With their low ceilings, timber beams and roaring fires, many of England’s inns lay claim to being the oldest in the land and to have been visited by Vikings and Saxons.

But an archaeologist who worked on behalf of Historic England says not one of the more than two dozen pubs that make this claim is being accurate.

While many claim origins dating back 1,000 years, Dr James Wright, a buildings archaeologist, said it was difficult to verify whether any pubs were built and used as inns or ale houses and kept in continuous use prior to the 1400s.

After painstaking investigation, including tree-ring dating on the wooden beams of pubs – a process known as dendrochronology – Wright named the George Inn, of Norton St Philip, Somerset, as the oldest pub in England. It has fabrics dating from the late 14th century.

Inside the George, set up in the 14th century by the monks of Hinton Priory.…