THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR The Portsmouth Road, and its Tributaries: To-day and in Days of Old. The Dover Road: Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. The Bath Road: History, Fashion, and Frivolity on an Old Highway. The Exeter Road: The Story of the West of England Highway. The Great North Road: The Old Mail Road to Scotland. Two Vols. The Norwich Road: An East Anglian Highway. The Holyhead Road: The Mail-Coach Road to Dublin. Two Vols. The Cambridge, Ely, and King’s Lynn Road: The Great Fenland Highway. The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford, and Cromer Road: Sport and History on an East Anglian Turnpike. The Oxford, Gloucester, and Milford Haven Road: The Ready Way to South Wales. Two Vols. The Brighton Road: Speed, Sport, and History on the Classic Highway. The Hastings Road and the “Happy Springs of Tunbridge.” Cycle Rides Round London. A Practical Handbook of Drawing for Modern Methods of Reproduction. Stage-Coach and Mail in Days of Yore. Two Vols. The Ingoldsby Country: Literary Landmarks of “The Ingoldsby Legends.” The Hardy Country: Literary Landmarks of the Wessex Novels. The Dorset Coast. The South Devon Coast. [_In the Press._ [Illustration: A MUG OF CIDER: THE “WHITE HART” INN, CASTLE COMBE. _Photo by Graystone Bird._] THE OLD INNS OF OLD ENGLAND _A PICTURESQUE ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT AND STORIED HOSTELRIES OF OUR OWN COUNTRY_ VOL. II BY CHARLES G. HARPER [Illustration] _Illustrated chiefly by the Author, and from Prints and Photographs_ LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED 1906 _All rights reserved_ PRINTED AND BOUND BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A POSY OF OLD INNS 1 II. THE OLD INNS OF CHESHIRE 58 III. INNS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS 79 IV. INNS WITH RELICS AND CURIOSITIES 109 V. TAVERN RHYMES AND INSCRIPTIONS 130 VI. THE HIGHEST INNS IN ENGLAND 144 VII. GALLOWS SIGNS 150 VIII. SIGNS PAINTED BY ARTISTS 161 IX. QUEER SIGNS IN QUAINT PLACES 184 X. RURAL INNS 210 XI. THE EVOLUTION OF A COUNTRY INN 235 XII. INGLE-NOOKS 240 XIII. INNKEEPERS’ EPITAPHS 245 XIV. INNS WITH ODD PRIVILEGES 255 XV. INNS IN LITERATURE 261 XVI. VISITORS’ BOOKS 291 [Illustration: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS] SEPARATE PLATES A MUG OF CIDER: THE “WHITE HART” INN, CASTLE COMBE. (_Photo by Graystone Bird_) _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE