[Illustration: CHELMSFORD HIGH STREET IN 1762.
(_Reduced by Photography from the Larger Engraving by J. Ryland._)]
THE
TRADE SIGNS OF ESSEX:
A Popular Account
OF
THE ORIGIN AND MEANINGS
OF THE
Public House & Other Signs
NOW OR FORMERLY
Found in the County of Essex.
BY
MILLER CHRISTY,
_Author of “Manitoba Described,”
“The Genus Primula in Essex,” “Our Empire,” &c._
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
Chelmsford:
EDMUND DURRANT & CO., 90, HIGH STREET.
London:
GRIFFITH, FARRAN, OKEDEN, AND WELSH,
WEST CORNER ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD.
MDCCCLXXXVII.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
“Prefaces to books [says a learned author] are like signs to
public-houses. They are intended to give one an idea of the kind of
entertainment to be found within.”
A student of the ancient and peculiarly interesting Art of Heraldry can
hardly fail, at an early period in his researches, to be struck with the
idea that some connection obviously exists between the various
“charges,” “crests,” “badges,” and “supporters” with which he is
familiar, and the curious designs now to be seen upon the sign-boards of
many of our roadside inns, and which were formerly displayed by most
other houses of business.
On first noticing this relationship when commencing the study of
Heraldry, somewhere about the year 1879, it occurred to me that the
subject was well worth following up. It seemed to me that much
interesting information would probably be brought to light by a careful
examination of the numerous signs of my native county of Essex. Still
more desirable did this appear when, after careful inquiry, I found that
(so far as I was able to discover) no more than three systematic
treatises upon the subject had ever been published. First and foremost
among these stands Messrs. Larwood and Hotten’s _History of
Sign-boards_,[1] a standard work which is evidently the result of a
very large amount of labour and research. I do not wish to conceal the
extent to which I am indebted to it. It is, however, to be regretted
that the authors should have paid so much attention to London signs, to
the partial neglect of those in other parts of the country, and that
they should not have provided a more complete index; but it is
significant of the completeness of their work that the other two writers
upon the subject have been able to add very little that is new, beside
mere local details. A second dissertation upon the origin and use of
trade-signs is to be found in a most interesting series of articles upon
the signs of the Town of Derby, contributed to the _Reliquary_[2] in
1867 by the late Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt, F.S.A., the editor of that
magazine; while the third and last source of information is to be found
in a lengthy pamphlet by Mr. Wm. Pengelly, F.R.S., treating in detail of
the Devonshire signs.[3]
On the Continent the literature of signs is much more voluminous. Among
the chief works may be mentioned Mons. J. D. Blavignac’s _Histoire des
Enseignes d’Hôtelleries, d’Auberges, et de Cabarets_;[4] Mons. Edouard
Fournier’s _Histoire des Enseignes de Paris_;[5] and Mons. Eustache de
La Quérière’s _Recherches Historiques sur les Enseignes des Maisons
Particulières_.[6]
It should be pointed out here that, although in what follows a good deal
has been said as to the age and past history of many of the best-known
Essex inns, this is, strictly speaking, a treatise on Signs and
Sign-boards only. The two subjects are, however, so closely connected
that I have found it best to treat them as one.
There will, doubtless, be many who will say that much of what I have
hereafter advanced is of too speculative a nature to be of real value.
They will declare, too, that I have shown far too great a readiness to
ascribe to an heraldic origin, signs which are at least as likely to
have been derived from some other source. To these objections I may
fairly reply that as, in most cases, no means now exist of discovering
the precise mode of origination, centuries ago, of many of our modern
signs, it is impossible to do much more than speculate as to their
derivation; and the fact that it has been found possible to ascribe such
large numbers to a probable heraldic origin affords, to my thinking, all
the excuse that is needed for so many attempts having been made to show
that others have been derived from the same source.
No one is more fully aware than I am of the incompleteness of my work.
Many very interesting facts relating to Essex inns and their signs have
unquestionably been omitted. But the search after all such facts is
practically an endless one. If, for instance, I had been able to state
the history of all the inns and their signs in every town and village in
the county with the completeness with which (thanks to Mr. H. W. King) I
have been enabled to treat those of Leigh, I should have swelled my book
to encyclopædic dimensions, and should have had to ask for it a
prohibitory price.
In a treatise involving such an immense amount of minute detail, it is
impossible to avoid some errors. My hope is, however, that these are not
many. I shall always be glad to have pointed out to me any oversights
which may be detected, and I shall be not less glad at all times to
receive any additional facts which my readers may be kind enough to send
me.
I regret that it has been necessary to make use of some old heraldic
terms which the general reader will probably not at first understand.
This, however, was quite unavoidable. The meaning of these terms will be
at once made clear on reference to the Glossary given at the end of the
work, as an Appendix.
According to the list given in the last edition of the _Essex Post
Office Directory_ there are now existing in the county no less than one
thousand, three hundred and fifty-five inns and public-houses. The signs
of all these have been classified, arranged under various headings, and
treated of in turn, together with a very large number of others which
have existed in the county during the last two centuries and a half, but
have now disappeared. Information as to these has been collected by
means of a careful examination of the trade-tokens of the seventeenth
century, old Essex Directories, early books and pamphlets relating to
the county, old deeds and records, the early issues of the _Chelmsford
Chronicle_ (now the _Essex County Chronicle_), and other newspapers,
&c., &c. Altogether it will be found I have been able to enumerate no
less than 693 distinct signs as now or formerly occurring in Essex.
I am indebted to a large number of gentlemen who have most kindly
assisted me by supplying me with information, suggestions, &c., during
the eight years I have been gathering material for the present book.
First and foremost among these I must mention Mr. H. W. King of Leigh,
Hon. Secretary to the Essex Archæological Society, who, as he says,
“knows the descent of nearly every house and plot of ground in the
parish for two or three generations, and the name of every owner.” Among
other gentlemen to whom I am indebted in varying degrees, I may mention
Mr. G. F. Beaumont, Mr. Fred. Chancellor, that veteran Essex
archæologist Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A., Mr. Wm. Cole, F.E.S., Hon.
Secretary of the Essex Field Club, Mr. Thos. B. Daniell, the Rev. H. L.
Elliot, Mr. C. K. Probert, Mr. G. N. Maynard, Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith, and
others, I have also to express my thanks to the following gentlemen,
magistrates’ clerks to the various Petty Sessional Divisions of Essex,
who have most kindly supplied me with lists of such beer-houses as have
signs in their respective divisions:--Messrs. A. J. Arthy (Rochford),
Jos. Beaumont (Dengie), W. Bindon Blood (Witham), J. and J. T. Collin
(Saffron Walden), G. Creed (Epping and Harlow), Augustus Cunnington
(Freshwell and South Hinckford), W. W. Duffield (Chelmsford), H. S.
Haynes (Havering), A. H. Hunt (Orsett), and Chas. Smith (Ongar). I have
also to thank the Essex Archæological Society for the use of the four
blocks of the De Vere badges appearing on p. 70; the Essex Field Club
for that of the Rose Inn, Peldon, on p. 118; Messrs. Chambers & Sons of
22, Wilson Street, Finsbury, for that of the Brewers’ Arms on p. 32;
Messrs. Couchman & Co. of 14, Throgmorton Street, E.C., for that of the
Drapers’ Arms on p. 40; and the Brewers’, Drapers’ and Butchers’
Companies for kindly allowing me to insert cuts of their arms. To my
cousin, Miss S. Christy, I am indebted for kindly drawing the
illustrations appearing on pp. 87 and 140.
Portions of the Introduction and other parts of the book have already
appeared in an altered form in _Chambers’s Journal_ (Jan., 1887, p.
785), and I am indebted to the editor for permission to reprint.
Finally, I have to thank the Subscribers, who, by kindly ordering
copies, have diminished the loss which almost invariably attends the
publication of works of this nature. As the book has already extended to
considerably more space than was originally intended, I trust the
Subscribers will excuse the omission of the customary list.
[Illustration: signature of _Miller Christy_]
CHELMSFORD,
_February 1, 1887_.
[Illustration]
[Illustration] CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1