The position of this village on the main Wantage to London road ensured that it had several coaching inns going back to the 18th and early 19th centuries. Writing in 1920, P.H. Ditchfield mentions a gruesome tale he had been told in the 1880s about one of them – he does not say which. At that time, a tree had blown down in the paddock belonging to the inn, and a human skeleton was found entangled in its roots. The same proved to be true of another tree in the same field, and the whole village began to wonder when and why the bodies had been disposed of in such a way.
At last the oldest inhabitant told how that in the days of his youth the landlord, who was a surly ruffian, was suspected of robbing and killing his guests, but no one could accuse him as no bodies were ever found. But he was observed to be fond of arborculture. He planted many trees in his paddock, and if all these were cut down and grubbed up, doubtless the body of a slain traveler would be found under each one of them!
The many local legends about murderous innkeepers reflect the fears and suspicions of travelers in former times.