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Description
This historic hotel is situated in the high street of Stony Stratford, which for centuries occupied an important position on the old Roman Watling Street. The Cock has stood since 1470. In 1742 the great fire of Stony Stratford was started by a chambermaid in the adjacent Bull Hotel. Fearful that she would lose her position for burning a sheet while ironing, she stuffed it up the chimney, starting a blaze that rapidly spread and destroyed both inns and the old church. When the Cock was rebuilt it included wealth of ironwork projecting over the street which can still be seen today. During the heyday of coach travel there were as many as 100 coaches coming it the town everyday. The inn was the official stop for the Manchester flyer, with a 25 minute stop for dinner. The phrase 'a cock and bull story' derives from 18th and 19th century travellers telling hair raising tales of the road on arrival at the Cock and the nearby Bull public house. The Cock features in nursery rhymes too. Travellers could hire horses from the inns, and it was a cock horse" that was hired to ride to Banbury Cross. The hotel is within easy reach of Towcester racecourse, Silverstone Circuit and Milton Keynes Bowl."
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