On the high road between Braintree and Chelmsford, and in the parish of Great Leighs, stands an inn with the strange sign of the ST. ANN’S CASTLE. On the map of the road between Chelmsford and Bury, given in Ogilby’s _Itinerarium Angliæ_, published in 1675, the words “St. Ann’s” appear against a house beside the high road at Leighs and on the site of the present inn. It appears from this that the word “Castle” is a modern addition to the name, perhaps connected with the adjacent ruins of Leighs Priory. The house is, however, marked as the ST. ANN’S CASTLE on Greenwood’s map of Essex, published as long ago as 1824. In White’s _Gazetteer of Essex_ it is stated that there formerly stood upon the spot a hermitage, known as St. Ann’s, “where pilgrims rested on their way to and from the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket. At the Dissolution, in 1571, it was given to Thos. Jennings, and its site is now occupied by an inn, called the St. Ann’s Castle, and said to be the oldest licensed public-house in England.” Morant says of it in 1768, “‘Tis now converted into an ale-house.” Probably it had become an inn much earlier, for Taylor, in 1636, mentions one Will. Chandler as being a keeper of “innes at Plashie and St. Annes.” According to G. W. Johnson’s _History of Great Totham_, it is stated that a hill at that place “seems to have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary, for at its base is a small public-house known now [1831], and as far back as memory can go, as the VIRGIN’S TAVERN.” The sign is not now in existence. In speaking of the LAME DOG, which does not occur as a sign in this county, Larwood and Hotten say that it is sometimes accompanied by the following couplet: “Stop, my friends, and stay awhile To help the lame dog over the style.” They continue (p. 450): “Sometimes, as at Bulmer, Essex, we see a somewhat similar idea expressed by a MAN STRUGGLING through a globe--head and arms protruding on one side, his legs on the other--with the inscription, ‘Help me through this world.’” This sign is not now to be seen at Bulmer. A HAND occurs on the halfpenny token issued by Lawrence Brown, junior, of Wickham, in 1669; a HAND AND GLOVE on that of Henry Cordall of Chelmsford in 1658; a HAND AND PEN on that of Samuel Cox of Coggeshall; and a HAND AND BALL on that of “D. G.” issued at “The Hand and Bowle in Barking” in 1650. In 1675, a house of some kind displayed the sign of the CROSS AND HAND at Marks Tey (see p. 163). Although the hand does not now appear, either singly or in combination, on any Essex sign-board, it is not uncommon in other counties. Its use is attributable to the fact that early sign-painters often represented it issuing out of a cloud to perform some action or support some object. This brings to a close the list of human signs now occurring in the county of Essex. [Illustration] CHAPTER VIII. _NAUTICAL SIGNS._