Plaque Wording:
The George and Devonshire, originally called The George, is a Grade II listed building, and has traded as a public house since the 1650's. It is the last pub still trading in what was Chiswick Village, the others having been demolished or closed down.
The George and Devonshire has had generations of publicans over the years including John Howell Burden, the assistant purser of the Lusitania, aged 25, who was drowned when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 7th May 1915. Both are buried in Chiswick Graveyard.
In the 18th century, smugglers used to row up the Thames with their contraband goods of rum and spirits and at a given signal pull over towards the huddle of fisher cottages between the river and the medieval church of St Nicholas. Somewhere among those tiny houses was the opening of a tunnel which led under the church to the George and Devonshire. There the boats would be unloaded and the goods carried up a secret passage, which led into the cellar. Evidence of this passageway can be seen today in the cellar of the George and Devonshire with two steps leading up to a bricked up doorway, facing towards the river!
The George and Devonshire has had generations of publicans over the years including John Howell Burden, the assistant purser of the Lusitania, aged 25, who was drowned when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 7th May 1915. Both are buried in Chiswick Graveyard.
In the 18th century, smugglers used to row up the Thames with their contraband goods of rum and spirits and at a given signal pull over towards the huddle of fisher cottages between the river and the medieval church of St Nicholas. Somewhere among those tiny houses was the opening of a tunnel which led under the church to the George and Devonshire. There the boats would be unloaded and the goods carried up a secret passage, which led into the cellar. Evidence of this passageway can be seen today in the cellar of the George and Devonshire with two steps leading up to a bricked up doorway, facing towards the river!