I Spy – Animals
by Esmerelda Weatherwax (June 2011)
English wildlife.
These are, left to right, top to bottom.
The Beaver, Beverley Yorkshire.
The beaver has been extinct in Great Britain for 500 years but has been reintroduced into the wild under controlled conditions in England and Scotland and a trial in Wales is proposed. The nature conservationists are optimistic but farmers are wary. The town of Beverley in Yorkshire was renamed Beverlac, meaning Beaver lake or clearing, a reference to the colonies of beavers along the River Hull in the 10th century.
The Beehive Grantham Lincolnshire.
Home of the living sign, which I wrote about here in December. Bees may have been better filed under farmyard animals but they roam free so I kept them here.
The Brown Bear, Stepney.
The Eastbrook Dagenham.
The Fox at Rivenhall.
The Squirrels, Gidea Park, also closed and supposed to reopen as an Indian restaurant.
The Bear, Bradford on Avon Wiltshire has been closed and boarded up for several years.
The Wild Boar was hunted to extinction during the Middle Ages but several have escaped from captivity in recent years and are believed to be breeding in the wild happily again.
Five examples of the White Hart are below, from Billericay, Swaffham, Whitechapel, Grays and West Smithfield.
Water creatures are also popular, both fresh and sea water.
The Dolphin, Hastings.
The Seal, Woodbridge. This is (was) one of my favourite signs. The Seal was a relatively new pub just outside Woodbridge in Suffolk which felt old because it was built largely out of reclaimed brick, timber and stone. It used to be a pub that served good meals. It changed hands earlier this year and is now called the Duke of York, and runs as a restaurant which has a small bar. This is happening a lot, and while it is better than the pub being demolished or converted into offices, because the balance of restaurant to bar can be changed, the atmosphere is different, and somehow never so friendly.
The Dolphin Tavern, London WC1. I always thought that Dolphins were an exotic Mediterranean creature but they are common in British waters. I just have never seen one. I have seen plenty of seals off the east coast, however.
The Farmyard
The Hog in the Pound, London W1. Just off Oxford Street, handy for Selfridges.
The Lamb, Castle Donington, handy for East Midlands airport and the racetrack. The Ram, Hertford.
The Old Red Cow, opposite Smithfield meat market London. The Spotted Bull, St Albans.
The Goat Tavern, Mayfair. The Dun Cow, Salthouse Norfolk. Magnificent view across the creeks and saltmarsh.
The Pig Inn the City, Gloucester. A fine Gloucestershire Old Spot, aka the Orchard pig.
To comment on this article, please click here.
If you enjoyed this piece and would like to read more by Esmerelda Weatherwax, please click here.
To help New English Review continue to publish articles such as this one, please click here.
Esmerelda Weatherwax is a regular contributor to the Iconoclast, our community blog. To view her entries please click here.