OLD INNS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10441, 22 April 1912, Page 2

OLD INNS.

QUAINT HISTORIC SIGNS

There is a large amount of out-of-the-way information in " Old Country Inns," by H. P. Maskell and E. W. Gregory, a new edition of which has just been issued. At some of the wayside inns and alehouses—the Plough, at Upper Dicker, iu Sussex, is one of them—it was the custom to keep a fire constantly burning. This tradition of the ever-burning Ere, the authors* say, is a curious one, found in remote districts. At the Chequer's Inn, near Osmotherly, in Yorkshire, the hearthfire has been burning uninterruptedly for at least 130 years 1 The historic signs and historic inns are, of course, legion. Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir Francis Walsingham, both Elizabethan statesmen of eminence, gave us respectively the Hind and the Tiger's. Head. For the Saracen's Head there are various claimants, According to locality, so many Crusaders having adopted this charge. Bagford states that the Pelican was the badge or Lord Cromwell. At Speen, near Newbury, there was a coaching inn on the Bath Road which provoked an epigram :

The famous house at Speenhamland That stands upon the hill, May well be called the Pelican From its enormous bill. In connection with the ballad heroes, Guy of Warwick and the Dun Cow slain by'him are found all through the Midlands; but they cannot compare for popularity with Robin Hood, who is usually accompanied by Little John on the signboard. The Bull and Mouth is said to be a corruption of Boulogne Mouth, captured by Henry VIII. Bull and Gate, it is suggested, may possibly be a similar vulgarism for Boulogne Gate. Great battles fought and fortresses taken are commemorated by Gibraltar, Waterloo, Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. Admirals range from Blake to Napier, Generals from Marlborough to Wolseley —Wellington, Nelson and Iveppel being the most common. It is surprising bow many of the Nelson inns are buildings three or four centuries old, " showing that the innkeeper was prepared to sacrifice the sign under which ho had hitherto done business and trusted to make a new reputation under the regis of the popular hero." General Wolfe finds special remembrance in his own birthplace, Westerham; but Sir Walter Raleigh has been quite overlooked at Mitcham, in spite of the fact that ho was the founder of its leading manufacture.

Many explanations have, been given of curious signboards. The Goat and Compasses is supposed to be a corruption of a motto set up over inns during the Puritan pejriod, "God encompasses us"; Bag of Nails of "Bacchanals," Why Not .and Dew Drop Inn are described as invitations to the wayfarer; Bird in Hand and Last House, or Final, suggestions that he should not waste his opportunities ts> imbibe. An odd sign to find in the heart of Essex is the Whalebone. The last Honest Lawyer in London has just ceased to exist, but there is still ail Honest Miller at Withersden, near Wye, in Kent. A famous signboard, said to have been painted bv Hogarth, was The Man Loaded with Mischief, in Oxford Street. Jhe man was carrying a woman, glass in hand, a magpie and a monkey. Underneath was the rhyme: "A monkey, a magpie and a wife, Is tho true emblem of strife."