East Ilsley has a claim to be the site of the battle of Ashdown in 1871 when Alfred defeated the Danes. Bishop Asser tells us that on the hill stood a solitary Ash-Tree, revered for centuries by the Druids before the Christians came, and indeed as late as the Domesday Survey Ilsley Hundred was known as ‘nachededorne’ (Solitary Ash). Shortly after the battle a community must have grown-up for the name Ilsley is itself a corruption of ‘hildes laeg’, or battle-field.

Before the Domesday Record was compiled the Conqueror had compiled & granted lands in East Ilsley to Geoffrey de Mandeville; by the 13th Century the manor had passed to the De Bohuns, Earls of Hereford & Essex. They held it until 1573 when it passed to the Duchy of Lancaster through the marriage of Mary de Bohun to Henry Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV. These facts are of interest to the Swan Hotel as the swan badge was originally that of the De Mandevilles, who derived it from a remote ancestor Adam Fitzswanne, and who passed it in turn to the De Bohuns. Thus it was a badge used by Henry V as derived from his mother. It is a possibility, therefore, that the hostelry may have been named from this connection, and even perhaps celebrated the accession of Henry in 1413 or his victory at Agincourt.

An ancient origin is not unlikely for the Swan since by 1240 there was already a substantial corn-market in the town, and by the Middle Ages this has been augmented by a major sheep fair, attracting drovers bringing their stock along the Ridgeway.
It is recorded that at one time there were as many as twenty-four taverns catering for market days; but many of these, it must be assumed, were private houses. Of the principal Inns there were about ten and the Swan was prominent among them. Traces of ancient building have, unfortunately, disappeared. The present Swan is largely 17th century though it may incorporate earlier building. Certainly it was standing in 1620 when an archdeaconry document shows it as part of the Manor Lands. In 1644 it was used to quarter troops of King Charles army when he himself dines at Compton.

By the Eighteenth century the presence of the Duke of Cumberland at Keats Gore had brought a new notoriety to East Ilsley - racehorses. Training rapidly became a new industry and a number of the innkeepers of the Swan were turning their hand to the new sport as well as managing a hostelry which catered for an increasing amount of road transport as ‘a posting house with stabling for 50 horse’s. We were told also that in the mid-eighteenth century, ordinances were held every Wednesday at the Lamb, the Swan and the Star - the 3 principal Inns.

Robert Southby, as Lord of the Manor in the early 19th century owned the Swan. In 1843, on the death of his widow, Elizabeth, the executors agreed to sell the premises to Edward Morland, the brewer of West Ilsley. Through his family it passed to Morlands Brewery whose property, variously known as Inn or Hotel, then passed to Green King in the late 20th Century.

The Landlords
1815 1847 1863 1883 1887 1899 1909 1928 1935	George Baker George Drewe Joseph Lowe George Birch Thomas Stimpson Edmund Jeffrey William Sneller Henry Rosher Lily May Attewelle	1939 1948 1953 1962 1980 1985 2004 2006	Lily May Hurst Frank Holmes A.J.Pearson Ernest Herring Irene Herring Michael Connolly Andrew Venning Richard Vellender/Kim Ward