Langar Hall Country Hotel & Restaurant

overview

Langar Hall is a Sanskrit word for a place where pilgrims receive rest and nourishment. Every Sikh temple has a Langar Hall where worshipers enjoy a free meal before going to the temple.

The priory of St Ethelburger, close by Langar, is mentioned in the Vatican archives as a place ‘where great multitudes resort’ to receive blessing and remission from their sins in the next life when they visit on any of the many holy feast days.

At that time Langar Hall, a medieval castle, was situated half a mile north of the church beside the river Smite. The priory, half a mile to the south of the church by a stream. I imagine the weary pilgrims trudging up the hill to church and then on to the priory for their blessings.

Sadly all traces of the castle and the priory that used to be evident under the grass disappeared when the pastureland was ploughed in the 1970s. I think the present network of moats were once carp ponds for the priory and village before they were transformed.