“They took their in and loggit them at mydmorowe, I trowe,
Atte cheker of the Hope that many a man doth knowe.”
Ludgate’s Continuation of the Canterbury Tales.
This inn (says Mr Wright, in his edition of the above work) is still pointed out in Canterbury, at the corner of High Street and Mercery Lane, and is often mentioned in the Corporation Reports, under the title of the Chequer. It is situated in the immediate vicinity of the Cathedral, and was therefore appropriate for the reception of the pilgrims.
When the inn had another sign besides the Chequers, these last were invariably painted on the door-post; an example of this may still be seen at the Swiss Cottage, Chelsea. In or near Calcots Alley, Lambeth, was formerly situated an inn or house of entertainment called the Chequers. In the year 1454 a licence was granted to its landlord, John Calcot, to have an oratory in the house and a chaplain for the use of his family and guests, as long as his house should continue orderly and respectable, and adapted to the celebration of divine service.[689] The Black Chequers in Cowgate, Norwich, is so called on account of the chequers being black and white, whilst others are red and white, blue and white, or in such other contrast as may be fancied by the publican.
The [Crooked Billet] is a sign, for which we have not been able to discover any likely origin; it may have been originally a ragged staff, or a pastoral staff, or a baton cornu—the ancient name for a battle-axe.[690] It is also the name for a part of the tankard. Frequently the sign is represented by an untrimmed stick suspended above the door, as at Wold Newton, near Bridlington, where it is accompanied by the following poetical effusion on one side of the signboard:—
“When this comical stick grew in the wood,
Our ale was fresh and very good;
Step in and taste, O do make haste,
For if you don’t ’twill surely waste.”
On the other side:—
“When you have viewed the other side,
Come read this too before you ride,
And now to end we’ll let it pass;
Step in, kind friends, and take a glass.”
Though a very rustic sign, it was also used in towns; thus it occurs among the trades tokens of Montague Close, and was the sign of Andrew Sowle, a bookseller in Holloway Lane, Shoreditch, in 1683.