Jack the Monkey
Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham
“In the Black Lion's Yard there was a coaching house and stables, it was also home to a monkey called Jack.” Heritage Stockton
We have covered a pub monkey in Oldham before with the Feytin’ Ape, but I’ve found another!
Back in 1740, The Black Lion Hotel was established in Stockton. In the yard of the hotel there was a coaching house and stables and this is believed to be where Jack the Monkey laid his head to rest every night…
Jack was supposedly a pet of one of the coach drivers who lived at the Black Lion Hotel and was apparently well-known and well liked, meaning he was allowed to freely roam around Stockton at his own will. It is said that one evening, Jack took himself on a little jaunt to St John’s Well on Bridge Road. A local butcher was riding his horse past the St John’s Well, when Jack decided to hop on behind him and hitchhike his way back to the Black Lion Hotel. In his usual loving manner, Jack began nipping at the butcher, poking him and having a little fun.
The butcher, however, had maybe three drinks too many that night. The butcher, drunk as a skunk, thought that the pinching and nipping was coming from the Devil, who had paid him a visit for the sin of drink-horse-riding. Fearing that the Devil had come to claim his soul, the butcher began to hoot and holler, wildly gesticulating, causing his horse to bolt off across the bridge.
The horse, confused, bolted all the way to Mandale Mill, where he bucked both the butcher and Jack the Monkey off onto the street. Crying, the butcher vowed to never drink again and hurried off home (apparently this didn’t last very long, as he was spotted in his usual drinkery a few days after this event). Jack, being the savvy monkey he is, managed to find his way back to the Black Lion Hotel.
Jack passed away in 1812, and a memorial plaque was placed in the middle of the Black Lion’s Yard to commemorate the monkey.
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