THE next great class of signs to be noticed consists of what may be termed “Mammalian Signs.” In Essex no less than 464 houses, or 34·2 per cent. of the whole, display devices derived from the animal kingdom. There are, however, only 102 distinct signs. These may be classified as follows:—

This calculation is, moreover, made independent of “man and his parts,” as the heralds say. Signs of human origin have been placed in a separate class, and will be treated of hereafter by themselves.

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.

Possibly the signs commemorate the killing of two deer with white faces in the adjoining forest, which was the last locality in the east or south-east of England in which the aboriginal wild red deer survived, the last having been killed so lately as the year 1817 or thereabouts. Both the Bald Hind and the Bald-faced Stag are among the oldest of the forest inns. The latter is, presumably, the same house marked as the Bald Stag on Cary’s map, published in 1768. It has the same name in Mr. Creed’s list (p. 7). The Rev. Wm. Cole tells us, in his voluminous MSS., that on the morning of October 27, 1774, he “started from the Cock at Epping without eating, and breakfasted at an Inne, called the Bald-faced Stag.” The existing inn is a large square, white-washed building, with a high-pitched roof. It contains a portrait of Queen Anne, and the coffee-room is panelled. From it, according to the author of Nooks and Corners in Essex (p. 21), the famous “Epping Hunt,” so cleverly satirized by Tom Hood, used to start every Easter Monday, when it was no uncommon thing for five hundred mounts to ride off from the ridge on which the house stands. The Easter Monday hunt is said to have originated as far back as the year 1226, in the reign of Henry III. The custom was kept up until so recent a date as 1853, after which it gradually fell off, owing to the rough East End element which marked the annual meeting, and made it little more than a public nuisance. The stag—a tame one—was, on these occasions, taken round in turn to all the neighbouring public-houses before being set at liberty, and the amount of liquor consumed, and riot occasioned, was, in consequence, considerable. Something approaching a celebration of the old custom has, however, been attempted as lately as the last two or three years. There was also a Bald-faced Stag at Hatfield Broad Oak in 1789.

At Buckhurst Hill there is also a Roebuck, as well as a Reindeer. The former is marked on Cary’s map, published in 1768, and is probably the same house several times spoken of (p. 6) as the Buck in The Trials of John Swan and Elizabeth Jeffries, published in 1752. It is still one of the best and most widely-known inns on the Forest. In its large Assembly Room public gatherings often take place. The old Reindeer, which is shown on Cary’s map, published in 1768, is now a private house, inhabited by Captain Mackenzie, the Forest Superintendent, and known as “Warren House.” The present Reindeer is situated about a mile distant from the old one. An Archer shooting at a stag is also depicted on the undated halfpenny token of “John Unwin at Layton Stone.”

It is in every way probable that the fallow deer, formerly living in the surrounding forests of Epping and Hainault, and still existing in considerable numbers in the former, gave rise in some way to these numerous cervine signs in and around the parish of Buckhurst Hill. It is, however, a moot point whence the parish derived its name. Some connect the name with Lord Buckhurst, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth; others regard it as composed of two Anglo-Saxon words, Boc, a beech, and hurst, a wood or forest, which is not unlikely to be the true derivation; others, however, state that this part of the forest was severed from the remainder by Royal Charter, and so termed Book-hurst, meaning book-forest; while yet others consider the name to mean Buckhurst, the wood or forest in which bucks lived. The latter derivation seems in every way the most likely one. Nevertheless, the place was formerly often called “Buckit’s Hill,” as, for instance, in The Trial of John Swan and Elizabeth Jeffries (p. 8), published in 1752, but this was probably a corruption. The farthing of “William Locken in Tollsbvry in Esex, 1668,” bore a Stag, and that of “John Attewell in Black Notle in Esex, 1670,” bore Three Stags’ Heads couped, probably taken from the coat of arms of some private family. The Stag’s Head at Colchester is also, probably, a form of some family crest. Forty years ago there was a Doe Inn at Halstead. There is now a Stag at Hatfield Heath, and another at Little Easton. Concerning the latter, there can be very little doubt that it represents the crest of the Maynard family (a stag statant or). It would be interesting to learn whether this house has come to be known as the Stag after having first been called the Maynard Arms. The Stag also serves as a beer-house sign at High Ongar. It is not very easy to say what first led to the Reindeer being used as a sign; but that it was in use as early as the

seventeenth century is clear from what Pepys says in his Diary. He tells us that on the night of October 7, 1667, he “lay very well” at the “Rayne-deere at Bishop Stafford” (meaning Bishops Stortford), where the sign is still in existence. The same sign also occurs at Takeley, Black Notley, and (as already mentioned) Buckhurst Hill, having been probably set up at the latter place in order to keep company with the other kinds of deer that are found there. The Reindeer at Takeley has been in existence since 1786 at least, as it is mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle on January 20th in that year. At Greenstead, near Colchester, there is to be seen the sign of the Buck’s Horns, which is very likely intended to represent the deer’s “attires” in somebody’s coat of arms. The sign is not mentioned by Larwood and Hotten. The Horns at Barking Side may have had the same origin, or the house may have taken its sign from the noted tavern of the same name which formerly existed in Fleet Street. The residence at Newport, now commonly known as the Crown House (from the crown sculptured over the door), or Nell Gwynne’s House, used formerly to be an inn. Its present names have been given to it within living memory. Mr. C. K. Probert states[49] that in the time of his father, eighty or ninety years ago, there was a tradition still lingering in the town that the inn was formerly known as the Horns, and that Charles II., The Duke of York, and Nell Gwynne used to stop there on their way from London to Newmarket races. This circumstance is alluded to in an old folio history of the Rye House Plot, and Mr. Probert has seen a play, printed about seventy years ago, in which the scene was laid at the Horns at Newport, the characters being Charles II., Nell Gwynne, the Duke of York, &c. Mr. Probert writes:

The Horn Hotel in the High Street at Braintree is a well-known old coaching inn, and has long been one of the best in the town. If the late Mr. 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 latter sign, however, may have some heraldic significance, as Larwood and Hotten mention a London token of 1666 on which a horseshoe is represented within a pair of antlers or deer’s attires. In 1789, too, it seems to have been the Horns and Horseshoes. The Bugle Horn might easily be connected either with coaching, hunting, or heraldry, were it not situated in Barrack Street, *Colchester. This, of course, makes it in every way probable that it is a military sign. Here, also, must be noticed the popular sign of the White Hart. This device appears to be unusually common in the county of Essex. Nearly every town or village of any consequence possesses an example. At present we have no less than fifty, and twenty years ago the number was exactly the same. London itself cannot boast of having more, as it has also just fifty examples of the sign. The White Hart in the High Street at Brentwood is in all respects the most notable house now displaying this sign in Essex. In its best days it was a coaching inn of great importance, and is still by far the best hotel in the town. Mr. H. W. King has ascertained that it was in existence under its present name in the time of Queen Elizabeth; but, looking at the house itself, he believes it to be of still earlier date, perhaps of the fifteenth century, or even earlier. It is certainly one of the very best examples of an old-fashioned inn, with a central courtyard and galleries running round it, now remaining in England. It is mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle for September 14, 1764, as a stopping-place for the coaches “which set out on Monday the 27th instant at 7 o’clock in the morning from the Black Bull in Bishopsgate, London, and at the same time from the Great White Horse Inn[50] in Ipswich, and continue every day (Sunday excepted) to be at the above places the same evening at 5 o’clock. Each passenger to pay 3 pence per mile and to be allowed 18 pounds luggage,” &c.

During the reign of Elizabeth the White Hart was also the principal inn in the town of Saffron Walden, but it is not now known in what street the house was situated. Possibly the inn now known as the Hoops, in King Street, was the White Hart of those days, as it is a very ancient structure. Boyne describes a farthing bearing the Grocers’ Arms, and issued by “Anne Mathews, in Safforn Walden, 1656.” Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith has ascertained, from the registers in the church, that a few years later she married John Potter of the White Hart, and also that they thereupon jointly issued fresh tokens, retaining her name, arms, and date on the obverse, but having a new reverse, bearing the words “John Potter,” and in the centre a hart lodged with the monogram “I.A. P.” over it, perhaps to indicate that they continued to carry on their two trades simultaneously. On the 25th of February, 1659, Pepys says in his Diary: “Mr. Blayton and I took horse, and straight to Saffron Walden, where, at the White Hart, we set up our horses, and took the master of the house [in all probability the aforesaid John Potter] to show us Audly End House.” References to this inn occur early on in the records of the Corporation of Walden. Thus, in 1627, 14s. was expended “for wine when the Earl of Sussex was at the White Hart;” in 1631, 9s. was “spent at the White Hart when we ourselves did ring for the king;” in 1643, 2s. 10d. was “payd at the White Hart when Radcliffe was taken for a Jesuit;” and in 1661, the sum of 3s. 4d. was “spent at the White Hart when the ryot was, some of the company being there.” The White Hart on a sign-board at Boreham is correctly and heraldically represented, but has evidently, in the mind of the artist, been associated with the deer in Boreham Park, as a view of Boreham House has been introduced in the background. The White Hart at Great Yeldham is a very ancient village hostel. Its windows, and its exterior generally, are quaint and antique. In front of the inn, on each side of the door, are old oaken settles, whereon the village sages debate the topics of the day. From the sign-board on the Green opposite, the white hart has long since departed. The White Hart in Tindal Street, *Chelmsford, has a new and large graven sign, heraldically represented, and prominently projected over the street. The White Hart at *Witham, too, has a large and rather grotesque sign, though it is correctly represented. It is rudely cut out of what appears to be a thin sheet of iron, and is suspended over the pavement. The White Hart at *Coggeshall—doubtless the existing hotel—is mentioned in Bufton’s Diary in 1678.[51] It is also recorded in Bufton’s Diary[52] that “In April, 1682, there was y^e floore of a Chamber fell downey at y^e White Hart at Bocking [probably the still existing Hotel of that name], where y^e Justices sat and about 200 people in y^e roome, and one man broke his leg.” In an early number of the Gentleman’s Magazine is an illustration of an old inscribed beam from the White Hart between Springfield and Boreham. Mr. J. A. Repton in a note says that the building was thought to have been a hermitage. He adds: “There is a long inscription at the bottom of one of the gables, but it is at present concealed with plaster;” “that the beam measured 52 inches by seven; and that it bore the inscription, ‘Jesus! Mercy! Lady help! Jesus!’” Taylor, in his Catalogue of Tavernes, mentions a White Hart at *Romford in 1636, probably the hotel of that name still existing there. An inn with this sign at Colchester is mentioned in one of the old Corporation records, dated 1603, as being an “auncyent inne” at that time. In old deeds Mr. H. W. King finds mention of a White Hart—either inn, shop, or tenement—at Horndon-on-the-Hill in both 1704 and 1719. There does not seem to be any apparent reason why the white hart should have become so common a device as a sign as it has done. According to Larwood and Hotten, its use dates from a very remote period; but there can be very little doubt that its present abundance is due to the fact that a White Hart lodged, collared and chained or, was the favourite badge of King Richard II., and appears, with variations, no less than eighty-three times upon his monument at Westminster. At a tournament held in Smithfield in 1390, in honour of various foreign counts who had been elected members of the garter—

The White Hart was also used as a badge by Edward IV. It is just possible that the fact of the crest of the Maynard family being a stag, as already mentioned, has something to do with the abundance of the White Hart as a sign in Essex, or at least in the northern parts of the county. It is possible, too, that the abundance of this sign in Essex may be due in part to the fact that a very ancient and famous White Hart formerly stood in Bishopsgate Street Without, in such a position that it would probably form a stopping-place for most travellers to and from London along the Great East Road. Timbs, in his Clubs and Club-life in London (p. 397), says that it was originally built in 1480, but the old house was pulled down and rebuilt in modern style in 1829. Allusion has already been made (p. 25) to an absurd corruption of this sign at West Bergholt, where the landlord of the White Hart, not content with a script sign, has added a pictorial one of his own designing, representing a large White Heart on a black ground! Whether this has been done through ignorance or intent, it is a good example of the way signs become corrupted and altered in the course of time. Illustrations of both forms are given above.

The horse and his belongings are referred to no less than seventy-three times on Essex sign-boards, although a simple horse does not once occur. The use of the horse as a sign is probably derived both from the animal himself and from the part he anciently played in Heraldry. Horses of fantastic colour, such as the Golden Horse at Forest Gate, are, in all probability, of heraldic origin. No less than thirty-six times in this county do we meet with the sign of the White Horse, and there is an Old White Horse at North Ockendon. Boyne describes tokens issued by “John Tvrner at the White Horse in Chelmsford, 1667,” and by “John Langston at the Whit Horse in Mvchboddow.” White Horses are still in existence at both of these places. There can be no doubt that the one at Great Baddow is the one from which the token was issued in the seventeenth century; but in the case of Chelmsford there is some doubt. The matter is not without interest, for there is in the British Museum a scarce and curious quarto tract, of twenty-one pages, published in the year 1688, with the following title: “A True Relation of a Horrid Murder, committed upon the person of Thomas Kidderminster of Tupsley in the County of Hereford, Gent., at the White Horse Inn in Chelmsford, in the County of Essex, in the Month of April, 1654, together with a True Account of the Strange and Providential Discovery of the Same nine years after, &c., &c.” In this tract one Mr. Turner (without doubt the man who issued the token in 1667) is many times mentioned as landlord at the time the murder was discovered. Forty years ago the White Horse at Dovercourt styled itself the Great White Horse. The White Horse in the High Street, Maldon, is several times referred to in advertisements in the Chelmsford Chronicle during the year 1786. Likely origins for this sign have already been given (p. 18). The Flying Dutchman, which is a beer-house sign at Braintree, probably commemorates the racehorse of that name. There are Black Horses at White Roothing, Widdington, Sible Hedingham, Pilgrim’s Hatch, and Chelmsford (beer-house). Sixty years ago there was another at *Coggeshall. There are also Yorkshire Greys at Coggeshall (at least forty years old), Stratford (two), and Brentwood. Probably these are named after some famous racer. One or other of those at *Stratford is several times referred to in the Trials of John Swan and Elizabeth Jeffries (1752). It was then kept by a certain Ann Wright. Sixty years since, too, there was another at *Colchester. Adjoining the racecourse at Galleywood there is a Running Mare. The Nag’s Head is a sign which seems to be becoming increasingly common, as we have five now existing in the county, not counting a beer-house so called at Chelmsford, though, twenty years ago, there were only three. The sign of the Three Colts, which occurs at Stanstead Montfitchet and Buckhurst Hill, has very likely an heraldic origin. It is not a modern device, as there was an inn of this name in Bride Lane, London, in 1652, and our houses may have taken their name from this one. A Horse passant is depicted on the farthing token of “Ioseph Gleson,” 1664, and a Horse Galloping on that of “Samvell Salter,” 1656, both of Dedham. In Essex the horse enters into many combinations with other sign-board objects. In most cases the meaning of the combination is so evident that no explanation of it is required. For instance, at Colchester we find a Chaise and Pair, at Stratford a Cart and Horses, at Mistley a Waggon and Horses, and another at *Colchester. There are also beer-houses so called at Braintree and Hadleigh. The Coach and Horses occurs no less than thirteen times, the Old Coach and Horses once, the Horse and Groom seven times, and the Horse and Wheel once. This latter is, however, a misprint on the part of the compilers of the Post Office Directory. Twenty years ago it appeared in the list as the Horse and Well, and as the house is situated at Woodford Wells, this is undoubtedly its correct form. The sign is not mentioned by Larwood and Hotten. That part of Woodford known as Woodford Wells, takes its name from a mineral spring which once existed there. It was formerly in great repute, but is now quite dry and neglected. An Itinerary of Twenty-five Miles round London, published towards the end of last century, and quoted by Mr. Walford in Greater London (vol. i. p. 464), indicates that the name of the house was then the Horse and Groom. The adjoining mineral spring, says the author, “was formerly in good repute, and much company resorted to drink the waters at a house of public entertainment called ‘Woodford Wells;’ but the waters have long lost their reputation.” Hood, in his witty poem on the Epping Hunt, refers to the house as follows:

The Horse and Groom at Great Warley seems to be at least a century old, as it is mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle on March 10, 1786. At Margaret Roothing there is a Horseshoe, which is a comparatively rare sign by itself. The Bull and Horseshoe at North Weald is, doubtless, merely an impaled sign. Our three Horseshoes and ten Three Horseshoes have already been referred to (p. 40). At Finchingfield there is a beer-house with the sign of the Kicking Dickey, and the Cross Keys at Roxwell is commonly known in the parish by the same name. The origin of the sign, which Larwood and Hotten do not mention, is hard to explain.

The Lion, with frequent variations of colour and position, is of common occurrence in the county. This great variety in colouring clearly shows that we are indebted to the art of Heraldry for most of our sign-board lions. Messrs. Larwood and Hotten say (p. 118): “The lion rampant most frequently occurs, although in late years naturalism has crept in, and the Felis leo is often represented standing or crouching, quite regardless of his heraldic origin.”

When it is remembered that three lions passant, guardant, or occur on the Royal Arms of England, and a lion rampant gules on the arms of Scotland; that a crowned lion statant, guardant or is used as the Royal Crest of England, a crowned lion sejant affrontÉe gules as the Royal Crest of Scotland, and a lion rampant guardant, or as the dexter supporter of the Royal Arms of England; and that lions of various colours and in different attitudes have served as charges, badges, crests, and supporters to many of our earlier sovereigns, and now appear in the armorial bearings of innumerable private families, it will not be found in any way surprising that the lion figures so commonly as he does upon our sign-boards. So frequently, indeed, are lions made use of in Heraldry that it is almost impossible to assign the variously-coloured examples now to be seen on our sign-boards to their original wearers. Lions rampant appear on the trade-tokens of John Rayment of Brentwood, in 1669, and of Richard Boyse and Richard Rich, both of Colchester, in 1668 and 1656 respectively. At present the animal occurs eight times in Essex as a simple Lion, and once as a British Lion. The Lion at Chelmsford, although it has now disappeared, was once evidently a very important inn. The Rev. R. E. Bartlett finds several mentions of it in the parish registers, the earliest before the middle of the sixteenth century. They are as follows: “1543. William Knight, a stranger, who by misfortune and his own lewdness was drowned at the Lion, and was buried the 22nd of May.” Again, in 1545, “Wyllyam Pemberton, servaunte to the Irle of Essex, was slayne at the Lion by one of his Fellows and bury’d the 19th Day of Januarii.” From the first of these it appears that the inn was near the river. Taylor, in his Catalogue of Tavernes, also mentions the Lion as one of the chief inns in Chelmsford in 1636. Whether this was the same inn afterwards known as the White Lion, and mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle on April 14, 1786, as then existing at Chelmsford, is hard to say. Possibly the latter house was identical with that shown with the sign of a rampant lion in the frontispiece. Its back premises would probably abut upon the river bank. The site is now occupied by an inn with the sign of the Queen’s Arms. The Golden Lion, if it does not represent the true “lion of England,” may represent the lion passant, guardant, or which appears on the arms of the Haberdashers’ Company.[53] The sign now occurs at Prittlewell, *Chelmsford, *Romford, and Rayleigh. There are also beer-shops so-called at Braintree, Hatfield Peverell, Rochford, and elsewhere. The Golden Lion at Rayleigh is mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle for February 24, 1786. Sixty years ago another house of this name existed. A Golden Lion at Harwich in 1764 is also mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle for that year. The sign of the Blue Lion occurs at Galleywood and at Great Baddow. Larwood and Hotten think that it “may possibly have been first put up at the marriage of James I. with Anne of Denmark.” There can, however, be very little doubt that in Essex this sign represents the arms of the Mildmay family,[54] which was once of very great influence in the county. At the time of James I. there were nine several families of this name possessed of very large estates in the county, the heads of eight of them being knights. Our nine White Lions perhaps represent the badge of Edward IV., though the Dukes of Norfolk, the Earls of Surrey, and other prominent personages have also borne lions argent. Forty years since an Old White Lion existed at Epping, being probably the *White Lion which lived there in 1789 (p. 7). As he has now disappeared, it is only natural to suppose that he has died of old age. The sign-board of the existing house at Epping is fully pictorial. The White Lion at Waltham Abbey is mentioned in the parish registers in July, 1746, when W. Chesson (presumably the landlord) was buried. Black Lions are to be seen at Plaistow, Stisted, Althorne, Layer Marney, High Roothing, and *Epping. At the last-mentioned place two houses of this name existed forty years ago, one of which has existed since 1789, at least. 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. It occurs as many as thirty-four times. The authors so frequently quoted, say (p. 119) that it doubtless originated in the badge of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who bore the lion of Leon and Castille on his arms as a token of his claim to the throne of those countries. In after years it may often have been used to represent the lion of Scotland. The Red Lion, opposite the church at Stambourne, has a truly heraldic sign—a lion, rampant, gules, armed, langued, &c., argent, on a wreath argent and sable. On one of its gables this inn has two designs—one representing an old man with long white hair, wearing a large green coat and boots of the same colour, and apparently blowing a long horn or trumpet; the other a monogram “I.W.E.” and the date 1709. This may indicate that it was formerly known as the Green Man. The Red Lion at *Colchester is a very well-known house. Like the White Hart at Brentwood, it is one of the few examples now remaining in the county of the old-fashioned inn of several centuries ago. Its capacious courtyard has evidently once been galleried, and it is altogether one of the most ancient inns now existing in Colchester, or even in the county, as well as being certainly one of the most quaint and antique in its appearance. Its uppermost story considerably overhangs the others, and the whole of the front shows much old carving which is certainly not later than the fifteenth, and probably the fourteenth, century, to which has been added some good modern work. Probably if the plaster were removed much more old carving would be brought to light. Among other faces, are those of two lions, which look down upon the entrance. The doorway is also carved. Miss L. S. Costello, in an article on Colchester in Bentley’s Miscellany for 1840 (vol. xviii. p. 62), says, that among the few interesting houses in the High Street, she “was struck with a wooden doorway at the entrance of the [Red] Lion Inn. It has evidently been elaborately carved on the different storeys all over, but very little of its ornament remains. The spandrels of the arch have a representation, on one side, of a dragon, huge and grim, and on the other of a knight on foot, with an immensely long spear, tilting at the monster.” An entry, dated Jan. 9, 1603-4, in one of the old Corporation assembly books, states that “the Lion, the Angel, and the White Hart were appointed the only three wine taverns in y^e towne, being auncyent Innes and Taverns.” Mr. Chas. Golding of Colchester has, however, traced its existence back many years earlier, having found mention of it under its present name in the Corporation records of the year 1530 or thereabouts. The still-extant Red Lions at Great Wakering and Ilford are referred to in advertisements in the Chelmsford Chronicle on Jan. 20 and 27, 1786, respectively. The latter was a posting-house of great importance in the days when coaching was at its height; but, like its neighbour, the Angel (another house once of considerable fame), it has now sunk into comparative insignificance, though still quite one of the leading inns of the district. It is a large, massive square brick building, before which on the top of the sign-post reposes a graven representation of a Red Lion couchant. The Red Lion at Waltham Abbey is referred to in the parish registers in 1644, when 1s. 8d. was “given to the woman that lay in at the Reed Lyon.” Capt. Andrew Hamilton has given[55] an interesting account of an old house at Kelvedon, formerly known as the Red Lion Inn. It is now converted into four good-sized tenements, and is known as Knight Templars Terrace, from a tradition that the inn once belonged to that fraternity. In its day it was probably the most considerable inn in Kelvedon, and the largest on the main road between Chelmsford and Colchester. It was certainly built before the year 1420, and is now an excellent example of a half-timbered house of that date. Until lately, however, the original work has been hidden by no less than two false fronts of lath and plaster of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively. Capt. Hamilton describes in detail both the internal and external construction of this singularly interesting house, but his remarks are too lengthy to quote here. Opposite to it stood the Angel.

The Red Lion at Abberton figures in the Rev. S. Baring-Gould’s Mehalah. The Red Lion at Springfield is an extremely ferocious one, if one may judge from the appearance of his effigy, which is rudely cut out of a thin sheet of iron, painted red, and placed upon the top of the beer-house to which he serves as a sign. A Red Lion at Radwinter (perhaps the existing Lion) finds mention in the Chelmsford Chronicle on January 20, 1786. The Lion and Boar at Earls Colne may represent the lion and boar which sometimes appear as the supporters of the arms of King Richard III., or it may simply be an impaled sign. The sign is not mentioned by Larwood and Hotten. The Lion and Key at Leyton is a sign of somewhat obscure origin. It is not a modern invention, as there was a house of the same name near Lion’s Quay, London, in 1653. Our house, which is over forty years old, and was formerly a blacksmith’s shop, may have taken its sign from this one, or it may have derived its name independently from the popular version of some family crest. This is rendered extremely likely from the fact (supplied by the present landlord, who, however, is unable to give any further information as to the sign) that among the old property taken with the house is a punch-bowl bearing the heraldic device of a lion rampant, its paw resting upon the ring of an upright key, and dated either 1756 or 1786. Whose this crest is, it is hard to say. The Rev. H. L. Elliot has ascertained that it is not included among those in The Book of Family Crests, although the family of Lyngard of Northants bore a lion sejant guardant sable, in the dexter fore paw a key in pale or; while the families of Knox, Criall, and Chamberlain had crests with a demi-lion holding a key. The very common sign of the Lion and Lamb is now met with at Braintree, Stratford, Takeley, Chelmsford, and Brentwood, although, twenty years ago, the county only contained three examples. At the last-named place the sign seems to have existed since 1786 at least, as it is mentioned in the Chelmsford Chronicle on March 17th in that year. At *Chelmsford a Lion and Lamb carved in stone repose peacefully upon the parapet of the building, while a newly-painted sign-board, very well designed, depicts them in the same attitude. The fact of the name containing an alliteration has, no doubt, had something to do with its adoption; but it is also an emblematic representation of the Millennium, when (as Larwood and Hotten say) “the lion shall lie down by the kid.” Those gentlemen, however, together with all who use the sign, appear to be a little at fault in their knowledge of Scripture. The passage describing the “Millennium” (Isaiah xi. 6) says nothing about a lion lying down, either with a lamb or a kid. It runs as follows: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.” The sign first came into use over two centuries ago. In connection with this sign there is an amusing tale, which is worth repeating, told of a sceptical American. When the significance of the sign was explained to him, he remarked that the state of things depicted might possibly come to pass some time, but that, when it did, he “guessed that there Lamb would be inside that there Lion!”

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. 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. Taylor, in his Catalogue of Tavernes, mentions a Bull (probably the existing inn of that name) at Barking in 1636, and another at Brook Street, where also there is a still existing Bull. The Black Bull appears at Fyfield, Chelmsford, Margaretting, and Old Sampford, while an Old Black Bull occurs at Stratford. Very probably these two signs owe their existence to the fact that a bull sable formed one of the badges, as well as the sinister supporter of the arms, of Edward IV. In 1662 there was a Black Bull Inn at Romford, as appears from a mention made of it in the Account of the Murder of Thomas Kidderminster, already referred to. In 1789 there were other examples of the Black Bull at Loughton and Harlow, and that at Fyfield was then existing. Sixty years ago there was also one at Grays. On the map of the road between London and Harwich, given in Ogilby’s Itinerarium AngliÆ, published in 1675, “Ye Bull Inn”—evidently a house of some importance—is shown about midway between Ingatestone and Widford. In the Traveller’s Guide, a smaller edition of the same work, published in 1699, the same house figures as the Black Bull Inn. Probably this is the still existing Black Bull at Margaretting. The Bull and Crown, which has been in existence at Chingford for at least forty years past, may be simply an impaled sign, or it may (like the last sign spoken of) be derived from the black bull of Edward IV., or from the white bull used as a supporter by Henry VIII. In either case the bull would probably be crowned. This device is not referred to in the History of Sign-boards, nor is that of the Bull and Horseshoe, which occurs at North Weald. It is probably only an impaled sign. The Bull’s Head, to be seen at Loughton, is, as already stated (p. 34), probably taken from the arms of the Butchers’ Company. 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). The sign, however, seems to have undergone a change of colour, for it is referred to as the Black Bull in Poor Robin’s Perambulation from Saffron Walden to London, performed this month of July, 1678.[56] The author says:

Boyne describes a halfpenny token issued by “Thomas Rvnham at y^e Bull [represented in the centre] in Newport, 1667.” He assigns the token to Newport in Shropshire; but, as Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A., has informed the author that no less than seven examples have been found at Newport, Essex, and as the man’s name also occurs in the parish register, there can be no doubt that Boyne was wrong.[57] At Chingford Hatch there is a house with the sign of the Dun Cow. This is an ancient device, and probably has reference to the feat of Guy, Earl of Warwick, who, according to an old ballad, slew a “dun cow bigger than an elephaunt” on Dunsmore Heath. The Red Cow, as a sign, may be seen at Chrishall, Ashen, and Shelley. A once well-known Red Cow at *Chelmsford is now an equally well-known coffee-tavern with the same sign. At Waltham Holy Cross a beer-shop displays the very strange sign of the Spotted Cow, which is in all probability unique. Larwood and Hotten do not mention it. The sign of the Red Cow is probably intended to express the idea that good drink may be obtained within, as from a cow; but, in former times, especial value seems to have attached to the milk of red cows. 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 first guess was that it was a corruption of the “Flying Bullock” or “Winged Bull,” the usual emblem of St. Luke. This seemed the more likely, as we have in Essex signs which might represent at least two other of the Apostolic emblems, namely, the Angel for Matthew, and the Eagle for John; and who can say but that some of our Lions were not once winged, thus representing the only remaining Evangelist, Mark? Moreover, Larwood and Hotten, although they do not refer to this sign, mention (p. 73), when speaking of the sign of the Flying Horse, “a facetious innkeeper at Rogate, Petersfield, who has put up a parody in the shape of a Flying Bull.” But then arose the question, “Why should Luke be thus commemorated?” It was next suggested in several quarters that the sign might have originated in the old fable of La Mouche et le Toreau, of which Miss Elliot of Gosfield has kindly forwarded a copy, and which is thought to be of Oriental origin. This, however, did not decide the question, so inquiry was made of the landlord, who, though knowing nothing of the origin of his sign, stated that it formerly was, and should now be, the Butchers’ Arms, thereby clearing up the doubt, the crest and supporters of those arms being “Flying Bulls.”[58] There can be no doubt, therefore, that the Fly and Bullock originally represented one of the Flying Bullocks in the Butchers’ Arms. It seems, moreover, that the sign does after all represent the winged ox of St. Luke, that Evangelist being, in a way, the Patron Saint of butchers, for in Chambers’s Book of Days (ii. p. 464) it is stated this symbol has been associated with St. Luke, “because, to quote the words of an ancient writer, ‘he deviseth about the presthode of Jesus Christ,’ the ox or calf being the sign of a sacrifice, and St. Luke entering more largely than the other Evangelists into the history of the life and sufferings of our Saviour.”

The Blue Boar is, perhaps, the most interesting of all our Essex signs. At present it occurs five times in the county—namely, at *Prittlewell, *Maldon, *Colchester, *Stratford, and Abridge. The two first-named houses have been in existence at least a century, as they are mentioned in advertisements in the Chelmsford Chronicle in 1786 and 1788 respectively, while the last-named is marked on Greenwood’s Map of Essex, published in 1824. Forty years ago there was another example of the sign at Stanford Rivers, and Mr. H. W. King informs the author that the house at Hadleigh, now known as the Castle, displayed the sign of the Blue Boar until late in the last century. Taylor (see p. 28) mentions another Blue Boar at Ilford in 1636. In 1789, too, there was one at Fyfield. In the year 1750, a Blue Boar’s Head Inn existed opposite the Church at Waltham Abbey. Mr. Charles Golding, of Colchester, in writing to Notes and Queries[59] to inquire the latest date at which bull-baiting is known to have taken place in England, mentions that an entertainment of this kind was announced, in an old advertisement that he had seen, to take place at the above house on Whitsun Monday, 1750, and “any gentleman bringing a dog should be entertained at a dinner free.” The same house is referred to in an entry in the parish registers in 1647, when 12s. 6d. was “paid for a dinner at the Borsehed when the ould Churchwardens gave up their accounts.” The sign of the Boar’s Head occurs at East Horndon, *Braintree, and *Dunmow. The first of these houses appeared in the list forty years ago as the Old Boar’s Head. Our houses of this name have, perhaps, been named after the famous Boar’s Head tavern which used to exist in Eastcheap, or they may have had a separate origin. As to the derivation of the sign itself, Larwood and Hotten are inclined to believe that it represents the boar’s head as formerly often brought to table, rather than a charge taken from some one’s arms; but, in this, it is difficult altogether to agree with them. A boar’s head forms part of the arms of the Butchers’ Company (p. 34), and we have had in Essex several families bearing the same charge in their arms, such as the Borehams of Haverhill, the Welbores of Clavering, and the Tyrrells, Baronets, of Boreham House—the charge and the name of the place being very probably connected in some way in the latter case. Indeed, so far as the Boar’s Head at East Horndon is concerned, there can be no doubt whatever that it represents the crest of the family of Tyrrells, Baronets (connected with the Boreham Tyrrells), formerly of Heron Hall, in the same parish, which was demolished about the year 1789. Their crest, which was a boar’s head, couped and erect, argent, issuant out of the mouth a peacock’s tail proper, is now correctly represented on the sign-board, exactly as upon several of the family monuments in the church. Both the sign-board and the heraldic device it bears are new, having been recently set up under the supervision of the rector of the parish. The old board, which is altogether unheraldic, is displayed over the door, and exhibits the head of an extremely ferocious-looking boar emerging from a clump of rushes in a most threatening manner.

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, 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. Not a single example now appears in Surrey, Sussex, Durham, Devonshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, or Cheshire. Norfolk, Kent, and Cambridge have one each. Leicestershire and Suffolk (in which county the De Veres also had large estates) have, however, two each. In London, although there is both a Boar’s Head and a Blue Boar’s Head, there is not now a Blue Boar. However, a tradesman’s token issued “at the Bleu Boore without Bishopsgate” in the seventeenth century still exists. Much valuable information concerning the Blue Boar as used by the De Veres, is contained in a paper by the Rev. H. L. Elliot, of Gosfield, On Some Badges and Devices of the De Veres, on the Tower of Castle Hedingham Church.[60] Four of these—the Boar, the Mullet, the Whistle, and the Windlass—are here reproduced.

The motto of the family, Vero nihil verius and Verite vient formed a rebus on the name. The boar as a badge was evidently assumed for the same reason. The Latin name for the animal is verres, though the De Veres probably got it through the Dutch (veer or vere), as they were a branch of the House of Blois, and owned the Lordship of Vere in Zetland. The boar has been a favourite device of the De Veres from a very early period. The feet of the cross-legged and mail-clad figure of Robert, the fifth Earl, who died in 1296, still existing at Earls Colne Priory, are placed against a boar, and the same animal appears in different capacities on all, or nearly all, the other existing monuments of the family. Stowe speaks of John, the sixteenth Earl, “riding into the city, to his house by London Stone, with eighty gentlemen in a livery of Reading tawney, and chains of gold about their necks, before him, and one hundred tall yeomen in the like livery to follow him, without chains, but all having his cognizance of the Blew Boar embroydered on their left shoulder.” As a badge, the boar is carved, alternately with the mullet (another device of the De Veres[61]), over the clerestory windows of Castle Hedingham Church; on several parts of Lavenham Church, Suffolk; on the roof of the south aisle of Sible Hedingham Church; over the west door of Chelmsford Church, and elsewhere. In the Chelmsford Museum, moreover, is preserved a wooden boss, taken from the ceiling of a room of the old Black Boy Inn when it was pulled down. On this is carved a boar, within a circular ribbon charged with seven mullets. Some information as to how these devices came into these positions is given hereafter. For close upon five centuries this mighty family, whose riches were immense, and whose power was second only to that of the sovereign, ruled over a large portion of East Anglia in semi-regal fashion. For 567 years, too, was the same title retained in this one family. It is no wonder, therefore, that their armorial bearings should have been largely used as signs by those who were in various ways dependent upon them; but it is interesting to find at the present day such comparatively clear evidence of this fact. The principal Essex inn exhibiting the sign of the Blue Boar (and the one from which, in all probability, some, at least, of our others have taken the name) was the once famous Blue Boar at Castle Hedingham. This ancient house may be cited as a good example of an inn deriving its sign directly from the armorial bearings of a great historical family which formerly resided in the immediate vicinity, and, without doubt, owned the house. Its sign, of course, represented the badge of the mighty Earls of Oxford. The inn was a fine old house standing in St. James’s Street, where its ornamental chimneys once formed the most prominent feature. After being injured by fire it was pulled down in 1865. On this occasion various old coins and other relics were discovered, the most interesting being an inscription in Early English characters, written in chalk on a blackened beam behind the wainscot. It ran thus:—

This may be translated as follows:—

According to the authors of the History of Sign-boards (p. 116), this sign was originally a white boar, and represented the boar argent, which formed the favourite badge of Richard III., as well as one (or, more generally, both) of the supporters of his arms.

Shakespeare in Richard III. (act v., scene 3) alludes to the dead king and his badge as follows:—

It is related that in this king’s reign one William Collingbourne was executed for composing the following couplet:—

The king and his ministers, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir William Catesby, and Lord Lovell, were, of course, thus referred to. At Earls Colne, as already stated (p. 63), there is a Lion and Boar. Here, in all probability, we have again represented the boar of the De Veres, Colne Priory having been another seat of the family, some members of which lie buried there. Other signs, which have, in all probability, been derived (partly, at least) from other badges of the De Veres, will be noticed hereafter.

The sign of the Flitch of Bacon is most conveniently described in connection with the boar. The authors just quoted say (p. 420), “The Flitch of Dunmow is a common sign in Essex, and is sometimes seen in other counties;” but it does not appear that we have had more than one in the county for forty years past, that one being, of course, the well-known inn at *Little Dunmow. How the sign originated is too well known to need any explanation here. A similar custom has occasioned a similar sign at Wichnor, near Lichfield (Gent’s Mag., 1819). A beer-shop, about thirty years old, in the market-place at Romford, is known by the appropriate name of the Pig in the Pound. A Pig and Whistle is in existence at Thames Haven, and there are beer-shops of the same name in Broomfield and Writtle parishes. The origin of this sign appears not to have come down to us out of the mists of antiquity. Very many and very learned are the explanations which have, of late, been proposed as the solution of it. Half the European languages have been ransacked for its derivation, but so far without any satisfactory results. Larwood and Hotten dismiss it as “simply a freak of the mediÆval artist.” Possibly it may represent, in a corrupted form, the peg said to have been placed in the wassail-bowl by King Edgar, who, in order to discourage drunkenness, imposed a penalty upon any one who drank so deeply as to leave it uncovered. There is, however, a by-no-means-unlikely origin for the sign, and one which the author believes has never before been suggested. In Mr. Elliot’s interesting paper just quoted (p. 70) it is stated that, in addition to the blue boar, the De Veres, among several other devices, made use of a Whistle and Chain as a household badge. Thus, among the devices of this one family, are found the two objects—a pig (or boar) and a whistle—which, when combined, constitute this most perplexing sign. It is very difficult—perhaps impossible—to prove now that the sign was actually derived from these two badges of the De Veres, but, remembering the enormous past importance of the family, it must be admitted that the sign was in no way unlikely to have been so derived. Mr. Elliot himself writes that he considers this suggestion not unlikely to be the correct one. Very probably this description of the Earl’s badges was a derisive one, applied to them by the Yorkist party during the Wars of the Roses. A whistle, like that adopted by the De Veres, was formerly worn by sea-captains, even of high rank; and Mr. Elliot is of opinion that it was assumed by the De Veres as a symbol of the office of Lord High Admiral, an appointment held by John, the thirteenth Earl, who was very active on behalf of the Lancastrian party.

Forty-six inns in Essex exhibit signs which are more or less canine. A few of these may have had their origin in Heraldry; but there can be no doubt that, in the great majority of cases, the signs have originated in the modern use of the dog, whether for sporting or other purposes. At Wethersfield and Halstead the Dog appears alone; at East Horndon there is an Old Dog; a Pointer exists at Alresford; and at Colchester, East Mersey, and Tolleshunt Knights the Dog and Pheasant appears; while at Stifford and Great Leighs (beer-house) the Dog and Partridge is used, as it was also at *Halstead sixty years ago. The sign of the Spotted Dog, although it is not mentioned by Hotten, occurs four times, namely at Witham, Barking, Chelmsford, and West Ham, and there is a beer-house of the same name at Braintree. The sole use of the Spotted, or Dalmatian, Dog in this country, says a writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine, “is to contribute, by the beauty of its appearance, to the splendour of the stable establishment, constantly attending the horses and carriage to which he belongs.” On October 22, 1804, a disastrous and fatal fire took place at the Spotted Dog, *Chelmsford. The details are given in a scarce pamphlet, reprinted in Hughson’s London (vol. vi. p. 246). It seems that about 120 Hanoverian soldiers marched into Chelmsford on the day in question, and about 70 of them took up their lodgings in the stables of this inn. While most of them were asleep it was discovered that the straw upon which they lay had caught fire. All were, of course, at once aroused, but being unused to the fastening of the door, they were unable to open it. When at last it was opened and the inmates liberated, many of them were sorely burned, and others had their clothing on fire. The flames were got under after a time, but not until they had extended to other stables and burned several horses. On clearing away the rubbish, the bodies of no less than thirteen of the Hanoverian soldiers who had perished in the flames were found. They were afterwards buried with military honours in the church. At Hordon-on-the-Hill there is a Black Dog (beer-house). The Shepherd and Dog is a device which

is now to be seen at Upminster, Ramsden Cray, and Great Stambridge (beer-house). Two centuries ago it appeared on the farthing token of “Peeter Pearcce” of Braintree; while a DOG WITH CHAIN, passant, occurs on that of “Thomas Peeke, Wyre Street, in Colchstr,” and a dog eating out of a fleshpot (the Dog’s Head in Pot) on the halfpenny issued by John Phillips of Plaistow in 1670. This device seems to have been originally used to indicate a dirty, slovenly housewife. It was never common. The Hare and Hounds occurs seven times, the Fox and Hounds ten times, and the Huntsman and Hounds once (at Upminster). Both the Fox and the Fox and Hounds are very common beer-house signs. The Hare, an unusual sign when not accompanied by the Hounds, appears at Great Parndon. The Talbot at North Weald may be named after the famous Talbot in Southwark, which, under its former name of the Tabard, sheltered Chaucer’s pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Talbot is the name of an old variety of hunting dog which, at the present day, is never heard of except in connection with Heraldry; and, as the sign in question is not now a pictorial one, most of the inhabitants of North Weald would probably be much puzzled to explain what it originally represented. There was another Talbot in Stapleford Tawney until about ten years ago, but it is now a private house. The county contains no less than thirteen Greyhounds, one of which is an Old Greyhound. The sign of the Greyhound existed at Chelmsford in 1786, according to the Chelmsford Chronicle for July 21st in that year, but it is not now extant, though Greyhound Lane still exists. In all probability this was the house that existed under the same name in 1662, as mentioned in the Account of the Murder of Thomas Kidderminster, to which reference has been already made. The Greyhound at Waltham Abbey is mentioned in the parish registers on June 4, 1735, when “John Munns from y^e Greyhound was Bur.” The Greyhound at Barking is mentioned in the parish register as early as 1592.[62] An entry states that “Henry, the supposed son of Henry Fisher of London, from the Greyhound, was bap^d the 17th of October.” For this sign we are probably about equally indebted both to the sport of coursing and the art of Heraldry. Greyhounds argent formed either one or both of the supporters of Henry VII., the badge, and often one of the supporters, of Henry VIII., and one of the supporters of Elizabeth and Mary; so that in all probability the sign found its origin in Heraldry, but owes its use in the present day, largely at least, to coursing.

In a hunting district like Essex it is in no way surprising that there should be as many as twenty-five references to the fox on our sign-boards. Although twenty years ago the sign of the Fox only occurred five times, it now occurs eleven times; while there are ten signs of the Fox and Hounds, and three of the Fox and Goose. The latter is a combination which mediÆval artists never tired of representing. It may be seen, among other places, on a carved oak screen in Hadstock Church. Of the Flying Fox at Colchester, Larwood and Hotten say (p. 170)—“It may represent some kind of bat or flying squirrel (?) so denominated, or is a landlord’s caprice.” It seems much more probable, however, that the device is intended to represent a fox flying before the hounds.

There is a beer-house known as the Wolf at Great Coggeshall. The origin of the sign, which is not mentioned by Larwood and Hotten, is hard to explain. Probably it is unique.

The sign of the Hare and Hounds, of which, as previously stated (p. 76), we have seven examples, is, doubtless, entirely derived from the sport of coursing; but the Rabbits, a very old house still in existence at Little Ilford, has probably an heraldic origin. Most likely the sign is derived from three coneys appearing on some family coat of arms, but whose, it is now difficult to say. The sign appeared in the list as the Three Rabbits forty years ago, and as the Three Coneys on Jean Roque’s Map of Ten Miles Round London, published in 1746. Lysons, in his Environs of London (1796, vol. iv. p. 157), says—

There is also a beer-shop known as the Rabbits in Stapleford Tawney parish. It is probably named after the foregoing. There is another beer-house so called at West Thurrock. Larwood and Hotten do not mention the sign under any of the above forms, although they say that in 1667 Hugh Conny, of Caxton and Elsworth, Cambridge, had Three Conies for a sign, and a RABBIT is depicted on the farthing token of one William Hutchenson, of Chelmsford.

The sign of the Fleece occurs twice at *Colchester, once at *Coggeshall, and once at Brentwood. That of the Golden Fleece appears at Chelmsford and East Ham, although the former seems to have become golden only during the last forty years. There were also Fleeces at Halstead and Witham sixty years ago. Both forms of the sign are, of course, intended to represent Jason’s Golden Fleece, or Gideon’s, and their use commemorates the time when the woollen trade was one of the staple industries of Essex. The Fleece also formed the pendant of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was founded in 1429 by Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders, “to perpetuate the memory of his great revenues raised by wools with the Low Countries,” as Ashmole says. Ancient encaustic tiles have been found, Mr. Elliot writes, both in Witham and Maldon (St. Mary’s) Churches bearing the arms of the Dukes of Burgundy, with their badge of flint, steel, and sparks in the upper and side spandrels, and the figure of the Fleece below. A fleece forms a charge in the arms of the town of Leeds,[63] now the principal seat of the woollen trade. Larwood and Hotten facetiously remark that “a fleece at the door of an inn or public-house looks very like a warning of the fate a traveller may expect within.” The Star and Fleece is an odd combination, which does not appear to be noticed in the History of Sign-boards. It may simply be an impaled sign, or may represent the fleece of one of the mullets in the arms of Leeds. An example has existed at Kelvedon for over forty years, and another was in existence a few years since. Another emblem of the woollen trade is the Woolpack, of which, as already stated (p. 39), we have six examples, arranged in an almost straight line across the county, namely, at *Romford, Ingatestone, Chelmsford, Witham, *Coggeshall, and *Colchester. Three, at least, of these were in existence sixty years since, at which time there was another at Bocking. It is recorded in Bufton’s Diary[64] that on May 1, 1693, at Coggeshall, “Y^e soldiers set up a Maypole at y^e Woolpacke doore.” The Woolpack is a device which appears commonly on the tokens of the seventeenth century. It is met with at Billericay, Dunmow, Castle Hedingham (twice), Braintree, Bocking, Witham, and Colchester. The sign of the Woolpack, it should be noticed, is still, or was lately, to be seen at the three last-named places. The sign of the Shears, as pointed out elsewhere (p. 41), is another relic of the now departed woollen trade. From the middle of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth century, the spinning, carding, and weaving of wool formed the staple industry in most of the larger towns and villages of Eastern England. Several prominent families of the district in former days owed their wealth to this trade. In the neighbourhood of Hedingham it is said that several old houses, of which remnants only now exist, were once “wool-halls,” combining a residence for the merchant with a warehouse for his wools, worsteds, and “pieces.” Very high wages were earned by the workpeople, even by children and old persons. It has been estimated that, at the middle of last century, not less than 20,000 hands in and around Colchester were employed in the woollen trade; but by the end of the century the number had sunk to less than 8,000. Many old persons still living can remember their parents’ or grand-parents’ accounts of the festivities on St. Blaize’s Day, the 3rd of February, when there were processions in mediÆval fashion, with shepherdess and lamb, and men and women spinning and weaving, accompanied by a great deal of noise and fun, bell-ringing and band-playing, ribbons and banners, roystering and drinking. In the evening bonfires were lit upon the hills to commemorate (as the common people thought) the name of their patron, St. Blaize. The weaving of bunting for ships’ flags lingered in and around Sudbury until about twenty years ago, but has now quite died out in East Anglia. The Ram, at North Woolwich, perhaps, represents the crest of the Clothworkers’ Company.[65] Our six examples of the sign of the Lamb may, or may not, have had an heraldic origin. They probably represent the Lamb with the flag of the Apocalypse; but this was used as a crest by the Merchant Taylors’ Company.[66] The farthing issued in 1654 by “Tho. Lambe at Bvttls Gate in Colchester” bears a Holy Lamb couchant, and that of “Joseph Lamb of Lee [Leigh], 1664,” bears the same device. In both cases a rebus or pun on the name of the issuer is, of course, intended. The Lambs at *Colchester and *Romford are both at least sixty years old. Probably the sign was first set up as an emblem of the woollen trade. The five instances in which the Lamb occurs in conjunction with a Lion have already been noticed (p. 63), and attention has also been drawn to the fact (p. 23) that some, at least, of our Ships are probably intended for sheep. The Shoulder of Mutton, which occurs both at Great Totham and Fordham, probably represents the joint so often brought to table.

The Bear occurs by himself only twice, namely, at Buttsbury (where he is at least forty years old), and at Romford. The Bear at Buttsbury is mentioned in the Stock parish registers in 1673. Forty years ago there were also Bears at Colchester and Great Baddow. We are probably more indebted to the old custom of bear-baiting for this sign than to Heraldry. Larwood and Hotten say that it was originally adopted by ale-houses as a pun on the word “beer.” If so, the pun was a very weak one. The White Bear is to be seen at Galleywood and at Stanford Rivers. At the latter place he has existed at least since 1789, and is represented on a board over the door, but not upon the swinging sign-board, as a Polar Bear picking his way over blocks of ice. The sign of the White Bear is not a modern one. It was used in the seventeenth century, and both of our Essex examples are over forty years old. The Queen of Richard III. used a White Bear as her badge, and this perhaps originated the sign.

Of the Elephant and Castle, a very old device, we have two instances in Essex, one at Harwich, and the other at Colchester. Neither seems to have been in existence twenty years ago. Most probably they are named after the famous old coaching inn at Newington Butts; but they may have originally been cutlers’ signs. The elephant with a castle on his back (as he was generally represented in the Middle Ages) formed the crest of the Cutlers’ Company.[67] At Great Baddow, Rayleigh, and elsewhere the device serves as a beer-house sign.

The Goat and Boots on *East Hill, Colchester, though over forty years old, is a sign which is not noticed in the History of Sign-boards. It is, doubtless, a corruption of the not-uncommon sign of the Goat in Boots, which appears to be a caricature of Welshmen, and not a corruption of the Dutch description of Mercury, der goden boode (the gods’ messenger), as is often stated. We have in Essex no example of the not-uncommon sign of the Goat and Compasses, which is usually supposed to be a corruption of the Puritan motto, “God encompasses us.” This explanation, however, is not sound. The motto could never have been represented pictorially upon the sign-board, and we know that pictorial representation was the sole aim and object of the sign in olden times. Probably the sign is merely a compound one; or it may represent the arms of the Cordwainers’ Company[68] in a corrupted form. To this origin may be certainly traced the sign of the Three Goats’ Heads, which, however, does not occur in Essex.

The Squirrel’s Head at Squirrel’s Heath, Romford, has no doubt some connection with the locality. It was not in existence forty years ago. The sign of the Three Squirrels, which is not found in Essex, has been in use for over two centuries.

The sign of the Sea Horse, which has existed at *Colchester for at least sixty years past, is not noticed by Larwood and Hotten. Very likely it commemorates the capture in the Colne, and subsequent exhibition in the town, of some such strange creature as a seal or porpoise, which vulgar belief set down as a “sea horse.”

The sign of the Dolphin occurs four times in the county, namely, at *Colchester, *Chelmsford, Maldon, and *Romford. The animal also figures as a beer-house sign at Stisted, Goldhanger, &c. The houses bearing it may have taken their sign from the many representations of the dolphin in private coats of arms; but, most likely, they have simply been called after the famous Dolphin Inn which existed in London for several centuries, and is said to have been occupied by Louis, the Dauphin of France, who, in 1216, came over to contest the English crown with King John. It was once adorned with fleurs-de-lys, dolphins, and other French cognizances. The dolphin formed the badge of the Dauphins of France, just as the three ostrich feathers form the badge of our own Princes of Wales. Larwood and Hotten do not notice the sign of the Whalebone of which Essex possesses four examples, namely, at Woodham Ferrers, *Colchester, Fingringhoe, and White Roothing. That at the latter place has apparently been in existence for at least a century, as it is mentioned more than once in the Chelmsford Chronicle in the year 1786, while the one at Colchester figured in the list as the Old Whalebone forty years ago. The Fishbone, however, spoken of by Larwood and Hotten as being “rarely met with as a public-house sign,” though frequently used by dealers in rags and bones, is probably the same sign under a different name. In the museum at Saffron Walden there has been, for nearly fifty years past, a large whale’s scapula, which is said formerly to have hung as a sign in one of the streets of that town. Mr. Joseph Clarke believes it was displayed at the King’s Head, and it has on it an almost illegible letter R, probably part of the monogram G. R.; but more likely it formed the sign of the Whalebone at some house not now in existence, or not under that name. Of the Sun and Whalebone which has existed at Latton since 1789 at least, the authors so frequently quoted say that “it may have originated from a whalebone hanging outside the house or [it may indicate] that the landlord had laid the foundation of his fortune as a rag merchant.” More probably, however, its origin was the impalement of two distinct signs. The sign-board is not pictorial. This sign was very fully discussed in Notes and Queries in 1862 (3rd series, vol. i. pp. 250, 335, 359, 397, 419, and 473). Several most profound speculations were advanced to account for it, but they were all more or less far fetched. The Whalebone at Chadwell Heath has now disappeared, though a beer-shop so named existed there until about the year 1870. From it, in all probability, our four existing houses of this name, as well as the Sun and Whalebone at Latton, have taken their designation; for the sign is a very uncommon one in the adjoining counties, and does not appear at all in London. The house in question originally took its name from two whale’s jaw-bones (not rib-bones, as is commonly supposed) set up in the form of an archway over the road close at hand. Local tradition says that the bones were those of a whale that was stranded in the Thames near Dagenham during the great storm that prevailed on the night preceding September 3, 1658, when Oliver Cromwell died.

This was, perhaps, the case, as “Ye Whalebone” is marked against the tenth milestone from London on the map of the high-road from London to Harwich, given in Ogilby’s Itinerarium AngliÆ, published in 1675, only seventeen years after the whale is said to have been stranded. Also in Dr. Howell’s Ancient and Present State of England, first published in 1678, it is stated (6th Ed. p. 263) that, “near about this time [1658], there came up the Thames as far as Greenwich a whale of very great length and bigness.” Daniel Defoe, too, in his Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain, first published in 1724, says (vol. i. p. 3) the Whalebone was “so called because the rib-bone of a large Whale, taken in the River of Thames, was fixed there in 1658, the year Oliver Cromwell died, for a monument of that monstrous creature, it being at first about Eight and Twenty Foot long.” The Whale’s Bone is also marked on Andrew and Drury’s Map of Essex, published in 1777. That a storm of most unusual magnitude did rage on the night in question, is certain. Prideaux, in his Introduction to History (1682), speaks of “that most horrid tempestuous night which ushered in this day [on which Cromwell died].” Pepys also mentions the storm. Nor is it anything new for whales and similar animals to appear in the Thames. In Sir Richard Baker’s Chronicles of the Kings of England (p. 425), published in 1684, it is recorded that on the 19th of January, 1606, “a great Porpus was taken at West Ham, in a small creek a mile and a half within the land; and within a few days after a Whale came up within eight miles of London, whose body was seen divers times above the water, and was judged to exceed the length of the largest ship in the River: but when she tasted the fresh water and scented the land, she returned again into the sea.” On the morning of April 31, 1879, too, a whale alarmed some fishermen by his spouting near Hole Haven. Many other records might be cited. It is, however, a curious circumstance that in M. J. Farmer’s History of Waltham Abbey, published in 1735, there is given as an appendix “The Inquisition taken the 17th of King Charles I. [1642] of a Perambulation of Waltham Forest in the County of Essex,” in which occurs the following passage:—[The Forest boundary runs] “from Great Ilford directly by the same King’s High Way leading towards Rumford, to a certain Quadrivium (or way leading four ways), called the Four Wants, where late was placed and yet is a certain side of a whale, called the Whale bone.” From this it would appear that the spot was known as the Whalebone long before Cromwell’s death. Possibly, however, there is an error in the above date, Charles I. being inserted instead of Charles II.

A good deal of discussion upon the subject took place several years ago in the pages of Notes and Queries. In 1871 (p. 4), “G. S.” wrote that he had often seen whales’ bones set upright in Holland for cattle to rub against, and that he “was once struck with the same in a large park between Ingatestone and Chelmsford. The owner was a Dutch gentleman, who had introduced this sensible idea into England.” Other correspondents wrote that they knew of whales’ bones having been set up in various parts of England. Later on (p. 195), Mr. J. Perry, of Waltham Abbey, wrote that—

“There is (or was lately) a pair of whale’s ribs placed over the old toll-gate at Chadwell Heath, near Romford, Essex, which form a kind of Gothic arch across the roadway. They must have been there for a considerable period, as it is beyond the memory of any of the good old country-folks living in the locality to tell when first erected. At a little distance from the toll-house occurs a similar pair, set up over the carriage entrance to a residence.”