In more illiterate times tradesmen advertised their business by hanging a sign outside their premises. Most of these have long fallen out of use, though the barber’s pole and the three balls of the pawnbroker continue to be used. Pubs are perhaps the best examples of these signs in the modern era. Along with their distinctive names hanging signs enable identification and differentiation.
Inn signs can be traced to Roman times when Tabernae would hang vine leaves outside to show they sold wine. Early pubs hung long poles or stakes which might have been used to stir the ale, while bushes were used in lieu of vine leaves to show if they sold wine.[1] Signs denoting the business of the pub, inn and tavern have continued to be popular, such as the Three Tuns, the Flask and the Tankard. Publicans were ordered to display signs from the fourteenth century. The removal a licence was accompanied by the pulling down of the sign.[2]
The Cross Keys, Tebay, Westmorland
Many pub names are centuries old, remaining popular and used by new premises established in modern times. Names of old establishments have often changed over time. Both through deliberate renaming but also through misunderstanding and local dialect. The Ship Inn may once have been the Sheep Inn, for example.
Often names were taken from local landowners. Regularly taking not just the name but a crest or badge. In the Peak District the family at Haddon Hall are commemorated through names such as the Duke of Rutland, Marquis of Granby and the Peacock. Numerous pubs in Sheffield have borne the name the Duke of Norfolk. The Lord John Russell in London’s Bloomsbury signifies the historic landowning of this area of the Russell family.
Names relating to the monarch such as the King’s Arms or the Queen’s Head may signify a crown estate, or simply loyalty to the monarch. The White Hart was the emblem of Richard II who first decreed for pubs and inns to have a sign, while the Red Lion comes from the heraldic lion of Scotland which King James VI and I decreed be displayed on buildings of importance.[3]
The Eagle and Child, Oxford
Prominent figures may often have given their names to pubs, regardless of local connection. Military figures are especially popular such as the Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. Such names may indicate when a pub was built, or renamed.
Many pubs carry the names of work and occupations. For example, the Bricklayer’s Arms, the Plough or the Woolpack. Others may bear names related to travel such as the Coach and Horses, or pastimes such as the Cricketers.
Local myths and legends can influence the name of inns and pubs. For example, Robin Hood, William Wallace, the Highwayman and the Green Man.
The names of historic establishments might tell the researcher about the local area. The historic names of inns, pubs and taverns now changed or lost can be researched through trade directories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
References and Resources:
Information for this post was taken from the excellent David Hey (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History (1996), 235-6.
Barrie Cox, English Inn and Tavern Names (1994)
Ben Johnson, Pub Signs of Britain, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pub-Signs-of-Britain/
Pub sign history, https://nationalbreweryheritagetrust.co.uk/2024/11/26/pub-sign-history/
‘The English Urban Inn’ in Alan Everitt, Landscape and Community in England (1985)
Peter Clark, The English alehouse : a social history, 1200-1830 (1983)
Leah Hampton, ‘Drinking with Shakespeare: Early Modern Tavern Tokens’, https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/early-modern-tavern-tokens/
[1] Ben Johnson, Pub Signs of Britain, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pub-Signs-of-Britain/
[2] Pub sign history, https://nationalbreweryheritagetrust.co.uk/2024/11/26/pub-sign-history/
[3] Ben Johnson, Pub Signs of Britain, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pub-Signs-of-Britain/
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Hello and thank you. I would have recommended that the starting point might have been to define what a 'pub' was and why they came into existence. But, I appreciate that space is limited and I'm a bit late now anyway... :)
Thanks for this. There are also pub names with religious significance such as the Lamb and Flag and The Cross Keys, as well as ones with Bishop or Monk in the name.