Inn Signia: the Artwork and Stories Behind Peculiar Pub Names

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Inn Signia: the Artwork and Stories Behind Peculiar Pub Names John Ericson’s Digital Presentations Stimulating talks presented with style and humour..... A Lecture or a Day of Special Interest Inn Signia: The artwork and stories behind peculiar pub names Inns and public houses are a rich part of Britain’s heritage. Their signs provide us with an abundantly illustrated guide to both our history and our cultural heritage. Currently there are about 50,000 pubs in the UK with an extraordinary 17,000 different names but why are there so many pubs called the ‘Red Lion’, the ‘Crown’ or ‘White Hart’? In this colourful and entertaining lecture John shows some of the most interesting and distinctive signs and explores the fascinating stories behind the origins of some of their peculiar names. Who could fail to be intrigued by the stories behind the ‘Bucket of Blood’, the ‘Blazing Donkey’, the ‘Cow and Snuffers’ or even the ‘Eager Poet’ - and who on earth was ‘Blind Jack’? So let me enlighten - and introduce you and your members to some of the highlights of one of the biggest and most diverse art galleries in the country! Pub signs are functional art, they may not be ‘fine art’ but unquestionably they are art and invariably decorative! Very sadly, it must be obvious to even the most casual observer that we are losing our pubs at an alarming rate. According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph we are losing 12 pubs a week - that’s over 600 a year and a significant part of our cultural heritage and landscape. A final thought - if NADFAS can have ‘Church Recorders’, why not ‘Pub Recorders’, surely it would be a lot more fun! ‘There is nothing which has been yet contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn’ Samuel Johnson John Ericson 20A Merrifield Road, Salisbury SP4 6DF Tel: 01722 413370 Email: [email protected] www.entertainingspeaker.org.uk.
Recommended publications
  • The CAMRA Regional Inventory for London Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest Using the Regional Inventory
    C THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE The CAMRA Regional Inventory for London Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest Using the Regional Inventory The information The Regional Inventory listings are found on pages 13–47, where the entries are arranged alphabetically by postal districts and, within these, by pub names. The exceptions are outer London districts which are listed towards the end. Key Listed status Statutory listing: whether a pub building is statutorily listed or not is spelled out, together with the grade at which it is listed LPA Local planning authority: giving the name of the London borough responsible for local planning and listed building matters ✩ National Inventory: pubs which are also on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Pub interiors of Outstanding Historic Interest Public transport London is well served by public transport and few of the pubs listed are far from a bus stop, Underground or rail station. The choice is often considerable and users will have no di≤culty in easily reaching almost every pub with the aid of a street map and a transport guide. A few cautionary words The sole concern of this Regional Inventory is with the internal historic fabric of pubs – not with qualities like their atmosphere, friendliness or availability of real ale that are featured in other CAMRA pub guides. Many Regional Inventory pubs are rich in these qualities too, of course, and most of them, but by no means all, serve real ale. But inclusion in this booklet is for a pub’s physical attributes only, and is not to be construed as a recommendation in any other sense.
    [Show full text]
  • Beverley Pub Guide
    HISTORIC PUB GUIDE Molescroft Inn - Molescroft Road (Grade II listed) In 1557 there were 38 drinking establishments in 1 Previously: The Marquis of Wellington, The Battle of Trafalgar, The Grapes Beverley. Today, there are 29 – you can find them The Marquis of Wellington was recorded as a pub in Molescroft in 1754. It was renamed The Battle of Trafalgar in the early 19th century in recognition of Nelson’s great victory of 1805. During alterations in all in this brief guide to the pubs of the town. the early 1980s a small inglenook fireplace was discovered behind a cupboard – sadly the alterations meant the loss of some smaller rooms to create one large L-shaped room. The pub has been greatly enlarged and Practicalities dictated that inns and taverns were usually confined to the main encompasses former dwellings to the north. thoroughfares, such as around the Beck and the routes to and from the markets and the churches. Surviving buildings that were, or still are, used as public houses are therefore mostly situated around Beckside, Flemingate, Highgate, Toll Gavel The Rose & Crown - North Bar Without (Grade II listed) and the market squares. 2 Previously: The Bull This pub has been known as The Rose & Crown since at least 1800, Sadly very few do remain from the early periods, but notable exceptions are The although a feoffment (a property law) dated 1574 mentions a tenement called The Bull on this site. With many rooms and stabling, it was often Sun Inn, The White Horse, and The Lord Nelson, all built before 1700.
    [Show full text]
  • G R O U P N E W S CONTENTS Editorial
    NEWSLETTER 59 October 2008 G R O U P N E W S CONTENTS Editorial...............................................................................................................................................................................................................1 MEETING REPORTS...................................................................................................................................................................................1 BATH FOUNTAINS...............................................................................................................................................................................1 BATH PRISONS .......................................................................................................................................................................................2 AIRFIELDS AROUND BATH...........................................................................................................................................................3 LOST PUBS OF BATH..........................................................................................................................................................................3 SUNDIALS AROUND BATH ...........................................................................................................................................................4 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING....................................................................................................................................................5
    [Show full text]
  • Breweries Public House Breweries East Street Brewery at Kilham
    Breweries The once numerous local breweries in East Yorkshire have long since vanished, with only a few remaining. Two hundred years ago, in almost every village there was a common brewer, or brewing victualler, producing beer for local customers. At the beginning of the 18th century, the ‘brewing victualler’ made most of the beer sold. He bought malted barley locally and hops from travelling agents And produced enough beer for his customers, and maybe one or two other public houses. Later the title changed to the ‘common brewer’ when they were able by law to sell beer only to other publicans and private customers. The end of the 19th century saw the takeover of small breweries unable to compete with the larger ones. This led to ‘branches’ or agencies being used far away from the main home base, and the old site being used as a depot. The small brewer had virtually disappeared. Public House Breweries The breweries in public houses were small, with simple equipment. This was usually a one-quarter plant, designated in the traditional manner by the quantity of malted barley used in each brew. A five-quarter plant was able to mash five quarters (i.e. 5 x 28Ib) of malt per brew, producing 27 ¾ barrels (1 barrel = 36 imperial gallons) of bitter. The brewing skill was passed from generation to generation. Boys were apprenticed to other brewers or with their own kin. Brewing victuallers often combined other skills, as brewing was a seasonal activity. Robert Sanders of Leven was victualler, brewer, maltster, coal merchant, corn miller and vet at The New Inn.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Griffins, Lions, and Unicorns: Zymurgical Heraldry in Britain and Abroad
    Of Griffins, Lions, and Unicorns: Zymurgical Heraldry in Britain and Abroad by Lynn Pearson The histories of beer, brewing, and heraldry have many interconnections. Heraldic imagery concerned with beer and brewing is first seen in the medieval era and has continued to appear in literary, architectural, and artistic contexts right up to the present day, where it makes an important contribution to our visual culture. Beer-related architectural imagery also has a significant presence in the public realm, but despite this has generally passed unnoticed by researchers. The broad technical term for the heraldry of beer is zymurgical heraldry, from zymurgy, the branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation by yeast. Thus zymurgical heraldry is the heraldry of beer and brewing, although it can of course also refer to the heraldry of wine and vinification: some work on heraldic sources of wine bottle label imagery has recently been carried out in the USA (and its effectiveness is considered in Daniel McCabe’s essay in this volume).1 The term ‘zymurgical heraldry’ made its initial appearance in 2007, in a lecture given in New York which largely concentrated on beer-bottle label collecting (labology).2 The entry for zymurgical heraldry in the Oxford Companion to Beer (2012) promotes this interpretation and application.3 Along with work on inn signs and analysis of the arms of the Brewers’ Company, zymurgical heraldry has otherwise been little noticed. This is curious, since heraldic symbolism can be found throughout the brewing world, usually in the form of elements such as a supporter or crest, and sometimes a shield or motto, rather than a complete achievement.
    [Show full text]
  • The-Pub-Crawl-Ju
    ‘ Some I loved, others I went to.’ As quoted by George Blewitt. We have gathered together the names of a number of pubs (though we would like more – names that is) situated close to ‘THE STONE FRIGATES’ dotted around the UK. Some pubs have retained their original name, some have changed their names, sadly quite a few have closed down. Some of the places visited may have been courtesy of THE GREY FUNNEL LINE While every care has been taken to pinpoint places, accuracy cannot be guaranteed! First port of call... CORNWALL St Ives Helston Porthleven HELSTON Gunwalloe The Angel Falmouth The Beehive Torpoint The Bell Penzance Blue Anchor The Red Lion The Seven Stars ST IVES The Sloop The Sheaf of Wheat TORPOINT ST IVES PENZANCE Admiral Benbow HELSTON (Picture) PENZANCE TORPOINT The Turks Head FALMOUTH (Picture) PORTHLEVEN The Standard GUNWALLOE FALMOUTH GUNWALLOE PORTHLEVEN The Grapes Chain Locker The Ship Inn The Halzephron (Picture) The Atlantic (aka ‘The Frantic’) Harbour Inn (Picture) The Cornish Pubs Admiral Benbow, Penzance (2011) © Colin Brenchley Turks Head, Penzance (2011) © Colin Brenchley Harbour Inn, Porthleven (2011) © Colin Brenchley The Ship Inn, Porthleven (2011) © Colin Brenchley Heading along the coast to... DEVON The PLYMOUTH area The Prince of Wales Greyhound The Dolphin The Brown Bear The Ship The Commercial The Paramount - aka RNSOD Royal Naval School of Dancing C & D otherwise known as the Royal Arms Avondale (Picture) The Ark Royal The Keppel’s Head Earl Grey The Antelope The Camel’s Head PLYMOUTH Avondale Arms possibly 50/60s ©Trevor Miles Moving on to... DORSET Weymouth Portland WEYMOUTH The Long Bar WEYMOUTH The Gloucester The Steering Wheel PORTLAND Jersey Arms PORTLAND The Smugglers The Castle Continuing towards..
    [Show full text]
  • AWARD-WINNING No
    AWARD-WINNING No. 95 Autumn 2012 www.camrabristol.org.uk INTS WES Multi-award-winning magazine of the Bristol & District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale P (incorporating the Bath & Borders Branch) T PINTS WEST The fight to save your pint continues A open letter to Chloe Smith MP, economic secretary to the Treasury Dear Chloe Smith How many more pubs do you want to see close? I was prompted to ask escalator, you are forcing pubs to close. Your prime minister believes in the the question following your intervention in a debate in parliament this Big Society but such a society will wither on the vine if pubs, at the heart of month when MPs representing constituencies with breweries raised their their communities, go out of business. concerns about high levels of beer duty. Both your prime minster and home secretary have encouraged people to Andrew Griffi ths, the member for Burton and chairman of the Parlia- drink in pubs, where alcohol is consumed moderately and sensibly. But it’s mentary Beer Group, singled out the particular problem of the beer duty a hollow objective if pubs are driven out of business as a result of ruinous escalator, which automatically increases duty in the annual budget without levels of duty and VAT. recourse to parliament. Beer taxation is not “reasonable”, Miss Smith. on the contrary, it’s kill- Your reply was breathtaking. “The duty increase forms a vital part of ing the British pub. It’s time for a U-turn. the government’s plan to tackle the debt left by the previous government.
    [Show full text]
  • Medievalism in British and Irish Business Names Shaun Tyas
    Medievalism in British and Irish Business Names Shaun Tyas Introduction ‘Medievalism’ is the cultural movement concerning the reception of the Middle Ages in post-medieval times.1 It is a fascinating subject to study, covering not only the history of scholarship, but also the Gothic Revival in architecture, the Arts & Crafts movement, historical novels,2 operas3 and films.4 Like Orientalism, Classicalism and Biblicalism, it affects names. The subject concerns fashions which involve the self-conscious copy- ing of the medieval, rather than traditions that continue from the Middle Ages, such as ‘heraldic’ pub names or the design of coinage. As a social movement, it even has a dated origin, with the 1760 publication of Ossian and the appearance in 1764 of the first Gothic novel, Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto.5 The latter was called ‘Gothic’ because it was ‘Not Roman’, but soon the phrase denoted a horror novel, and writers like Walter Scott were producing better-researched works called 1 The subject now has a large bibliography, including a regular volume of essays, Studies in Medievalism, published by Boydell and Brewer. A recent book which emphasises the literary tradition is M. Alexander’s Medievalism. The Middle Ages in Modern England (London, 2007). 2 The phrase ‘historical novel’ is, however, much earlier: there is an example from 1700. See S. Tyas, ‘Historical novels and medieval lives’, Recording Medieval Lives. Proceedings of the 2005 Harlaxton Symposium, edited by J. Boffey and V. Davis (Donington, 2009), pp. 273–99. 3 The only work I know examining medievalism in music is King Arthur in Music, edited by R.
    [Show full text]
  • West London Pub Guide
    West London Pub Guide A comprehensive guide to over 1300 pubs in the London WC, W and Middlesex areas Copyright CAMRA 2005 0 1 CONTENTS FOREWORD Foreword ............................................................................................................... 3 What you seek when you travel… Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4 …don’t you want it at home, too? How to use this guide ........................................................................................... 5 By Michael Jackson What is real ale? ................................................................................................... 8 My job is to travel the world in search of good beer. I can strongly recommend What is CAMRA? .................................................................................................. 8 the smoked beer at Ceveceria Artesanal, a brewpub in El Bolsón, Patagonia, for example. Or the spicy-tasting Okhotsk Ale from one in Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan. West London’s pub heritage ............................................................................... 10 It is, as the song says, so nice to go travelling, but oh, so nice to come home. My first stop when I do return is my local, The Andover Arms, in Hammer- Pubs ain’t what they used to be .......................................................................... 11 smith, London. I may have flown into London sleepless from some distant bar, but I can’t wait to get my tasting gear round
    [Show full text]
  • Some Ideas for Pub Names
    Aherne's Donohue Lynch Fitzpatrick's Sheridan's Altamont Gardens Doyle's M.J. Byrne's Skibbereen Ambrose Dromahair M. O'Brien Slasher O'Reilly Magillicuddy's Duckett's Grove MacCarthy Mór Slattery's An Casur Duffy's MacDonagh's Slievenamon An Cruiscín Lán Dunphy's MacCarthy's Smuggler's Coast An Currach Dún na nór Macgillycuddy's St. Brendan's Anderson Durty Nellie's Reeks St. Patrick's Purgatory Auld Dubliner Dwyer's Macroom Inn Stag's Head Baggott Inn Dysert O'Dea MacSorley's Sweet Rosie O'Grady Ballybunnion Eyre Square Madden's T. Nolan's Ballygoan Fahy's Madigan's Tara's Hall Barney Brannigan's Fallon's Maguire's Templogue Inn Barry's Farrell's Maguire's Lunchbox The Bailey Béal Bocht Farrelly's Mahon's The Bankers Beenbawn Strand Feehan Mahony's The Banshee Beirne's Fields of Athenry Malones' The Bishop's Collar Biddy Mulligan's Finan's Marble City Bar The Black Raven Billy Kelly Finn McCool's Martin B. Slattery The Blackwater Black Velvet Band Finnegan's Mary Kate's The Bodhrán Bleeding Horse Flann O'Brien's Master McGrath The Borstal Boy Boar's Head Flynn's McDaid's The Brazen Head Bohan's Fogarty's McNamara's Band The Brown Bull Brady's Foggy Dew Merchant's Museum The Burren Branagan's Foley's Merchant's Quay The Cardy Marina Brendan the Four Green Fields Michael Davitt's The Claddagh House Navigator Gaffney's Mitchell's The Cliffs of Moher Brennan's Gallagher's Mitchelstown Cave The Clonakilty Brian Ború Galley Head Moll's Gap The Coachman's Briody's Gap of Dungloe Molloy's The Coffin Ship Broderick's George Berkeley Molly Bloom's
    [Show full text]
  • Internal Memorandum
    Good Beer Guide 2021 Style Sheet Nov 2019 This document contains the style guidelines for the 2021 edition of the Good Beer Guide. Please note that this is for the copy editors of the Guide but distributed to branches for information. Some of this information pertains to the AMA editorial system, which is only used by the copy editors. Contact Details and Directions Pub names should be grammatically correct (even if publicans think differently), so use an apostrophe in names such as King’s Arms, Queen’s Head. Where there is some doubt, eg Brewers Arms (was there one or two brewers?), it is OK to omit the apostrophe Remove ‘The’, ‘Ye’, ‘Yr, ‘Y’, ‘Le’, ‘La’ or ‘Les’ before pub names and replace ‘and’ with ‘&’ No comma after house number in address line Check for stray spaces after each part of the postcode Directions to start lower case In directions abbreviate junction to jct. An example of style would be ‘M4 jct 6’ (space between words) Use opp (for opposite) in the directions but not in written text Distances – use imperial measurements. In directions use, for example, 200yds (closed up) S of station, but, if in body copy, write in full, eg the pub is just 100 yards from the bus stop. Convert kilometres to miles (round up or down to nearest half mile), but just exchange metres for yards Do not leave a space in OS references between letters and numbers. No OS reference should begin with ‘OS’ Opening hours These are to be listed for the hours the pub is open and not the time alcohol is available.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book Bisley Bits; Or, Records of a Surrey Corner. Ebook Free Download
    BISLEY BITS; OR, RECORDS OF A SURREY CORNER. PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Joseph Cater | 144 pages | 24 Mar 2011 | British Library, Historical Print Editions | 9781241325657 | English | Charleston SC, United States Bisley Bits; Or, Records of a Surrey Corner. PDF Book Lps vinyl records Horley, Surrey. The nearest railway station is at Brookwood , on the South Western main line. Surrey, with the filtering effect of its sandy and chalky soils, possesses a number of limpid wells and streams, to which history and legend ascribe great reverence and astounding remedial properties. Its waters were used for local baptisms until the early 20th century. Bray, History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey , vol. This page has been viewed 4, times 53 via redirect 0 watching users Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted. Dunsfold, the Holy Well of St. Main article: National Shooting Centre. St John the Baptist Church. Banstead Village 2 pubs , Woodmansterne 1 pub. Mary the Virgin. In this pool, the story recalls, a beautiful peasant maiden, just budding into womanhood, used daily to take a bathe in the deep clear water, isolated in the depth of a thicket of box trees, which almost arch above its peaceful waters. Burning the Books. Tradition has it that the Blessed Virgin has disclosed herself at times to those who sought relief at the well [ 10 ]. Big love movie theme. By continuing to browse the site you accept our Cookie Policy, you can change your settings at any time. Bagshot Camberley Frimley. The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of Probate Courts.
    [Show full text]