Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is a crusader pub established in 1189 AD – the year Pope Gregory VIII called for a Third Crusade to the Holy Land and the year that Richard the Lionheart became king of England and started organising the Third Crusade. It sits below Castle Rocks and the walls of Nottingham Castle, in the heart of the town centre. Many man made tunnels and caves connect to it, dating back over a thousand years. Robin Hood a figure of English folklore, but also believed to be based on a real person who lived in Nottinghamshire and who went on the crusade, is said to have frequented the inn. The inn is also haunted by former crusaders.
King Richard the Lionheart and his men congregated at the pub before embarking on the Third Crusade in Jerusalem, giving the pub its name. Evidence suggests that caves in the rock against which the pub is built were used as a brewhouse for Nottingham Castle, and may date from around the time the castle was built in 1067, then being extended as a pub for townsfolk outside the Castle walls.
Richard the Lionheart ruled England, the Principalities of Wales, and also ruled lands as Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony; Lord of Cyprus; Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes; and was overlord of Brittany. Richard I ruled over much of France during the Angevin Empire (sometimes called the first English Empire).
Richard had already taken the cross as Count of Poitou in 1187. His father and Philip II had done so at Gisors on 21 January 1188 after receiving news of the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin. After Richard became king, he and Philip II agreed to go on the Third Crusade, since each feared that during his absence the other might usurp his territories, they collectively organised the Crusade.
