310 The Tavern Signs of Wiltshire and their Origin 
the Suffolk Arms, at Malmesbury: and not only in regard to noble 
lords, but in like manner we have the Longs Arms, at Steeple 
Ashton, Keevil and Wraxall; the Wyndham Arms, at Dinton; the 
Goddard Arms, at Swindon and Clyffe Pypard; the Penruddocke 
Arms, at Barford St. Martin; the PAipps Arms, at Westbury; the 
Benett Arms, at Tisbury; and a host of others, which I might 
mention; all pointing to the great Wiltshire families which flourished 
when those several inns were established, and (I am happy to say) 
still flourish in all the instances I have enumerated, and in many 
similar cases too, in their respective localities. Indeed these are but 
samples of many other equally honoured Wiltshire worthies, whose 
several coats of arms, adopted by the landlord of the principal hos- 
telry in the place, attest the position and influence of the lord of 
the manor, or squire of the district; and I venture to say that if 
the aggregate area of the combined domains of these large landed 
proprietors, whose arms still decorate our sign-boards, could be 
reckoned, it would be found that a very considerable portion of our 
county was still in their hands: while of some few which, in the 
vicissitudes of families, have dwindled and decayed, the coat of 
arms, swinging over the village inn, alone remains, a melancholy 
memorial of a bygone greatness. 
I find that, scattered over the length and breadth of our county, 
no less than fifty-six sign-boards attest such manorial influence of 
the landed proprietors, with whose coats of arms they are severally 
charged, and who are thus readily identified. Sometimes, however, 
a portion only of such coat of arms survives, the remainder having 
completely vanished ; as an instance of which I would mention the 
well-known “ Cats,’? at Charlton, on the Devizes and Andover road, 
the said “cats” being the rustic and-more familiar designation of 
the two leopards which supported the arms of the Poore family, 
once the chief landowners in that district. 
But who shall count the number of sign-boards which exhibit the 
crest or cognizance of old Wiltshire families, which are oftentimes 
difficult to trace, and frequently derive their origin from a period of 
which (so far at least as local tradition goes) the records are scanty, 
or obscure, or non-existent. By way of example of such coats or 
