XVIII. Copy of an Entry on the Clause Roll 31 Hen. VI. relating to the Bell-Savage Inn. Communicated by Samuel Lysons, Esq. V.P. F.R.S. in a Letter to Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. Secretary

Extract

The enclosed copy of a Deed, enrolled on the Clause roll of the 31st year of K. Henry VI., will, I flatter myself, be in some degree interesting to the Society of Antiquaries, as it serves to ascertain the true description of one of the oldest Inns in London the Bell-Savage on Ludgate Hill, in the parish of St. Bride Fleet Street; which has for more than a century, from the time its name was noticed by Addison in the Spectator, occasioned a great variety of conjectures. It appears from this record, that they have all been unfounded, as the Inn took the adjunct to its name, from the circumstance of its having belonged to, or been kept by a person of the name of Savage. The Sign appears to-have been a bell hung within a hoop. Many instances of the same kind occur in the ancient descriptions of inns. In the Clause Roll, 43d of Edward III. we find the George on the Hoop; in the 26th of Hen. VI. the Hart on the Hoop; in the 30th of the same king, the Swan and the Cock and Hen on the Hoop; with many others.