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.

  • Miller Christy
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 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. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/208 (page 5)
    modern Essex signs, for instance, are relics (as will be more clearly pointed out hereafter) of what were once staple indus- tries in the county, though now all but unknown in it. Thus the signs of the Woolpack (p. 79), the Shears (p. 41), and the Golden Fleece (p. 78) are all mementoes of the time when the woollen trade flourished in Essex. The sign of the Hop-poles (p. m) reminds us of the time when hop- growing formed a considerable industry in the county. Our various Blue Boars (p. 68) speak to us of the noble and once mighty Essex family of De Vere, which formerly wielded a great power in England. These are but a few instances. Others will occur to every one who peruses the following pages. At the present day, too, there is scarcely a village in the county that has not some street, square, or lane named after an inn-sign, as, for instance, Sun Street, Eagle Lane, Swan Street, Falcon Square, Lion Walk, Greyhound Lane, &c. In London, or Paris, the connection is still closer. Surely, then, although signs are no longer of great or urgent importance to us in the daily routine of our ordinary business life, an inquiry into their past history will be a matter of much interest, especially as comparatively little has hitherto been written about them. Nevertheless, although it is certain that (as has been stated) not a few of our present signs have been derived from emblems of industries now decayed and the armorial bearings of ancient county families, the fact cannot be overlooked that in a great many cases these particular signs, as now displayed by particular houses, have only very recently come into use. That is to say, they are only indirectly derived from the sources named, having been selected because, perhaps, some neighbouring and really ancient inn (which derived its sign directly) was known to have long borne that sign. There can be no doubt (as Mr. H. W. King writes) that— “ The very large’majorityof country inns are comparatively modern, both as to signs ancl sites. Elsewhere, as here [Leigh], I suspect they have been moved and removed again and again—old signs shifted, and often changed altogether. I remember the late Mr. Edward Woodard, of Billericay, telling me some years ago that the inns of that town had been changed again and again : that is, what are now private residences were