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General
Gilston lies just across the Hertfordshire border from Harlow in Essex (to the south). The name derives from an Old English personal name and tun and means ‘Gedel's or Gydel's farm or settlement’.
The largest local employer is Merck, Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories at Terlings Park just to the south on a site occupied by fullers (treaters of wool) in the thirteenth century. To the north lies the large estate of Gilston Park, the original building being demolished and a new one built in 1851. Within the grounds can be seen the entrance porch from New Place which was built by Richard Chauncy near Fiddler’s Brook about 1550.
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The Plume of Feathers
The Plume of Feathers Inn stands at a point where three roads meet, a point which was once the site of a gallows. It was said that on execution days, when the weather was bad, the hanging would take place in an upstairs room in the inn. An electrician who was working up in the attic suddenly fled the room when he was frightened by something that he could not explain.
In the pub glasses are moved and even the fruit machine has been found half way across the room when there had been no-one there to move it.
One particular seat next to the fire is shunned by the locals due to the presence of a strange atmosphere. It appears that a stagecoach arrived at the inn on a bitterly cold night with a passenger frozen on the back seat. He was carried into the inn and put on the seat before the fire but it was too late as he was already dead.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
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