The sign shows a tonsured friar holding a wine goblet and looking decidedly cheerful.
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.
The sign shows a tonsured friar holding a wine goblet and looking decidedly cheerful.
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How special, to have had relatives in the innkeeping business! He does look like being a friar is not a strain on him.
ReplyDeleteI read the name before I saw the picture, and just thought "what?!" :)
ReplyDeleteGosh. 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.
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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!
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that? What a great story. Thanks, Scriptor. xoxoxo
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