David Hughson, in his work on _London_ (vol. ii. p. 339), says of this house, that in 1805 it was a good specimen of the old style of house, “consisting of three sides, sometimes of four, with an entrance by a square aperture in the front, into the quadrangle.... It is the manor-house of the manor of Theobalds, and was formerly the residence of a natural son of Henry VIII., whom he created Earl of Richmond.” In the parish register of Waltham Holy Cross, or Waltham Abbey, there is the following entry: “Julii, 1612, Margarett, the daughter of Edward Scarlett of Cestrehunt, was buried 26 daye, dwelling at the signe of Ye Old Swanne in Waltham Cross.” In days gone by this inn was a well-known posting-house, and more recently it numbered Charles Lamb among its patrons. The SWAN WITH TWO NECKS was formerly the sign of a private house in Head Street, Colchester, once occupied by Miles Gray, the celebrated bell-founder. In his day he was quite the head of his craft. Bells founded either by him or his son and successor Miles, who died in 1686, are still found in many belfries throughout Essex. In his will, dated May 17, 1649,[74] he bequeaths unto his wife Dorothy all the “rents, issues, p’fits, cominge, growinge, and arisinge out of the east end of the capitall messuage or tenement, lately burned downe, scituate and beinge below Head Gate, in Colchester aforesayd, commonly called or knowne by the name of the Swann w^{th} two Neckes,” &c. It is commonly supposed that the word “necks” has been corrupted from “nicks,” swans having formerly been marked by nicks or notches on the bill. The Rev. Stephen Weston, in the _Archæologia_ for 1812, states that the king’s swans were formerly marked by _two nicks_, as shown in the two illustrations given below, which represent the royal swan-marks of Henry VIII. and Edward IV. respectively. These, he says, were not afterwards understood, and the double-headed two-necked swan was invented. Larwood and Hotten, however, doubt this derivation, chiefly because the nicks would have been so small when represented on the sign-board as to be of no practical use as a distinctive sign. [Illustration: SWAN BILLS WITH TWO NICKS. (_After Yarrell._)] [Illustration: SWAN WITH TWO NECKS. (_After Larwood and Hotten._)]