Cowper Thornhill's big day out

1745 Cowper Thornhill, keeper, from 1730 until his death in 1759, of the Bell Inn on the Great North Road at Stilton, now in Cambridgeshire, in the former county of Huntingdonshire, England, made what was at the time the greatest horse-ride ever known: 213 miles in twelve hours, 17 minutes.

The ride was from the Bell Inn to Shoreditch Church in London (bringing to mind the nursery rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons'), then back, and back again to London.

Thornhill must have been a remarkable man. He is also generally referred to as the man who popularised Stilton cheese (one of my favourite delicacies). He discovered a distinctive blue-vein cheese while visiting a small farm in rural Leicestershire, fell in love with the product and forged a business arrangement that granted the Bell exclusive marketing rights to blue Stilton.

Tagged: food, british+history