| Some
ten years ago, the landlord of the Bell, Horndon-on-the-Hill,
hung a garland outside his Inn to commemorate its
four hundredth anniversary as licensed premises.
This simple ceremony carried us back through the
centuries to the time before the first licensing
act was passed in the reign of Edward VI. In
those days if you felt like selling ale, all you
had to do was to display a bush out side your
house. The custom was an ancient one dating back
to the Romans, who employed the method to
distinguish their “tabernae”. A well
known proverb fossilizes the practice. The inn-sign proper evolved gradually and, one might say, accidentally. When the burden of dispensing hospitality became too great for the religious establishments, the overflow of pilgrims and the tradesmen, whose numbers increased so rapidly in the 14th century, had to look elsewhere for accommodation. This was provided by extra hostels built by the religious bodies, and also by various members of the aristocracy, from the King downwards, who, ever-ready to acquire new sources of income, permitted their bailiffs to use their mansions to cater for the travellers. Not unnaturally, these hostels became known by some distinctive charge of the owner's arms - a white lion, a blue boar, etc. - which were usually displayed above the gates, and the religious hostels by some biblical symbol, such as an Angel or Crosskeys. |
 |
 |
The
habit spread and soon hostels, whether they
belonged to King, Lord, Monastery or not,
displayed some easily recognizable sign. Indeed,
so complicated and unsystematic did the practice
become that, at this distance it is extremely
difficult to determine the origin of some of the
signs. For instance, a Crown Inn might have had
royal connections or merely have been built on
Crown land. Again, a display of arms on an inn
might indicate that the premises were formerly
"my lords'", or merely that the
landlord adopted the sign in a burst of local
patriotism. It so happens that in our Thameside area the highest symbol in the land is borne by the most elevated inn - in the physical sense, of course. The Crown, Langdon Hill, stands near the spot where once stood Arthur Young when he gave vent to that remarkable outburst regarding the view *. The actual sign is unique for the district, being a gilded crown standing in relief on the facade of the building. Crowns and other symbols of Royalty have always been popular as inn-signs. After the Restoration, more than one wit observed that although the King’s Head might be empty, the King's Arms were always full! Grays, Stanford-le-Hope and Tilbury have their King's Heads and there is a Queen's in Grays, although we are not sure what part of her anatomy is suggested. The Royal Hotel in Purfleet, started life in humbler circumstances. When the great chalk quarries in the neighbourhood were being worked and the customers were the workmen, it was simply the Bricklayers' Arms, but when the London actors, actresses, politicians and others discovered it and made it a weekend rendezvous, then the more dignified title was assumed. The older name illustrates another feature of inn-signs. Landlords bestowed arms on all and sundry, whether or not they were entitled to bear them. What the College of Heralds thought of this practice is unrecorded. |
