2^ S. X JQLY 14. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



35 



" Board " would probably be synonymous with 

 Chequers. 



I will not encroach on the space of " N. & Q." 

 by giving meanings to the signs in other counties, 

 but leave them for correspondents in their own 

 localities. There are, however, one or two I may 

 remark upon. 



" Red Streak Tree." The " red-streak " is one 

 variety of apple bearing a favourite and well- 

 flavoured fruit. Herefordshire being a cider 

 county, this is a very appropriate sign. 



" Ileanor Boat." Heanor in Derbyshire is a 

 market-town in tlie midst of, and principally 

 supported by, the coal-field of that county, and 

 the " Heanor Boat " would be a canal boat by 

 which the coal was conveyed to Leicester and 

 other places. 



" Loggerheads." This sign is not very uncom- 

 mon. It was formerly drawn as two ugly heads 

 facing each other, and the inscription beneath 

 " We be Loggerheads three," meaning the two 

 people represented and the one looking at and 

 reading it ! There was formerly a sign- of this 

 kind in Derby. 



" Cock and Magpie." The celebrated " Revo- 

 lution House " at Whittington in this county, in 

 which the bringing over of William IIL was con- 

 cocted, was called the " Cock and Pynot," pynot 

 being the provincial name for magpie. The old 

 cottage has recently been pulled down, but the 

 public-house adjoining still bears this name, " Cock 

 and Magpie." 



" Quiet Woman." This I apprehend would be 

 the same as the " Silent Woman," an old painted 

 sign which I recollect in Derby when I was a 

 boy. It represented, most ungallantly, a woman 

 with her head off, and implied that no woman 

 could be quiet or silent " so long as she had a head 

 on her shoulders ! " Llewblltnn Jewitt, F.S.A. 



Derby. 



"Hunloke" at Chesterfield. The family of 

 Hunloke is or was one of the great families in the 

 neighbourhood, Wingerworth Hall, about three 

 miles from Chesterfield, having been purchased in 

 the reign of Henry VIII. by Nicholas Hunloke. 

 Sir Henry Hunloke, the sixth baronet, succeeded 

 to it in 1816. Arms: "Azure a fesse between 

 three tigers' heads erased, or." 



The "Clock Wheel" at Barlbro' was probably 

 adopted by a clockmaker; unless it be, what I 

 have always taken it to be, St. Catherine's wheel. 



The " Lover's Leap." The rOcks at Stoney Mid- 

 dleton would be just the place to give rise to some 

 legend connected with the suicidal leap of a de- 

 spairing lover. Such legends are current in 

 various parts of the kingdom. In the Gazetteer 

 of Derbyshire by Samuel Bagshaw, 1846, p. 509., 

 the legend is given in full, how a love-stricken 

 maiden, Baddeley by name, threw herself from one 



of these rocks in 1760, and, strange to say, survi- 

 ved the operation, and as may be supposed was 

 completely cured of her hopeless passion. 



The " Red Streak Tree ' is a most appropriate 

 sign in a cider county such as Herefordshire, and 

 needs no explanation, unless your readers are not 

 jiware of the existence of the "red-streak " apple. 



" Swan and Rushes " needs no explanation ; the 

 " Swan" is a common sign enough, the "rushes" 

 or " flags " introduced as a finish to the picture. 



The " Crooked Billet " is explained in Hone's 

 Table Book, i. 672., as having arisen from the 

 landlord of a small ale-house on Penge Common 

 having availed himself of one of the large trees 

 then before the door to hang upon one of its 

 lowest branches a crooked billet, which he set up 

 instead of a sign. 



" Letter A." Corresponding to this there is in 

 Paradise Square, Sheffield, the sign of " Q in the 

 Corner." 



The " Four Crosses " in Stafford may be taken 

 from the arms of the See of Lichfield. 



The " Eagle and Serpent " is probably the cog- 

 nizance of some noble family. 



The "Mouth of the Nile" was probably first 

 set up at the time of the battle of the Nile. 



See also P' Series passim, but especially vol. ix. 



J. Eastwood. 



Your correspondent might find in almost every 

 county a variety of tavern signs the meaning of 

 which it is difficult to discover, and I would in- 

 stance a noted hostelry, the " Stewponey," on the 

 borders of the county of Stafford, and near Stour- 

 bridge in Worcestershire, whose singular name 

 has puzzled all local antiquaries. 



Some named by your correspondent are not 

 diflicult of solution, as the " Hunloke " Inn. 

 " Cross Daggers " may, like " Cross Foxes," the 

 arms of Sir Watkin Wynne, a common sign in 

 Wales, represent some local family. 



" Hundred House " represents the place where 

 the business of the Hundred was carried on : as in 

 the Worcestershire Hundred of Doadingtree it 

 still is at an inn with that sign. 



" Ruperra Arms," Newport, from a seat of 

 Lord Tredegar's of that name; and " Red Streak 

 Tree" in Herefordshire, cider districts, is obvious. 



T. E. WiNNINGTON. 



I hope to be able to throw a little ligtt on some 

 of the country tavern signs mentioned by your 

 correspondent. 



"Bishop Blaize" was Blasius, bishop and mar- 

 tyr, A.D. 316. He was the patron saint of wool- 

 combers, and this inn may have been originally 

 patronised by this craft. 



"Bay Childers," and lower down "Filho da 

 Puta," were both celebrated race-horses. We also 

 find the sign of " Bay Malton." 



