46 OLD INN'S OF WIMBORNF. 



Borough was a separate manor incorporated with that of 

 Kingston Lacy and separate from the Manor of the Town, 

 which formerly belonged to the Deans, and now does to the 

 owners of Dean's Court. In this large area there is only one 

 inn, a great contrast to the large number in the town proper. 

 In the middle of the west side of the East Borough stands an 

 uninteresting modern inn, with the equally uninteresting name, 

 to wit 



" THE SMITH'S ARMS." 



The " Smith's Arms" was erected in 1864, on the site of an 

 old thatched inn which was destroyed by fire and bore the 

 sign of the " Silent Woman." This title is considered by some 

 authorities to be derived from the Headless or Heedless virgin 

 or woman.* The old signboard of this inn, like many others 

 of the same title, bore the picture of a female form without a 

 head. This inn, being the only one in the Borough, was 

 naturally the centre of the affairs thereof, and we find that as 

 late as October, 1886, the Court Leet of the Borough was held 

 there with its accustomed business of election of Jury, Bailiffs, 

 Aletasters and Hayward the presentation of non-attendants, 

 owners of pigs that strayed in the Borough without ring or 

 yoke, and offenders who deposited rubbish on the highway. The 

 inaccessibility of the records of this manor prevents the tracing 

 back of this inn's history, which is doubtless of considerable 

 antiquity. It is worth recording here that while Hutchins traces 

 the history of 'the Borough of Wimborne to the beginning of 

 the 15th Century, there are several deeds of property in the 

 Minster archives which mention the Borough as far back as 

 1273 and subsequent years. 



*The Sign of a headless man, or woman, bearing to-day such 

 designations as ''The honest lawyer," or a The silent woman," were 

 originally pictures of saints, such as St. Denys (represented in art as a 

 bishop, holding his head in his hands), or St. Noyala, of Brittany, or the 

 Cornish saint, St. Jutwara, whose body was translated to Sherborne Abbey 

 about 700 A.D. Is there not still the inn sign " Ye Quiet Woman " at 

 Halstock ? EDITOR. 



