Tuesday 14 June 2016

Inn Signs - The Shaven Crown

The Shaven Crown at Shipton-under-Wychwood is an old pilgrims' hostel associated with Cistercian monks.  It has special significance for our family since it was owned and managed by my great-great-grandmother (Grandma Coombes) during Victorian and Edwardian times.


The sign shows a tonsured friar holding a wine goblet and looking decidedly cheerful.

6 comments:

  1. How special, to have had relatives in the innkeeping business! He does look like being a friar is not a strain on him.

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  2. I read the name before I saw the picture, and just thought "what?!" :)

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  3. Gosh. There's a coincidence. She was owned and managed by my great-great-grandmother too. I'm not sure whether I've ever seen it though. I suppose I must have done. I might know if I saw the building. Just looked it up. Yes. I have.

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  4. My great-grandmother ran a Wirtschaft (very basic restaurant - I don't think there is an exact equivalent in English for this kind of establishment; in Italian it would be a trattoria) for some years when she was a young woman. I must ask my Mum if the house still stands, and see what's going on there today.

    I imagine folks going to the Shaven Crown will look as cheerful as the monk on the sign after a while, enjoying each other's company and good food and drink.

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  5. Friars in popular imagery always do seem to look cheerful and be clutching a glass of something alcoholic! I suppose there must have been enough who really were like that to create this stereotype!

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  6. How cool is that? What a great story. Thanks, Scriptor. xoxoxo

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