Miller Christy ‎

“ The fact that, while the sign of a simple Rose occurs only three times in Essex, namely, at Southchurch, Peldon, and West Mersea, the Rose and Crown occurs as many as twenty-five times, clearly shows the heraldic origin of the sign, most of our kings and queens having worn the rose crowned. ”

“ It is impossible, even for those most strongly inclined to disbelieve in the heraldic origin of a majority of our signs, to deny that very many of them, at least, have been so derived. Allusion is here made to such signs as the Griffin, the Blue Boar, the Green Dragon, the Blue Lion, the Red Lion, the Three Crowns, the White Hart, the Fleur-de-Lys, the Rose and Crown, the Cross Keys, and many others, the difficulty of ascribing which to any{14} other than an heraldic origin will be at once apparent. ”

“ The last-named sign has been corrupted within the last twenty years from the Roman Urn. Most of these extremely absurd signs have come into existence during the last few years. They serve to show how completely the original use of arms as signs has become disassociated from their present use. Another indication of the modern growth of “Arms” is to be found in the fact that they are very common as beer-house signs—beer-houses having only been instituted since the beginning of this century. Even forty years ago “Arms” were decidedly less common as signs than they are now. ”

“ In all parts of France, signs still retain much more of their ancient glory than they do in England. Though not common in the newer and more fashionable streets and boulevards, they are abundant in the older quarters of Paris, Rouen, and other large towns. They are much oftener pictorial or graven than with us, and it is notable that they are used almost, or quite, as frequently by shopkeepers and other tradesmen as by the keepers of wine-shops, inns, and taverns. The sign, too, very often represents the wares sold within. ”

“ Each man then had his tavern, much as we now have our clubs and reading-rooms. There he met his friends every evening, discussed the political questions of the day, talked over business topics, and heard the expensive and highly-valued London newspapers read aloud. Dickens, in Barnaby Rudge, has well sketched the select village company, which, for forty or fifty years, had met nightly in the bar of the old Maypole to tipple and debate. ”

“ At Cold Norton, near Maldon, there is a house with the very strange, and probably unique, sign of the Fly and Bullock, kept by one William Pond. It is at first difficult to see what possible sign-board connection the two creatures can have. Farmers have reasons for believing that, during hot weather, a great animosity exists between the two. Inquiry has at last elicited the fact that the sign is a corrupted one, but this was not arrived at until after much amusing and erudite speculation, as the sign in its present form is a very perplexing one. ”

“ The sign of the New Inn, which is the commonest sign in Devonshire, and occurs no less than one hundred and four times in that county, is only twice met with in Essex, but{156} there is also a beer-house so called at Romford. Evidently the Conservative nature of the majority of Essex folk leads them to prefer things old, instead of new. At Plaistow there is a Green Gate, and forty years since there was a *Blue Posts at Witham, in both of which cases the colour of the portals probably served the same office as a sign in distinguishing the house. ”

“ There can be very little doubt that in Essex the sign of the Blue Boar represents the boar azure, armed, unguled, and bristled or, which served as a crest, as one of the supporters,{70} and also as one of the principal badges of the once powerful De Veres, Earls of Oxford, formerly of Hedingham Castle. This is shown to be the more probable by the fact that we have still no less than five examples of the sign in the county, while the adjacent counties of Kent, Middlesex, and Herts possess none. Elsewhere, too, the sign is very uncommon. ”

“ According to advertisements in the issues of the Chelmsford Chronicle for February 10 and April 14, 1786, a Black Lion then existed at Braintree; but, unless identical with the Lion and Lamb or White Lion, still in existence there, it has now disappeared. Larwood and Hotten say (p. 120) , “The Black Lion is somewhat uncommon; it may have been derived from the coat of arms of Queen Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III.,” or it may represent the lion sable in the arms of Owen Glendower. The Red Lion is, however, by far our commonest leonine sign in Essex. ”

“ The Bell at Castle Hedingham, still a first-class hostelry, was a house of considerable note in the old coaching days. It was a stopping-place for the “Old Bury Coach,” which passed through the town. The building is ancient and extensive, though now much cut up and divided. The spacious kitchen is roofed with massive timber, black with age. In the large room upstairs have been held for many years the annual meetings of the once-famous Hinckford Hundred Conservative Club. ”

“ STUDENT of the ancient and peculiarly interesting Art of Heraldry can hardly fail, at an early period in his researches, to be struck with the idea that some connection obviously exists between the various “charges,” “crests,” “badges,” and “supporters” with which he is familiar, and the curious designs now to be seen upon the sign-boards of many of our roadside inns, and which were formerly displayed by most other houses of business. ”

“ In losing them we are losing one of the well-known landmarks of the past. Sign-boards of the real old sort have about them an amount of interest which is sufficient to surprise those who care to take trouble in studying them. ”

“ As a rule, fantastically-coloured animals are unquestionably of heraldic origin: their number is limited to the Lion, the Boar, the Hart, the Dog, the Cat, the Bear, and, in a few instances, the Bull. All other animals were generally represented in what was meant for their natural colours.”
Again, the authors very truly remark (p. 110) that—
“In pondering over this class of signs, great difficulty often arises from the absence of all proof that the animal under consideration was set up as a badge, and not as a representation of the actual animal. ”

“ Forty years since there was another Vine Inn at Thaxted. The Hop-pole, which is a sign occurring at Good Easter, and the Hop-poles, which is another occurring at Great Hallingbury, both obviously found their place on the sign-board for the same reason. There are also beer-houses with the sign of the Hop-poles at Little Hallingbury and Roydon, although the cultivation of hops has now ceased at those places. Hop-growing once flourished extensively in Essex, and these two signs are relics of the now almost relinquished industry. ”

“ There was once a famous Bull Inn at Newport. It has now disappeared, having, it is said, been compelled to close owing to the opening of the Hercules just opposite; but there are old folks still living who can recollect the shields of arms in coloured glass in the windows, and the “Bull Orchard” still remains. The house is mentioned in the Corporation records of Saffron Walden for the year 1734. Cole also, in his MSS., speaks of it by the name of the Red Bull (a rather uncommon sign, of which Essex does not now possess an example) . ”

“ Hoare, bankers, of Fleet Street, may still be seen a representation of the Leather Bottle which formed their sign in Cheapside at least as long ago as the year 1677. In Paris, to the present day, sellers of “bois et charbons” (wood and charcoal or coals) invariably have the fronts of their establishments, facing the street, painted in a manner intended to convey the impression that the house is built of rough logs of wood. This device, although not displayed upon a sign-board, forms, in every respect, a true trade-sign. ”

“ Joseph Strutt is to be believed, this house, at the beginning of the present century, was known as the Bugle Horn. In his Essex and Herts romance, entitled Queenhoo Hall, published in 1808, the hero relates (ii. p. 180) that “we took some dinner at the Bugle Horn at Braintree, and proceeded in the afternoon to Dunmow, where we arrived before sunset.” In any case, this sign, like that of the Horn and Horseshoes at Harlow Common, is probably connected with the old coaching days. The sound of the horn and of the horses’ shoes would be the first intimation of the approach of a stage-coach. ”

“ The Dragon in his own proper colour (whatever that may be) does not occur in the county; but we have four examples of the Green Dragon, situated respectively at Shenfield, Black Notley, *Saffron Walden, and Waltham Abbey. Sixty years ago there were also Green Dragons at *Colchester and elsewhere. It is very easy to account for the origin of the use of the Dragon as a sign, but it is not so easy to say why he should so often be green. The Green Dragon, however, has been a common sign for over two centuries. ”

“ The Castle is a frequent Essex sign, occurring thirteen times in all. It is an ancient sign, which is thought by Larwood and Hotten to have originated in the fact that anciently entertainment was to be had at the castles of the great, as at an inn. In later times the custom arose of naming inns after particular castles, and it is easy to see that the example of the sign now found at Hadleigh, and the two examples now existing at **Colchester, originated in this way. Sixty years ago there was another at *Saffron Walden, which was, of course, named after the old castle there. ”

“ Old maps of the latter half of last century show quite a number of Green Men round Epping and Hainault Forests, showing the connection even then existing in the minds of men between the sign-board Green Men and foresters. In Mr. Creed’s list of signs round Epping in 1789, Green Men are named at the following places: Epping, Waltham Abbey, Moreton, Stanford Rivers, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, and Roydon. Evidently this sign was very common a century ago. Although this device has a two-fold origin, it is rather difficult to account for its great prevalence in the present day. ”

“ The landlord, named Johnson, who was formerly “boots” at this inn, being in good credit with his customers, they occasionally left their samples with him, and he acted as a middle man so much to their satisfaction, that he shortly after opened an office upon Bear Quay, styling himself “Factor of the Essex Farmers.” The business ultimately grew to one of great extent. In old deeds Mr. King finds mention of a Bull—either shop, inn, or dwelling-house—at Billericay as early as 1616, also of another house with the same sign at Hockley early in the seventeenth century. ”

“ Although many of the signs belonging to this class are, undoubtedly, nothing more than very modern vulgarisms, there can be no doubt whatever that a great number have a truly heraldic origin, as will be seen from what follows.
To commence the list, we find at Buckhurst Hill a Bald-faced Stag, and in the adjoining parish of Chigwell a Bald Hind. These two signs have, doubtless, the same origin, but one which it is not now easy to discover. In Essex a horse is always said to be “bald” when he has a white face.{47} ”

“ The Oliver Twist at Leyton was doubtless set up in honour of the popular Dickens, who well deserves further sign-board honours. The same may be said of another great Englishman, who is commemorated only by the Shakespeare’s Head at Canning Town. In various parts of the county we meet with two examples of the Earl of Essex, one of the Duke of Norfolk, three of the Grosvenor, one of the Lord Henniker, and one of the Clifton, all of which were unquestionably set up in honour of great titled families. ”

“ Bovine signs are very frequently to be seen upon our Essex sign-boards. The simple sign of the Bull is the commonest device, occurring no less than twenty-two times. Its intimate connection with Christmas beef, heraldry, and bull-baiting is sufficient to account for the frequent appearance of this animal on the sign-board. About seventy years ago the Bull Inn, Whitechapel, was the resort of the Essex farmers, who came to London once a week to dispose of their corn, &c. ”

“ An Angel occurs on the seventeenth-century tokens of “Francis Aleyn at the Angell in Brentwood,” of “Georg Silke at the Angell in Rvmford,” of Francis Dilke, also of Rumford, of William Hartley of Colchester, and of George Taylor of Ilford in 1665. As the sign still exists at the two last-named places, the probabilities are that the two houses bearing it are identical with those from which the tokens were issued a couple of centuries ago. The Angel at Ilford was formerly a posting-house of great importance ”

“ The Half Moon at *Chelmsford, a small, though ancient, house, possesses a quaint and truly pictorial sign-board. At 94, Great Suffolk Street, London, S.E., there has been for three-quarters of a century, at least, a house with the most extraordinary sign of the Moonrakers. It is all but impossible to conceive any origin for so strange a device. It is just possible, however, that the sign may have some connection with a tale told of the inhabitants of the town of Coggeshall, about whom so many similar stories are told. ”

“ Stephen Weston, in the Archæologia for 1812, states that the king’s swans were formerly marked by two nicks, as shown in the two illustrations given below, which represent the royal swan-marks of Henry VIII. and Edward IV. respectively. These, he says, were not afterwards understood, and the double-headed two-necked swan was invented. Larwood and Hotten, however, doubt this derivation, chiefly because the nicks would have been so small when represented on the sign-board as to be of no practical use as a distinctive sign.
The Cock is a very ancient and very common sign. ”

“ HE next class of signs to be treated of is that which includes those derived from “Man and His Parts,” as the old books on Heraldry have it. Such signs may be styled “Human Signs.” They are numerous, though usually of but very slight interest; and, as might be expected, very few are of heraldic origin. In speaking of them it will not be necessary to give much more than a mere list. The numerous “heads” obviously indicate a portrait once to have been the sign; and most of these portraits represent persons of very modern fame. ”

“ It is, indeed, not too much to say that in the old coaching days a small town or village on any main road often consisted largely or almost entirely of inns, and lived upon the traffic. Supplying the necessaries for this traffic may be said to have been “the local industry” by which the inhabitants of such places lived. Evidences of this may be gained from not a few old books. Thus in Ogilby’s Traveller’s Guide, a book of the roads published in 1699, Bow, near Stratford, is said to be “full of inns,” while Stratford and Kelvedon are both spoken of as “consisting chiefly of inns.” ”

“ Surely, then, although signs are no longer of great or urgent importance to us in the daily routine of our ordinary business life, an inquiry into their past history will be a matter of much interest, especially as comparatively little has hitherto been written about them. ”

“ It is therein (ii. p. 4) thus described:—“At the end of the village stands a low tavern, the Rising Sun, a mass of gables. Part of it (the tavern drinking-room) is only one storey high, but the rest is a jumble of roofs and lean-to buildings, chimneys and ovens—a miracle of picturesqueness.” As previously stated (pp. 147 and 83) the sun enters into two very absurd combinations, a Sun and Anchor at Steeple, and a Sun and Whalebone at Latton. Both of these are, in all probability, impaled signs. The Star appears on Essex sign-boards eight times. ”

“ From these heraldic devices have unquestionably been derived many of the strangely-coloured animals, such as red and{16} blue lions, blue boars, &c., which are quite unknown to men of science, and have never yet been seen except in Heraldry and upon sign-boards. A calculation will show that no less than 203 Essex signs, or about 15 per cent., are described as being of some particular colour, and that these coloured signs are animals in nearly all cases—one good proof of their heraldic origin. ”