The Trade Signs of Essex: A popular account of the origin and meanings of the public houses & other signs — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Trade Signs of Essex: A popular account of the origin and meanings of the public houses & other signs
John Stuart Mill · en
“In 1424 [when Chelmsford Church was largely built] John De Vere,
12th Earl of Oxford, was at the head of that family, having
succeeded to the title in 1415. From his known adherence to the
House of Lancaster, he may be presumed to have been a person of
some importance, and as a consequence in constant communication
with the Court. Undoubtedly, therefore, he would journey to and
from Hedingham Castle, his baronial seat, to London, many times in
the course of the year; and as it would appear that the old
hostelry, known as the Black Boy, in this town, belonged to the De
Vere family, it is a very fair presumption that Chelmsford was not
only a halting-place for the Earl and his retainers upon the
occasion of their journeys, but probably used as an occasional
residence; and as he lived in almost royal state, his comings to
and fro would be a matter of as much importance to the then
townsfolk as a visit of the sovereign in the present day.... We can
readily believe that so powerful and wealthy a man would be the
first applied to for aid. That he did assist, is proved by the fact
of his shield, charged with the mullet, being carved in the
spandrel of the west door of the tower; and his crest, the boar,
being introduced in the apex of the arch of the same door; this
latter corresponds with the carved boar which formed part of the
ceiling of an apartment in the old Black Boy [see p. 71]. For five
centuries did this mighty family rule it most royally over many
parts of the country, their riches being immense, and their power
and influence being second only to the sovereign; and yet now a
cubic foot of stone in our parish church, and a cubic foot of oak
deposited in our museum, are all that remain in this town to remind
us of the De Veres.”
A good view of this famous old inn is given in Ryland’s view of
Chelmsford High Street, engraved in 1762, and reproduced as the
frontispiece of this volume. From it, in all probability, our six other
Essex Black Boys have taken their name, as the sign is unusually common
in the county. It stood at the corner of Springfield Lane and the High
Street. The _Ipswich Express_, in speaking of the closing of this
ancient house, which, as it remarked, had been “for centuries one of the
oldest inns on the road,” remarked as follows:--