Of the well-known Old Four Swans at Waltham Cross Mr. E. Walford, in Greater London (vol. i. p. 393), writes as follows:—

“It is undoubtedly an old building; but it is questionable whether it can properly lay claim to the antiquity that is locally assigned to it; for in it, according to tradition, the body of Queen Eleanor remained for the night preceding its solemn entry into London. Salmon considers this inn to have been the original manor-house of the honour of Richmond; and Gough says that it ‘bears marks of great antiquity in the forms of its chimneys, and the quantity of chestnut timber employed about it.’ A large signboard, supported on tall posts, placed on the opposite sides of the way, swings across the road, having on it the inscription, ‘Ye Olde Foure Swannes Hostelrie, 1260.’ ”

David Hughson, in his work on London (vol. ii. p. 339), says of this house, that in 1805 it was a good specimen of the old style of house, “consisting of three sides, sometimes of four, with an entrance by a square aperture in the front, into the quadrangle.... It is the manor-house of the manor of Theobalds, and was formerly the residence of a natural son of Henry VIII., whom he created Earl of Richmond.” In the parish register of Waltham Holy Cross, or Waltham Abbey, there is the following entry: “Julii, 1612, Margarett, the daughter of Edward Scarlett of Cestrehunt, was buried 26 daye, dwelling at the signe of Ye Old Swanne in Waltham Cross.” In days gone by this inn was a well-known posting-house, and more recently it numbered Charles Lamb among its patrons. The Swan with Two Necks was formerly the sign of a private house in Head Street, Colchester, once occupied by Miles Gray, the celebrated bell-founder. In his day he was quite the head of his craft. Bells founded either by him or his son and successor Miles, who died in 1686, are still found in many belfries throughout Essex. In his will, dated May 17, 1649,[74] he bequeaths unto his wife Dorothy all the “rents, issues, p’fits, cominge, growinge, and arisinge out of the east end of the capitall messuage or tenement, lately burned downe, scituate and beinge below Head Gate, in Colchester aforesayd, commonly called or knowne by the name of the Swann wth two Neckes,” &c. It is commonly supposed that the word “necks” has been corrupted from “nicks,” swans having formerly been marked by nicks or notches on the bill. The Rev. 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.

SWAN BILLS WITH TWO NICKS.
(After Yarrell.)		 SWAN WITH TWO NECKS.
(After Larwood and Hotten.)

The Cock is a very ancient and very common sign. Larwood and Hotten say that it was already in use in the time of the Romans. We have no less than eighteen examples of the simple Cock, and an Old Cock occurs at Sheering. The ancient and well-known Cock Hotel at Epping finds frequent mention in the numbers of the Chelmsford Chronicle for the year 1786. Taylor (see p. 28) also mentions it by name as long ago as 1636. It is a very old house, though now re-fronted with brick. The Rev. Wm. Cole, in his voluminous MSS. in the British Museum, says that on the 26th of October, 1774, he “arrived at Epping in the dusk of the evening, and lodged and dined late at the Cock Inn.” The Cock Inn still existing at Stock is several times mentioned in the parish registers, namely, in 1634, 1639, and 1693. On the latter occasion, “a stranger who died at the Cock, being a poor man, was buried by the constables, November 20.” The Cocke Inn at Great Coggeshall (not now existing) was once a house of good standing. In 1614 James I. granted it to Henry Eades, and in 1616 to Peregrine Gastrell and Ralph Lounds.[75] Not improbably in this case the sign was derived from the arms of the Abbey of Coggeshall.[76] The Cock, near the Church at Waltham Abbey, is a very ancient inn. It finds frequent mention in the old parish registers. The marriage of John Broadly, of the Cock Inn, is recorded as early as February, 1599. In 1662 there was a Cock at Chelmsford, which does not appear to be in existence now. It is mentioned as being “on the hither side of the bridge” (i.e., the side nearest to Romford) in the Account of the Murder of Thomas Kidderminster, already referred to. This was probably the same inn mentioned by Foxe in his Book of Martyrs when he says that “one Richard Potto the elder, an inn-holder, dwelling at the sign of the Cocke, did much trouble” George Eagles, who was martyred in 1557. For the prevalence of this sign we have probably to thank the barbarous old custom of cock-fighting, as is obvious in the case of the sign of the Fighting Cocks, which occurs at Little Sampford and Wendens Ambo, and the Game Cock at Chadwell Heath. But the cock is also by no means an uncommon heraldic bearing, and several combinations into which the bird enters have probably had an heraldic origin. For instance, the sign of the Cock and Crown, which existed at Colchester forty years back, may have represented one of the badges of Henry VIII., which was a white cock crowned, with the cypher H.R. The same king also often used a white cock crowned, as one of his supporters. At the same time it may simply have been an impaled sign of very modern date. In any case it is very rare. The Cock and Bell, which appears at High Easter, Writtle, and *Romford, is an apparently meaningless sign, and is probably an impalement. The last-named example seems, however, to have been in existence for at least a century, as it is mentioned in an advertisement in the Chelmsford Chronicle for September 14, 1764. In Wright’s History of Essex the inn itself is depicted. Taylor, too, probably refers to this house in his Catalogue of Tavernes when he mentions a Cock at Romford in 1636. The example at Writtle has an old pictorial sign-board representing a resplendent, though faded, cock, with a bell over his head. The Cock and Magpie, which has existed since 1789 at least on Epping Green, is probably called after a celebrated London tavern of the same name. The sign is identical in its origin with that of the Cock and Pie. By the latter name is known some wine and spirit vaults of repute which for over a century have been established on *North Hill, Colchester. Several more or less likely meanings for the sign have been suggested, but the authors of the History of Sign-boards consider it to be a corrupted sign. They believe that it originally represented the Peacock Pie, formerly a very favourite dish. When the dish went out of fashion the sign became abbreviated into the Cock and Pie; and as that appeared meaningless, it was in time corrupted into the Cock and Magpie, in both of which forms we still have it. Forty years ago the sign of the Magpie existed at Great Warley, and there is now a Peacock at Canning Town. A rebus upon the name of the issuer, Richard Cock of Colchester, occurs on a farthing token dated 1658. The Raven as a sign is found at Berden. It was a badge of the old Scotch kings, and may have been set up as a Jacobite symbol. The Blackbirds, which occurs at Bulmer, and the Three Blackbirds, which occurs at Leyton, are, doubtless, two signs which were identical in their origin, and are probably connected with the Raven, the Three Ravens, the Three Crows, and the Three Choughs, all of which are fairly common in other counties, and are supposed by Larwood and Hotten to typify Charles, James, and Rupert. It is, however, just as likely that they represent the modern version of some family coat of arms. Many such coats bear three birds, which might, with almost equal correctness, be referred to any of the species just mentioned. Various doves and pigeons have already been spoken of (p. 38), but there still remains to be mentioned the curious sign of the Rainbow and Dove, which is to be found at North Weald. In the list of signs in 1789 (p. 7) it appears as the Rainbow merely. The sign is apparently quite meaningless, unless it typifies the rainbow and dove which figure in the account of “the Flood” (Genesis, chaps. viii. and ix.). The Nightingale at Wanstead is another inn-sign which does not seem to be mentioned by Larwood and Hotten. It is at least forty years old, and, doubtless, takes its name from, or gives its name to, Nightingale Square, in which it stands. The sign of the Owl, which has existed at High Beech since 1789 at least, is spoken of in the History of Sign-boards as occurring only once elsewhere, namely, at Calverley, near Leeds. A bird (presumably a Finch) occurs on the halfpenny token of John Finch of Halstead, who was probably a maltster, as the other side of his token bore the representation of a Malt-scoop. The Bird in Hand occurs five times in Essex, namely, at Braintree, Halstead (twice), Coggeshall, and *Stratford. There are also beer-houses so called at Goldhanger and Chelmsford. Mr. G. F. Beaumont of Coggeshall states that the *Bird in Hand at that place was formerly known as the Thorough Inn, because there was a right of way or thoroughfare through it from Earl Street to Church Street. He also mentions, as a curious coincidence, that a short time since the name of the tenant was Joseph Bird, and that of the owner Richard Bird Holmes. The same gentleman contributes to the Coggeshall Almanac for the present year an interesting “Programme of a Procession, exhibited by the Weavers of Coggeshall, on Wednesday, the 15th of June, 1791,” and which was to “set out precisely at eight o’clock from the Bird in Hand.” The idea of the sign is suggested by the proverb—

“A bird in hand is better far,
Than two that in the bushes are.”

The device is to be seen on some of the trade tokens of the seventeenth century. The sign of the Feathers at Hatfield Broad Oak is clearly identical with that of the Plume of Feathers at Loughton; indeed, the former appears in Mr. Creed’s list (p. 7) as having been the Plume of Feathers in 1789. The house at Loughton is also mentioned in the same list, so that both are at least a hundred years old. Both, of course, now at least represent the badge of our Princes of Wales. Ostrich feathers have been among the devices of our kings and princes from very early times; and the pretty tale of how the Black Prince took them from the King of Bohemia, whom he killed in the battle of Creci, is a pure delusion. As the Rev. H. L. Elliot points out, “Single feathers, differenced in various ways, were used as badges by the kings and the Beauforts before the Wars of the Roses. Henry VI. used two feathers in saltire, the sinister argent, surmounted of the dexter or, as here depicted, as one of his badges.”