Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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The Golden Fleece, or just the Fleece, was near the Royal Exchange at Fleece Passage, between numbers 32 and 33 (I have no idea what’s there now). It must have been a large tavern, because it was assessed in the hearth tax lists of 1662 and 1669 as having 16 hearths, and I think it was important enough to be marked on contemporary maps.
A Mr William Hinton was proprietor during the early years of the Diary: he and his wife Susannah had four children baptised during this time.
William Hinton is mentioned by name in an advertisement in the “News” of April 1665, announcing the loss of “a 12-year-old negro boy”. Anyone who could give information about his whereabouts would be rewarded.
Nicholas Coleborne, who before the Great Fire owned the Sun in Threadneedle Alley (see its own entry), took over the Golden Fleece after the Fire. He seems to have been well connected to the Vintners Company, who held nine ceremonial dinners during his time at the Fleece.
The Fleece finally burned down in March 1748.