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Rattlebones Inn & Other Pub Names

rynner2

rynner2

Gone But Not Forgotten
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This pub has received a lot of publicity recently (I forget exactly why...)

I consider myself a minor expert on English pub names, but this was a delightful new surprise to me.

There must be lots of fascinating pub names out there -

One from Cornwall is the Bucket of Blood, near Hayle. Supposedly someone was murdered and put down a nearby well, and when the next bucket was drawn... well, you get the picture!

Any more good names and stories?
 
The classic work on old Inns is "Inns, Ales & Drinking
Customs of Old England" by Frederick J. Hackwood.

It seems to date from around the First World War but
is often encountered in cheap modern and undated
reprints.

When time allows, I will unearth some gems from it.

For now, the page just falls open on the Inn Sign of the
"Good or Quiet Woman" sign from Widford, Essex. She
is depicted as having no head! :eek:

A splendid theme for a thread, Rynner. ;)
 
mr chopper said:
Slightly off the plot, there is a labour agency near me with the very same name, wasn't it the pub where little prince harry got *issed up?
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Yeah, according to the article I read it was the Rattlebone Inn near Sherston........that's probably why there's all the publicity around it now.....
 
We have a pub in Kent called The Flying Saucer. I can't remember precisely where it is, but I'll find out and get back to you.
 
...There's also the 'Flying Pot' in Hempstead Valley which has a picture of a Concorde balancing a pint on it's wings (pre-last year's disaster I think !) on the sign..
 
Who could forget about 'The Little Ale'ien' (spelling?) in Roswell?
 
One of my favourite haunts when drinking in Bradford is the aptly named "Idle Cock", (in Idle!:D).
 
... and as for 'The Fanny on the Hill' in Welling, Kent - I'd love to know the story behind that one !!

Curiously the pub does not have the usual type on name sign with a picture, just a plain board saying 'Fanny on the Hill' - I wonder why...... ? :confused:
 
There's a Pub called 'The Gay Dog' round here (Which also has a v. attractive barmaid :blah: ) and also a 'Ducks don't Float' (Ducks alllegedly have extreamly long legs and stand on the bottom)
You're right Art/Mr Chopper, its where Harry was getting p*ssed. Wasn't all he got up to though, look HERE
 
Hermes said:
We have a pub in Kent called The Flying Saucer. I can't remember precisely where it is, but I'll find out and get back to you.
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Do we? Where's this then? Great thread - anyone else got any local gems?
 
There's a pub in Greenwich called the Frog and Radiator. I always found that a slightly disturbing combination...
 
There's a pub near me called 'St Annes Castle', no idea how it got it's name but it's supposed to have a bricked up witch behind the chimney breast.
 
I liked 'Who'd of Thought It' as a pub name. Theres one in Glastonbury. Where I come from there is a nearby town (Yeovil) which has the pub "The Picketty (sp) Witch" (the band named themselves after the pub)
I also like the name 'The Case is Altered', which I understand to come from the spanish Casa Altera (sp) meaning the other house. Which means a brothel!

I don't like it when they change the name of a pub to something modern. Pub have often had thier name for 100s of years.
 
Any one tell me why The Gate Hangs Well is so called?

Very reassuring but a wee bit puzzling...

Kath
 
My own contribution would be The Flying Monk. This was a pub in my old home town of Malmesbury, Wilts a few years ago.
The flying monk himself, Eilmer, was a real person who I guess could be said to be the inventor of hang-gliding. Deep in the mists of time (the year of our Lord 1010, to be precise) he attached wings and launched himself from the top of Malmesbury Abbey, gliding a goodly distance but unfortunately breaking both his legs on landing. You can read about him here.
Unfortunately The Flying Monk pub closed down several years ago and there's now a Gateway supermarket on the site, I think.

Good thread! :)

Big Bill Robinson
 
The Bucket of Blood in Hayle, Cornwall, used to be called The Three Tuns. However, one morning in the 17th Century, the landlord went to the well and drew up ... ta dah! ... blood 'n' bits! When they emptied the well, they found a dismembered body of a stranger. The only clue they had was his clothes - they were French. So they never found out who the victim or the murderer was. Locals started calling the pub "The bucket o' blood" (much to the annoyance of the guv'nor) and the name stuck!

There's also a Who'd a Thought It? in Plumstead, SE London. It's inn sign was of a very 60's looking rocket, sailing to the moon! It is part of series of Plumstead pubs which were named in a poem that could be found on old postcards. I know it included "The Ship that never floated, The Mill without sails" and the last line was just Who'd A Thought It?. I wish I could remember the rest of the poem - I lived there as a kid!

Near Chelsea Harbour, there used to be a Firkin pub, the full name of which was The Ferret and Firkin, In a Baloon and Up the Creek. It's a characterless "gastro-pub" now.:(
 
In Crewe there are several pubs with two names- the official one and a nickname.

The British Lion is known as The Pig, after a poorly-executed sign purporting to show a lion but looking more like, yes, a pig.

The Delamere Arms is known as The Blazer. This is because the landlady's cat was lying by the fire in the back room when a cinder fell on its back and it ran yowling round the bar, apparently 'ablaze'.

Another is called The Monkey. Can't remember either the real name or the reason for the nickname at the moment. (Seem to remember a pet monkey figuring in the explanation though.)

Being Crewe, it also has many railway-related old pub names in the station area. I remember The Engine, The Railway, The Express, The Grand Junction and so on.

Edit- I've just found a page of photos of some Crewe pubs.

The Albion- near the station among the railway named pubs- had a painting of a ship on its sign, named after this famous (in its day) sailing ship.

The Merlin and the Flying Lady- both related to the Rolls-Royce factory. The Merlin had a Merlin plane engine on its sign and the Flying Lady has, guess what.

The Delamere Arms- pity the photo wasn't taken from the other side, where the lettering reads 'Known locally as the 'Blazer'.


(Un pub-name related, but still- The Cumberland Arms- this stands in an area of Crewe known as 'The Cumberland'. The nearby Cumberland railway bridge occasionally provides entertainment for the natives as it is slightly too low for taller trucks, as supermarket delivery drivers using it as a short cut find out.:D )

Pubs around Crewe
 
liveinabin said:
I liked 'Who'd of Thought It' as a pub name. Theres one in Glastonbury. Where I come from there is a nearby town (Yeovil) which has the pub "The Picketty (sp) Witch" (the band named themselves after the pub)

I don't like it when they change the name of a pub to something modern. Pub have often had thier name for 100s of years.
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The Who'd a Thought It?' used to be The Lamb, it was the old market pub and was open all day Tuesday.

My favourite pub name is 'The Artichoke' ,I saw it in Trowbridge I think? Probably gone now,it looked very small and old and seedy.
 
There is also a 'Quiet Woman' at Earl Sterndale, nr Buxton, Derbyshire. Their sign sports a headless former landlady, whose constant nagging was ended abuptly with her beheading.
They do nice pork pies there too.Grow the pigs themselves.
 
In Pontefract there's a pub called the Beast Fair, used to have a bull on it's sign, linked to the livestock markets.
In Aldridge west mids, there's a Struggling Monkey.

Over in Newtown south staffs there's the Freemason's Arms and further down the road, the Why Not. Also in Cannock there used to be a Winking Frog.;)
 
There was a pub in Leeds city center that couldn't decide on a new name, so it simply didn't have one for several years. It was called 'The pub with no name'. It had no sign outside!
(Ahh, it was the best live music venue back then...memories!:D :cool: )


I believe there was a pub high on the moors, over 1000 feet above sea level, above Marsden (at Dob Cross?). It had the fortean name 'The Floating Light' cos the lights of the inn appeared to float in the night sky!:eek:
 
When I was in Manchester I used to drink in The Lass o' Gowrie and The Moon Under The Water
 
also in manchester. theres also the "rampant lion", which, when the sign was updated it was replaced with a lion which looks like its wearing a rompersuit
so its known as the "romper lion" :D
 
In Ormskirk Lancs, there used to be a pub called 'The Snig's Foot - a snig being a old Lancashire word for an eel........

Unfortunately in the last few years it's apparently been refurbished as a restaurant and given some other, very dull, name.
 
Visited the Bucket of Blood today! :D

BoB.jpg
 
In Guildford, there's a place called The Rat's Castle. Its the only exciting one I can think of where I live!
 
There's a "Who'd Of Thought It" pub on the western edge of Dartmoor, too. The menu had a picture of a pair of toddlers at the top, peering into each other's nappies and looking perplexed.

On our side of Dartmoor there's the "Nobody Inn", which does damnably good food.
 
Near Morecambe there's a pub called the Golden Ball... but it's traditionally known as Snatchems. Back in the day, the press gangs used to kidnap locals for service in the Royal Navy... or "snatch 'em"!

On the moors above Bingley in Yorkshire, there's the famous "Dick Hudson's"... it's proper name is The Fleece, it's nickname derives from a long-serving 19th century landlord. As with the way of anything with a soul and character it's been gutted by a chain 'restaurant' and is now a shadow of its former self.

But don't even get me started on chain pubs :furious:
 
Yesterday I mentioned elswhere the Turnpike Inn (Connor Downs, Cornwall). I don't recall encountering this one anywhere else - any other examples?

Today I noticed an even weirder one, the Radjel Inn at Pendeen, Cornwall. (Although it seems there is another one in Penzance!)
The village of Pendeen consists of a Church, a Post Office, a general stores, two pubs, a Gem and Jewellery Workshop, a pottery, a general stores and a fish and chip shop. On entering the village on the right hand side is The Radjel (meaning a pile of stones where a fox makes its home) which provides accommodation, a varied menu and a separate room with a pool table...

http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/scenic ... -page3.htm
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(The way my bus entered the village, the pub was on the LHS!)

...the Radjel Inn (3), another St. Austell house and one with an interesting history. A former landlord, Willy Warren, is believed to have been the longest serving landlord in the county with 59 years behind the bar to his credit – his great-great Grandfather had been nicknamed 'Radjel' by the locals.
.....
The pub sign is worth a glance – the picture illustrates the meaning of the name Radjel.

http://www.carnmenellis.demon.co.uk/htm ... hcrawl.htm
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