkshire Dales National Trust shops, priced at £9.99.

The book was part-funded by Stories in Stone, a programme of community and heritage projects developed by the Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership, which is led by Clapham-based charity Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) and mainly funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.