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The Mayflower, after returning to England and then serving out several more voyages, was broken up in the mid-1620s and sold as scrap. At that point, the ship was in no way famous; it was not really until the 19th century that it became an important part of the Pilgrim memory in the USA or Britain. Since it sailed into the popular imagination, however, there have been several speculative claims from historians that they have found the last resting place of the her timbers - the Mayflower Barn in Buckinghamshire being the most famous example.
One of the most recent 'discoveries' has come from the local historian Steve Pointer and the city of Gloucester - a place that, as far as we are aware, has no other claim to fame when it comes to the Pilgrims. In 2005, he claimed that he had tracked the ship's remains to the Old Bell in Gloucester (at that time a pub, but today a cafe). Like other discoverers, Pointer indulged in a bit of creative historical thinking; not just a historian but a medium too, he had seen visions of 'men dressed like the Pilgrim Fathers' and 'immediately felt the sensation' that he was 'on a boat'. He then began a more empirical investigation - if no less speculative.
The Berkeley family, who were investors in the Virginia Company that funded the Plymouth settlement, were Gloucester folk. The buyer of the Mayflower scrap was unnamed but, Pointer posited, the Berkeley family might have bought the ship, and might have used it to build the house that eventually became the Old Bell. After all, he pointed out, the wooden front of the pub, complete with 17th century shiplike windows, looked like 'contemporary descriptison of the Mayflower' (difficult to argue, given that there aren't any proper contemporary descriptions!).
Not everyone was convinced: landlady Nicky Hardwick, for example, said that
"Until someone comes up with some concrete evidence that the building was made from the Mayflower, I'll remain sceptical. I have enough trouble as it is with ghosts in the pub - including a Cavalier who walks up and down the stairs and a black dog that appears in the restaurant."
Despite the dubiousness of Pointer's claim, it is repeated in some guides to the town and the Wikipedia page for the pub, too.
One of the most recent 'discoveries' has come from the local historian Steve Pointer and the city of Gloucester - a place that, as far as we are aware, has no other claim to fame when it comes to the Pilgrims. In 2005, he claimed that he had tracked the ship's remains to the Old Bell in Gloucester (at that time a pub, but today a cafe). Like other discoverers, Pointer indulged in a bit of creative historical thinking; not just a historian but a medium too, he had seen visions of 'men dressed like the Pilgrim Fathers' and 'immediately felt the sensation' that he was 'on a boat'. He then began a more empirical investigation - if no less speculative.
The Berkeley family, who were investors in the Virginia Company that funded the Plymouth settlement, were Gloucester folk. The buyer of the Mayflower scrap was unnamed but, Pointer posited, the Berkeley family might have bought the ship, and might have used it to build the house that eventually became the Old Bell. After all, he pointed out, the wooden front of the pub, complete with 17th century shiplike windows, looked like 'contemporary descriptison of the Mayflower' (difficult to argue, given that there aren't any proper contemporary descriptions!).
Not everyone was convinced: landlady Nicky Hardwick, for example, said that
"Until someone comes up with some concrete evidence that the building was made from the Mayflower, I'll remain sceptical. I have enough trouble as it is with ghosts in the pub - including a Cavalier who walks up and down the stairs and a black dog that appears in the restaurant."
Despite the dubiousness of Pointer's claim, it is repeated in some guides to the town and the Wikipedia page for the pub, too.
Source
'WOOD YOU BELIEVE IT; Timber from Mayflower found in a pub', Sunday Mercury (6 November 2005).