Great Coggeshall pub history index
Residents at this address
Opposite the White Hart was the BLUE BOAR. Adjoining the White Hart on the west is a house which was called the TRUE-BLUE (ante, p. 131,), a sign which does not appear to exist elsewhere in Essex, at any rate it has not come under the notice of the author of The Trade Signs in Essex. The property possessed this name in 1758, when the Coggeshall Hall Manor Map was prepared.
The block of property between the White Hart and Bridge Street, or Cellar Lane, was, in 1758 and 1789, known as the GREEN DRAGON, a sign, it may be imagined, which did not harmonise very well with its neighbour, the True-Blue. The True-Blue and the Green Dragon may together represent the property which, in the 17th year of King Henry VIII. was an inn called the DRAGON. The Dragon is a very ancient trade sign in England, and would seem to have been taken from the flag of the cohorts of a Roman legion. As a national ensign this winged serpent was long continued in this land ; it was borne by Harold's standard-bearer, and in later years was carried before the kings of England in their wars. (History of Coggeshall to 1884 by George Fred Beaumont )