Comments on: William West’s Tavern Anecdotes

By: Kitanz

Kitanz — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 05:03:09 +0000

I LOVE these kind of pictures. they are Amazing! Thank You So Very Much!

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 15:10:15 +0000

I love these – is there a digital copy of the book that’s freely available?

By: W. H. Amos

W. H. Amos — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 10:50:58 +0000

Of these pubs I suspect only the Tanner of Joppa (Simon the Tanner) on Long Lane is still standing under (almost) the same name.

The London Apprentice is still there but under a different name. The World turned upside down, which local memory was named after the experiences of the Civil War, is now a Dominoes Pizza. It survived until fairly recently.

Another source for the name of the pub could could be as follows

“The oldest of the inns in the Old Kent Road, perhaps, is one near the Bricklayers’ Arms Station, which rejoices in the somewhat singular sign of “The World Turned Upside Down.” The house is supposed to be upwards of two hundred years old, and down to about 1840 its sign-board represented a man walking at the South Pole. It may have been first set up after the discovery of Australia, Van Diemen’s Land, or Terra del Fuego; but Mr. Larwood, in his work on “Sign-boards,” interprets it as “meaning a state of things the opposite of what is natural and usual: a conceit in which,” he adds, “the artists of former ages took great delight, and which they represented by animals chasing men, horses riding in carriages, and similar conceits and pleasantries.” The old sign-board was blown down many years ago; and in 1868 the house itself was in great part rebuilt and wholly new-fronted.”

‘The Old Kent Road’, Old and New London: Volume 6 (1878), pp. 248-255

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:45:01 +0000

There is an identical story about moon rakers 200 miles from Wiltshire in the village of Slaithwaite (pronounced Slough-it or Slathwit but never Slaithwaite) near Huddersfield. The only difference was it was barrels of rum hidden in the canal). There is a biennial festival where a moon lantern is floated on a raft, fished out and then carried around the village.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/everything-you-need-know-slaithwaite-12551388

But the neighbouring village of Marsden has a story attached to it that suggests they were quite dim (only neighbours can be so derisory). People from Marsden are called Marsden Cuckoos. The story goes as follows: Many years ago the people of Marsden were aware that when the cuckoo arrived, so did the Spring and sunshine. They tried to keep Spring forever, by building a tower around the Cuckoo. Unfortunately, as the last stones were about to be laid, away flew the cuckoo. If only they’d built the tower one layer higher. As the legend says, it “were nobbut just wun course too low.”

Naturally there is a Marsden Cuckoo festival but, as far as I’m aware, there is no pub sign that commemorates this story.

http://www.marsden.org.uk/events/