Early Inns and Taverns through tradesmens tokens - Danger alley to Durham yard
This is a historical site about early London coffee Houses and Taverns and will also link to my current pub history site and also The London street directory
LONDON TRADERS, TAVERN, AND COFFEE-HOUSE TOKENS, CURRENT 1649-1672. :
Index of Tradesmens tokens.
DAGGER ALLEY, Clerkenwell.
Dagger alley assumes the more reputable designation of Cross-dagger court,
Turnmill street, Westminster liberty, St. James's Clerkenwell, in the Parish
Clerks' Survey, 1732, p. 217.
#389 AT DAGGER ALLEY A dagger, point upwards, in field.
Rev. IN TURNMILL STREET In the field, H. H. B.
DEAN AND FLOWER STREET (Spitalfields).
B828. Obverse. John . Curtis . in . dean = A gunner and cannon ; tent in
distance.
R. AND . FLOWER . STREETE = I . A . C.
DEADMAN'S PLACE, Clink Liberty.
Strype, in his continuation to Stow, 1720, second appendix, p. 12, intimates
that " Deadman's place seems to be a corruption of Desmond place, where the Earl
of Desmond, in Queen Elizabeth's time, dwelt." James Fitzgerald, the seventeenth
and protestant earl of Desmond, died here in 1601. The head of his father,
Gerald Fitzgerald, for his rebellion, was for years placed as that of a
criminal, on London Bridge.
#390 IOHN FREMAN IN DEADMAN PLACE A griffin, in field.
Rev. IN ST. SAVIOVRS SOUTHWARKE HIS HALF PENY.
DISTAFF LANE, Friday Street.
The whole of the south side of this lane has recently been rased to the ground
for the widening of Cannon street.
#391 THE BELL TAVERNE IN A bell, in the field.
Rev. DISTAFFE LANE .1657 In the field, R. A. T.
The bell as a sign, possibly in more instances than one, was symbolical of the
formerly usual prize at horse-races. A small gold bell was the prize contended
for on the York race-course in 160^. The proverb, to " bear away the bell,"
originated from this custom. R. H., the author of Paradoxical Assertions and
Philosophical Problems, 1664, 8vo, speaking of women, ventures to assert that "
Whoever bears the bell [i. e. belle] away, yet will they ever carry the
clapper."
#392 THOMAS WATERSFIELD Wheatsheaf; T. M. W., in field.
Rev. BAKER . IN DISSTAFF LANE HIS HALF PENY.
“ Stoln on the First Instant out of the Grounds of Mr. John Snelling of Ferring in the County of Sussex a Sorrell Gelding about 15 or 16 hands high, 5 years old, with a great Head, a small Eye, and a little Nostril. Whoever shall give notice of him to Mr. Thomas Watersfield, a White-Baker in Distaffe-Lane, shall be well rewarded for his peyns.—The Intelligencer , No. 45, June 6, 1664, P. 365
B831. Obverse. HENRY . KEATE . AT . THE = A Woolpack.
R. IN . LITTLE . DISTAF . L N = H . S . K. 1/4
B832. Obverse. AT . THE . DEATHES . HEAD = A skull.
R. IN . DISTAF . LANE . 1652 = R . D . M. . 1/4
B833. Obverse. Rich . Mason . in . destvf = A man making candles.
R. LANE . TALLOWE . CHANDLER = R . I . M . 1/4
B834. Obverse. Joh . Pennoyer . at . ye = A pelican feeding her young.
R. IN . DISTAFE . LANE = A . I . P. . 1/4
B835. Obverse. THE . BELL . TAVERNE . IN = A bell.
R. DISTAFFE . LANE . 1657 = R . A . T. 1/4
B836. Obverse. at . the . suger . lofe = A sugar-loaf.
R. IN . DISTAFE . LANE = I . E . V. 1/4
DITCH SIDE (Shoreditch).
B838. Obverse. JOHN . HAZARD = HIS HALF PENY.
R. in . ditch . side = An anchor.
DOCK HEAD, Bermondsey.
#393 HENRY BEDFORD AT The Prince's plume, in the field.
Rev. S. SAVERIES DOCK In the field, H. I. B.
#394 I AMES COWAN LITER -MAN Man in a boat, rowing.
Rev. AT S. SAVERY DOCK HEAD HIS HALFE PENNY.
#395 THOMAS HILL . BAKER Bakers Company arms, in field.
Rev. AT S. SAVERIES DOCK In the field, T. I. H.
#396 GEORGE KERINGTON BAKER Bakers Company arms, in field.
Rev. AT ST. SAVIERS DOCK In field, G. M. K.
#397 BENIAMIN PARRAT AT A lion rampant, in the field.
Rev. S. SAVERIES DOCK HEAD In the field, B. E. P.
#398 SAMUEL WHITE AT Y E VIRGINNY A Virginian. Rev.
AT SAVORYS DOCK HEAD HIS HALF PENNY. S. A. W.
A tobacconist's token. Though " tobacco is an Indian weed," according to the
starting line of the old ballad, its exhilirative influence has long obtained
the devoted suffrages of the most dignified persons, and its whitened cloud has
towered majestically everywhere. Our puritan ancestors at this period sought
solace, amid the perplexities of a long debate in the house of Commons, by a
recurrence to the pipe ; a homely, though, for the place, a somewhat inelegant
luxury. Among the standing regulations which emanated from that body of senators
about the middle of the seventeenth century, it was " Ordered, that no member of
the house do presume to smoke tobacco, in the gallery, or at the table of the
house sitting as committees." The representatives of the seventeenth century had
not the dignity in Parliament, of those M. P.'s of the nineteenth; the former,
it appears, could find pleasure in a pipe. Had the practice become established
and unthwarted, what a ludicrous scene would St. Stephen's now afford, when
possibly a reply might have been addressed to " the honourable member now
lighting his pipe," to " the victorious officer now smoking ' returns'," or to
the younger man of family, " the gallant gentleman smoking his cigar," the "
cane tobacco" of a former period.
#399 ELIZABETH WAPSHOTT AT YE Two draymen, in field.
Rev. AT SEVERIES DOCKHEAD. 1663 HER HALF PENY.
#400 GRACE HARWOOD AT ST - Cornporters, lifting a sack.
Rev. SAVERYS DOCK HEAD. 1667 HER HALFE PENNY.
The sign was possibly " the Corn Porters."
#401 L. E. R., in the field HIS HALFE PENNY . 1668 . AT
Rev. YE . DOCKHEAD BREWHOVSE IN SOUTHWARKE, in a pentacle.
Aubrey notices this mark, the Pentacle, " heretofore used by the Greek
christians, as the sign of the cross is now, at the beginning of letters or
books, for good
luck's sake*; and amongst the Jewes," as Dr. Ralph Bathurst informed him, " the
women did make this mark on the children's chrysome cloathes." " The Jewes in
Barbaric have this marke on their trunkes, in nailes, and on their cupboards and
tables." White Kennet, bishop of Peterborough, adds "the figure of three
triangles, intersected and made of five lines, is called the Pentangle of
Solomon ; and when it is delineated in the body of a man it is pretended to
touch and point out the five places wherein our Saviour was wounded ; and
therefore an old superstitious conceit that the figure was a fuga demonium the
devils were afraid of it." Lansdowne MS. 231, fol. 129 r.
The Pentaculum Saloinonis, the " Druden-fus" of the German magical writers,
still regarded by the superstitious in Germany as an effective talisman against
the power of witches, is said to have its origin in the secret doctrines of the
Pythagoreans, and to have been thence transferred to the mysteries of Druidism.
However derived, the pentacle was in the middle ages considered as a sign of
immense power, and the magical pentalpha in the western window of the southern
aisle of Westminster abbey is one of the emblems, still extant, bearing evidence
to the initiated that the black monks who once chanted in the choir were deeply
read in occult science. Goethe has made Faust avail himself of its influence, as
to his personal preservation ; and Barrett, in his Magus, a modern delusion,
while affording instructions for divination with spirits (book ii. part iii.),
intimates, " it is always necessary to have this pentacle in readiness to bind
with, in case the spirits should refuse to be obedient, as they can have no
power over the exorcist while provided with, and fortified by, the pentacle, the
virtue of the holy names therein written presiding with wonderful influence over
the spirits. It should be made in the day and hour of Mercury, upon parchment
made of a kid skin, or virgin or pure clean white paper, and the figures and
letters wrote in pure gold, and ought to be consecrated and sprinkled (as before
often spoken) with holy water."
* John Evelyn appears to have adopted it for a similar reason. In many of his
books, after inscribing his name in monogram, it was his wont, with the pen, to
draw the pentacle, between the words " Domirws providebit. "
DOVE COURT, Lombard Street.
#402 AT THE 6 BELLS IN DOVE COURT Six bells, in field.
Rev. AT THE LOWER END LVMBARD STREET Dove, with olive branch.
Large brass size ; for currency as a coffee-house penny.
At Ye Six Bells in Dove court at ye Lower End Lombard street. And Six Bells in field. And a Dove with olive branch.
DOWGATE.
" Dowgate or Downegate, so called of that down-going or descending to the
Thames. On the east side, near to the church of St. Mary Botha w, was a great
old house called the Erber; it belonged to Richard Neville, earl of Warwick;
then to George Duke of Clarence, by gift of King Edward the Fourth, in 1474.
Lately new built by Sir Thomas Pullison, it was afterward inhabited by Sir
Francis Drake, that famous mariner." Stow, p. 87. Destroyed in the great fire ;
the site south of the church is marked in Whishaw's Plan.
#403 WILL: BRANDON AT YE HAVE A Shrovetide cock.
Rev. AT IT . ON DOWGATE HILL In field, HIS HALF PENY. W. M. B.
Will Brandon at ye Have at it on Dowgate Hill. His Half Penny. Initials W M B. And A Shrovetide cock.
Gallicide, or cock -throwing, the brutal custom of battering or pelting with sticks or stones a cock tied to a stake, is supposed to have originated in the time of King Edward the Third, when England and France appear to have indulged in provocations of more than ordinary resentment. The latin word gdttus, by a vile pun, was equally expressive of a Frenchman and a cock ; and poor chanticleer was doomed, as in effigy, to suffer the barbarities metaphorically intended for our continental neighbours.
In the Life of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, killed December 28th, 1170, occurs the following notice : " Praeterea quotannis, die quae vocatur
Carnilevaria (Shrove Tuesday) scholarum singuli pueri suos apportant magistrosuo gallos gallinaceos pugnaces ; et totum illud antemeridianum datur ludo puerorum spectare in scholis suorum pugnas gallorum." If cock-throwing on Shrove Tuesday had, as well as cock-fighting, been at that time the diversion of the school-boys, it would doubtless have been mentioned with it. See Gentleman's Magazine, 1737, p. 7.
#404 THO. BATT . GROCER AT THE A sugar-loaf, in the field.
Rev. SVGER LOF . AT DOWGATE In the field, T. H. B. 1/4
#405 GILBERT HOUGH AT THE THAMES STREET, in the field.
Rev. CORNER HOUSE . DOWGAT In the field, G. A. H.
#406 JAMES CROMEE The pope's head, with tiara, in the field.
Rev. THE POPES HEAD AT DOWGATE 1671.
Octangular in shape : the inscription on the reverse, in five lines.
The papal tiara, or triple crown, is derived from the Exarchate of Ravenna, 725 ; the kingdom of the Lombards, 755 ; and the state of Rome, 817.
B841. Obverse. Will . Brandon . at . ye . have = A man throwing a stick at a
cock.
R. AT. IT . ON . DOWGATE. HILL = HIS HALF PENY. W . M . B.
B843. Obverse. WILLIAM . BURGES . AT . YE . SWAN = A Swan.
R. AT . DOWGATE . CONDUIT . l668 = HIS HALFE PENNY. 1668.
“ Dined with my Lord and all the officers of his regiment,, who invited my Lord
and his friends, as many as he would bring, at the Swan, at Dowgate, a poor
house and ill-dressed, but very good fish and plenty.”—Pepys’ Diary , June 27,
1660.
In A Vademecum for Maltworms, part ii., p. 6, we are told of one “ Ben t, that
“ He left the George for Swan at Dowgate-hill.”
B844. Obverse. Ann . Cox . at . the = Charles II.’s head crowned.
R. KINGS . HEAD . AT . DOWGATE = A . C. 1/4
B846. Obverse. John . Drue . at . the . red = A lion passant gardant.
R. LYON . AT . DOWGATE . 1667 = HIS HALFE PENNY. I . H . D.
B847. Obverse. WILL . GURNEY . AT . TALLOW . CHAND = HIS HALF PENY. W . M . G.
R. lers . hall . on . dowgate . hill = The Tallowchandlers’ Arms.
B848. Obverse. John . Hakly (?) . at . the . in = A tree.
R. DOWGATE . IN . THAMES . ST — HIS HALF PENY. 1668.
B850. Obverse. 1D.
R. AT . DOWGATE = S . P.
B851. A variety has 2D on the obverse.
B852. Another variety has 6D on the obverse.
Twopenny tokens are very uncommon. For other examples see Leathern Tokens and
Uncertain Tokens.
This sixpenny token and No. 2196 seem to be the only instances of the kind in
the whole series. These three pieces, the id. 2d. and 6d., form a set perfectly
unique.
B853. Obverse. Sarah . Paggan = S . P., and a device.
R. AT . DOW . GATE . 165 2 = S . P. 1/4
B854. Obverse. John . Quarrington = A crescent moon.
R. AT . DOWGATE . HILL . l668 = HIS HALFE PENY.
B855. Obverse. Michaell . Sellers . 1664 (in three lines across the field).
RR. at . y e . neare . dowgate = St. George and the Dragon. 1/4
B856. Obverse. John . Smith . at . the = Three arched crowns.
R. ONE . DOWGATE . HILL = HIS HALFE PENY. 1668.
DRURY LANE.
DDrury lane derived that appellation from the mansion of the Drury family, that
stood on part of the site of the Olympic theatre. "Young Sir Drue Drury, at a
taverne, called for tobacco-pipes. The fellow, in laying them downe on the
table, broke most of them : presently Sir Drue swore a great oath, they were
made of the same metal with the Commandments. ' Why so ' ? said one : he
replied, ' Because they are so soon broken'." Merry Passages and Jests. Harl.
MS. 6395.
The diurnals of 1768 mention, " Yesterday [August 25th], the inhabitants of
Drury lane had orders to take down their signs, as the streets in that place and
the neighbourhood will soon begin to be new paved."
#407 RICHARD JOHNSON A bell, in the field.
RRev. IN DREWRY LANE In the field, R. S. I. 1/4
The Bell tavern extended through from Wyche street to the Strand, against the
may-pole, now the church of St. Mary-le-Strand.
#408 WILL . WRIGHT IN DRURY LANE In the field, a phoenix.
Rev. YE CORNER OF BLACKMOR STREET HIS HALFE PENNY.
The Phoenix, a bird of Arabia ; one only being said to exist in the world, which
after many hundred years is consumed in the nest, and from the ashes rises its
successor ; a fiction fully entertained by the fathers of the Romish church,
Cyril, Epiphanius, Ambrose, Tertullian, and others ; and noticed also by profane
writers, Herodotus (who first mystified the Greeks with the strange tale),
Tacitus, and also Pliny ; the heretical faith, however, of the later writers in
this matter, to their praise be it spoken, is on record. Those who believe in
the ideality of the phoenix refer to the equivocal passage in the Psalms, " Vir
justm ut Phoenix florebit." The phoenix is again mentioned in Job; but the Greek
word phoenix implies a palm-tree. The phoenix has therefore no further identity
than as a sign, and as a palladium at Charing cross and Lombard street, set up
as a defensative against the effects of ravages by fire.
#409 JOHN BARNES . IN DREWRY A sunflower, in the field.
Rev. LANE . CHEESEMONGER HIS HALF PENY.
#410 THOMAS WILSON In the field, IN DRURE LANE.
Rev. OVER AGAINST THE A sunflower, in the field.
The sunflower was the sign adopted by Barnes ; see the preceding token.
Wilson's house appears to have been on the opposite side of Drury lane.
#411 ROBERT DE LUKE AT THE- Angel bearing scroll, in field.
Rev. ANGELL . IN DRVRY LANE In field, same figure.
#412 DAVID DE MONCI AT Ye A helmet, in field. Rev. IN
DRURY LANE In the field, D. M. D.
B858. Obverse. RICHARD . BEDWELL = A bell.
R. in . DRURY . lane . 1656 = Three birds. 1/4
B859. Obverse. Richard . Bridgman = St. George and the Dragon.
R. IN . DRURY . LANE . 1659 = R . M . B. 1/4
B860. Obverse. ANSELL . CARTER , AT . YE . GOLDEN = A fox.
R. FOX . IN . DREWRY . LANE . 1666 = HIS HALFE PENNY. A . A . C.
B861. Obverse. John . Clare . in . drevrey = A cheese-knife.
R. LANE . IN . S T . GILES = HIS HALFE PENY.
B862. Obverse. Anthony . Clarke . at . ye = A horseshoe ; A . E . C inside.
R. IN . DRURY . LANE . l666 = HIS HALFE PENY.
Larwood and Hotten, in their “ History of Signboards,” have the following note :
“ The Horseshoe in Drury Lane is mentioned by Aubrey in the following words :
‘Captain Carlo Fantom, a Croatian, spake 13 languages, was a captain under the
Erie of Essex. . . . He met, coming late at night out of the Horseshoe Tavern in
Drury Lane, with a lieutenant of Colonel Rossiter, who had great jingling spurs
on. Said he, “ The noise of your spurrs doe offend me, you must come over the
kennel and give me satisfaction.” They drew and passed at each other, and the
liutenant was runne through, and died in an hour or two, and it was not known
who killed him’ (‘Anecdotes and Traditions,’ p. 3). This tavern was still in
existence in 1692, as appears from the deposition of one of the witnesses in the
murder of Mountfort the actor, by Captain Hill, who, with his accomplice, Lord
Mohun, whilst they were laying in wait for Mrs. Bracegirdle, drank a bottle oi
Canary, which had been bought at the Horseshoe Tavern.”
B865. Obverse. John . Duban . in . DRURY = The arms of France, crowned.
R. LANE . HIS . HALFE . PENNY = I . M . D.
B866. Obverse. John . Eldridge . at . the = An eagle and a crown.
R. IN . DREWRY . LANE . 1667 = HIS HALF PENY.
B867. Obverse. John . Grice . ironmonger . at = Three sugar-loaves and a cross.
R . IN . DRURY . LANE . HIS . 1/2 PENY=I . G. 1668.
B869. Obverse. EDWARD . HARRISE . IN = MEALMAN.
R. LITTLE . DREWRY . LANE = 1666.
B870. Obverse. Thomas . Hayton . in . DRURY = A negro’s head.
R. lane . his . halfe . penny = An arched crown.
B871. Obverse. Ann . How . 1657 = The Fruiterers’Arms.
R. IN . DREWRY . LANE = A . H. 1/4
B872. Obverse. Joseph . Inman . at . the = A tankard.
RR . tankerd . hovse . in . drewry . lane . 1668 (in five lines).
Joseph Inman at the Tankerd House Drury lane. 1668. And a Tankard.
B874. Obverse. Walter . Lee . Fortvne = Fortune standing in a shell, her robe for a sail.
R. IN . DRURY . LANE = W . M . L. 1/4
B875. Obverse. Als . Martin . 1658 . in = A helmet.
R. LITTLE . DRVRE . LANE = A . M. 1/4
B876. Obverse. Will . Neagus . in . white . hors = A pair of scales and a wheatsheaf.
R. YARD . IN . DRURY . LANE . BACKER = HIS HALFE PENNY. W . I . N.
B877. Obverse. ELIZ . NORLEY . IN . DRURY . LANE = A trumpet.
R. AGAINST . Ye . PLEA . HOVSE . 1667 = HER HALFE PENY.
B879. Obverse. T . Peeters . lowr . end = A crown on an anchor.
R. OF . DRURY . LANE = T . E . P. 1/4
B881. Obverse. Nat . Rikard . at . the . 3 = Three cranes.
R. CRANES . IN . DRURY . LANE = N . A . R. 1/4
B882. Obverse. at . the . sparosnest = Three sparrows.
R. IN . DRURE . LANE = I . A . S. 1/4
B883. Obverse. John . Ston . at . the = St. George and the Dragon.
R. GEORG . IN . DRURYLANE = I . M . S. 1/4
“Robbed on the road near Maleborow in Wiltshire on Tuesday last May 26 1662 one black Nag . . . one bay Mare . . . one bay Gelding. All three taken from Henry Bainton, Esq. ; of the City of Bath : If any person can give notice of them to Mr. Stone, at the George Inn, in Drury Lane . . . they shah be well rewarded for their pains.”-—-The Kingdom’s Intelligencer , No. 21, May 26 to June 2, 1662, p. 344.
B884. Obverse. George . Thorowgood . in = Three horses saddled andbridled.
R. DRURY . LANE . HIS . HALF . PENY = G . F . T. I666.
B885. Obverse. GABRIELL . TRVMAN = A goat.
R. IN . DRURY . LANE = G . T . T. 1/4
LITTLE DRURY LANE.
Little Drury lane had also the cognomen of May -pole alley, retained long after
the may-pole had vanished. The neighbourhood must have been densely populated.
In October, 1781, a fire that began at the house of a hatter named Ballard,
eastward of St. Mary-le-Strand, notwithstanding every possible exertion to
extinguish it, destroyed the old lath and plaster buildings with such rapidity
that upwards of thirty houses were consumed ; passing on to Holywell street, and
through the Five Bells tavern, up to Wyche street. The iron railing on the north
side of the new church was forced down, by the falling of two of the houses. The
site lay in ruin till leave was given by the house of Commons, May 17th, 1782,
for the bringing in a bill, to form a street from the Strand to Clare market,
now Newcastle street.
#413 ANTHONY HALL IN Two crossed daggers, in the field.
Rev. LITTLE DREWRY LANE In the field, A. W. H.
#414 RICHARD RICH IN LITEL A wheatsheaf, bird on top.
Rev. DRURY LANE . CHANGER OF FARTHINGS.
Richard Rich in Little Drury lane. Changer of Farthings. And A wheatsheaf, bird on top.
See also No. 690.
B878. Obverse. William . Patteshall = St. George and the Dragon.
R. IN . LITTLE . DRURY . LANE = HIS HALF PENY.
DUCK LANE, Westminster.
Duke street, Westminster, leading from the State Paper office in St. James's
park to Storey's gate, was formerly called Duck lane.
#415 RICHARD SWADDON IN In the field, R. M. S.
Rev. WESTMIN. IN DUCK LANE 1654, in the field. 1/4
B888. Obverse. at . the . black . princ = A armed figure holding a lance.
R. IN . DUCK . LANE . 1 665 = I . M . B. 1/4
B889. Obverse. THE . MAYDEN . HEAD = G . S . H.
R. in . DUCK . lane = A crowned female bust. 1/4
B890. Obverse. FRANCIS . HAVILAND = A harrow.
R. IN . DUCKE . LANE . 1658 = F . H. 1/4
DUKE’S PLACE (Aldgate).
B892. Obverse. Henry . Blagrave = Three tobacco-pipes.
R. IN . DUKES . PLACE = H . S . B.
B893. Obverse. EDWARD . CHEVALL . AT . THE = A last.
R. last . in . DUKEs . place . 1668 = his 1D between two roses.
B894. Obverse. John . Empson . 1667= A beacon surmounted by a coronet, on a
label the motto nisi dominvs.
R. IN . DUKES . PLACE = HIS HALF PENY. I . A . E.
B895. Obverse. Tho . Tibenham . at . ye . blew = An anchor.
R. IN . DUKES . PLACE . 1664 = HIS HALF PENY.
B896. Obverse. RICHARD . TYLER = HIS HALF PENY.
R. in . DUKEs . place . 1668 = A ship.
DUNNINGS ALLEY, Bishopsgate Without.
#416 IOHN STANTON IN DUNINGS A hand pouring coffee.
Rev. ALLY.WITHOVT BISHOPGATE In the field, HIS HALFE PENNY. 1668.
ST. DUNSTAN'S in the East.
#417 THE LOCK AND SHEERS A lock, between two pairs of shears.
Rev. AT S. DVNSTONS EAST . 1649 T. C. C.
B2479. Obverse. ANTHONY . PARSLOV = A horseshoe.
R. AT . DVNSTONES . HILL = A . E . P. 1/4
DURHAM YARD, Strand.
The Adelphi buildings in the Strand now occupy the site formerly known as Durham
yard.
#418 GABRIEL HARDEN
Rev. IN DVRHAM YARD. 1659 In the field, G. C. M.
Additional info : [418. Add arms : ermine, a leopard passant in chief. Query, Harden? ]
#419 WILLIAM BRIDGER AT A fleur-de-lis, in the field.
Rev. IN DVRHAM YARD . 1663 In the field, W. E. B.
Farthing size.
#420 WILLIAM BRIDGER AT Y A fleur-de-lis, in the field.
Rev. IN DVRHAM YARD . 1668 HIS HALFE PENNY. W. E. B.
The heraldic charge, the fleur-de-lys, originated,, as now generally accredited,
as a device to represent the French royal name of Loys, now Louis.
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As ever I am appreciative of the archive.org site and google books for
showing old and non-copyright scripts which can be used for research (copied).