The pub officially goes back to 1189 A.D., the first year of Richard I's reign, and the first year of the Third Crusade, but the building itself, as it stands today, probably goes back to only the 17th-century. The castle's dungeons underneath the pub, it is said, were used to brew beer as early as 1067, when Nottingham Castle was built...only a year after the Norman Conquest. Even the name is fairly new, being an invention of the late 18th-century...prior to this Ye Olde Trip was known as The Pilgrim.
At some point during the intervening years, the pub acquired a diminutive model galleon. It shares many similarities with early ship models created between the 1400's and 1600's, created to hang in churches as an offering or as a votive, asking God's help for a safe voyage. A prime example of this would be the Catalan Ship from the mid 15th-century...
I would surmise that the Jerusalem model, the so-called "cursed galleon", was originally a votive hanging from the ceiling by small chains for years in the pub, meant to ensure a safe voyage for the sailor who built her. So how is it cursed? Well, according to legend (isn't that always how it begins?), anyone who tried to clean or dust the galleon model dies mysteriously...within the space of a year afterwards. Supposedly, three individuals have met this nasty fate throughout the years.
As it sits today, the ship model no longer hangs from the ceiling and is sealed up in a display case...dust, cobwebs, dirt and all. No one is going to attempt to clean this "shipwreck", despite this really hokey excuse for a "curse". People die...but giving some sort of weight to a thing that kills you within a year of...heaven forbid...cleaning? Yeah, no. Explain to me what happened to the individual that put it into its new display case...
Makes for a great drinking story though, doesn't it?