The second cause of difficulty arises from the fact that some signs have become altered and corrupted in the course of time. Many curious examples of signs of this class are given by the authors so often quoted. Most of them seem to have arisen in this way:—A sign was put up which commemorated some incident or personage, often perhaps of only local celebrity. In the course of time the occurrence commemorated or the individual represented by the sign became forgotten (or, at any rate, disconnected from the sign); and, under the influence of vulgar pronunciation (or, possibly, upon the advent of a fresh landlord, who knew nothing as to the significance of the old name), the sign was changed, and given some fresh meaning, which the words seemed to imply or nearly resemble. Such signs as these may be styled “corruptions.” As an example, it may be mentioned that at Hever, in Kent, near which place the Bullen or Boleyn family had large possessions, there was, for many years after the death of the unfortunate Ann, an ale-house with the sign of the Bullen Butchered; but, on the place falling into fresh hands, the sign was vulgarized into the Bull and Butcher (!), and so remained until a recent date. In exactly the same way, a farm standing on or near the site of one of the old lodges at one of the entrances to the Park of New Hall, Boreham—another ancient estate of the Boleyn or Bullen family—is now known as “Bull’s Lodge Farm,” it having formerly been “Bullen’s Lodge Farm.” Thus, too, the George Canning has become changed into the George and Cannon, the Island Queen into the Iceland Queen, the Four Alls into the Four Awls (and used as a shoemaker’s sign), and the Elephant and Castle into the Pig and Tinderbox. It is by no means improbable that, if sufficiently minute inquiry were to be made, it would be found that some of our 22 Essex Ships, many of which are situated far from the sea, and in purely agricultural districts, are intended for Sheep, that word being, in Essex, invariably pronounced “ship,” both in the singular and plural. The Stock Ship, for instance, occupies some of the highest ground in the county, and is a well-known landmark for many miles around. It could hardly have reached its present position without undergoing some such strange adventures as Noah’s Ark is said to have experienced. The
authors of the History of Sign-boards state that the two words “ship” and “sheep” were once commonly pronounced almost promiscuously, as now in Essex. At Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, moreover, there is a house which formerly had a pictorial representation of a ship in full sail as its sign. Of late, however, the sign-board has merely borne the word “ship;” and, quite recently, on the advent of a new landlord who had been a cattle-dealer, the sign was changed into the Sheep. On the other hand, there is, at Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire, a house styled the Sheep and Anchor, which, doubtless, should be, and originally was, the Ship and Anchor. The old sign of the Falcon and Fetterlock, representing the badge of John of Ghent, is now often corrupted into the Hawk and Buckle, or even into the Hawk and Buck. In speaking of Essex examples of corrupted signs, it may be mentioned that the Goat and Boots (p. 81) appears at Colchester for the Goat in Boots, and that the De Beauvoir’s Arms (p. 43) at Downham is locally known as “the Beavers.” In the Post Office Directory, too, the Horse and Well (p. 57) at Woodford appears as the Horse and Wheel, the Roman Urn (p. 44) at Colchester as the Roman Arms, and the Sunderland Arms (p. 31) at Wakes Colne as the Sutherland Arms. Some of these are not corruptions which have actually taken place on the sign-board; but they well show the tendency towards such corruption. There can be but little doubt, too, that the sign of the Harrow (p. 171) represents the Portcullis crowned which Henry VII. and other sovereigns used as a badge. When the knowledge of heraldry declined the common people called the sign by the name of the Harrow, not knowing of anything else which resembled the device displayed. It thus became an agricultural sign, and was sometimes combined with another sign of the same kind, namely, the Plough, as at Leytonstone (p. 170). In other counties, according to Larwood and Hotten, the sign is still commonly known as the Portcullis, but we have no example in Essex. Some forty years ago it was recorded in the Worcester Journal that the landlord of the White Hart Inn at Dudley decided that his sign, which had until then been merely written, should be made pictorial; but instead of having depicted the ordinary White Hart with golden chain and collar, he (whether through ignorance or intent) had painted in white, on a black ground, a large Elephant’s Heart! Of this absurd corruption we have now an example in Essex, as mentioned hereafter (p. 53).
It was also once a very common thing for the sign to form a “rebus,” or pun, upon the name of the owner. Thus Two Cocks represented Cox; Three Conies, Conny; Three Fishes, Fish, &c., &c. The token issued in 1665 by “Beniamin Samson in Coggeshall” bears what Boyne describes as “the figure of Sampson, standing, with a robe over his shoulder and loins, holding a jawbone in one hand.” Many combinations, otherwise inexplicable, doubtless arose from this source, such as a Hand and Cock, signifying Hancock, and a Babe and Tun, signifying Babington. It is not easy to detect any instance in which a rebus or punning device now appears on an Essex sign-board; but several cases may be pointed out on the trade-tokens issued by Essex tradesmen in the seventeenth century. Thus, a Lamb appears on the token of Thomas Lambe of Colchester in 1654 (p. 80), a Finch on that of John Finch of Halstead, and a Tree on that of W. Spiltimber of Hatfield Broad Oak. It is worth mention, too, that Mr. A. Stagg, an English hatter, in the Rue Auber, Paris, displays two gilded stags’ heads on the facia above his shop.
Thus we see that, in searching for the origin of any sign of obscure derivation, we may have to trace it back through several different forms.
Coming now to the more particular examination of the signs connected with Essex, we find that the signs of the 1,355 inns existing in the county furnish an ample fund of interest to any one who systematically studies their origin and significance. For convenience in treatment an attempt has been made to arrange these signs under various headings, and under one or other of these headings every distinct inn-sign now appearing in the county will be found treated of, together with a large number of other signs which once existed in Essex, but have now disappeared. The list of Essex inns given in the Post Office Directory for the county has been found very useful, although, unfortunately, the signs of the numerous “beer-shops” (when they have any) are not given. This deficiency has, however, to some extent, been supplied through the kindness of the magistrates’ clerks in the county, who have forwarded lists of such beer-houses as have signs or names in their respective divisions. The information thus obtained has been incorporated with the remainder; but in speaking of a certain sign appearing so many times in the county the number of fully-licensed houses alone is in all cases referred to. In various parts of the county, but especially in the south-western portion round Epping and Ongar (as also in London), these houses are known among the labouring people by the strange name of “Tom and Jerrys,” no explanation of the origin of which seems to be obtainable. Beer-houses are compelled by Act of Parliament (1 Will. IV., c. 64, s. 6, & 4 & 5 Will. IV., c. 85, s. 18) to display over their doors a descriptive board, to be “publicly visible and legible,” under penalty of £10, but it does not appear that either they or fully-licensed houses are compelled to display signs.
There does not appear to have been any complete list of the inns of the county published more than forty years ago, but even the lists extending back that far may advantageously be compared with that of the present time. Although very many of our signs still remain the same now as they were then, numerous changes are noticeable. These are, however, generally in the direction that might be expected. Old heraldic devices are slowly disappearing and giving place to modern vulgarisms. For instance, so lately as the year 1868 Railway Inns and Railway Taverns combined only numbered twenty, while at the present time we have no less than thirty-one. It is quite clear that in the early part of this century, before railways came into existence, these signs must have been altogether unknown. Their places were then filled by such signs as the Coach and Horses or the Horn and Horseshoes, and other signs now going out of fashion.
A great deal of very useful and interesting information as to the signs in use in Essex two centuries ago is also to be obtained from an examination of the list of seventeenth-century tokens given by Mr. Boyne.[11] These tokens were issued very numerously by tradesmen during the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles I., when the national coinage was in an extremely debased condition. In the “field,” or centre, of the coin there was generally a device, which usually represented the sign under which the issuer traded. Many of the objects thus represented have, of course, disappeared from the sign-boards of the present day, though very many others are still familiar public-house signs. Mr. Boyne is, however, of the opinion that not more than one-fifth of the tokens now extant were issued by tavern-keepers, the rest having been circulated by ordinary tradesmen. Reference has already been made to the fact that many of the common heraldic signs had their origin in the use formerly made of the arms of the various Trade Guilds or companies as signs; and a hasty examination of the list of Essex tokens given by Boyne shows that between 80 and 90, or 37 per cent., bear arms or emblems belonging to one or other of these ancient companies. Thus, the Grocers appear about 25 times, the Bakers about 13 times, the Tallow-chandlers 10 times, the Woolmen 8 times, the Clothworkers 4 times, the Blacksmiths and the Drapers each 3 times, the Mercers, the Apothecaries, and the Barber Surgeons each twice, and the Brewers, the Fishmongers, the Butchers, the Fruiterers, and the Cutlers each once. Each of these signs will be hereafter treated of in its proper place.
A very interesting list of the inns in Essex (107 in all) in 1636 is given in John Taylor’s—the “Water Poet’s”—Catalogue of Tavernes in Tenne Shires about London, published in that year. Unfortunately, however, in only thirteen cases does he give the sign. In all other cases he merely gives the name of the holder. Frequent allusion will hereafter be made to this list of inns.