Seven Stars
In the late-1960s, David Bowie did occasional work at a Legastat printing
shop in Carey Street, central London. This shop is at number 57, on one side
of the entrance to Lincoln's Inn.
The complete Oxford English Dictionary reveals that, due to the presence of
bankruptcy courts in the street, the phrase On Carey Street has been
used about people who are bankrupt.
At number 53-54 Carey Street is a pub, established in 1602, known as Seven Stars.
The Seven Stars public house, Carey Street,
London.
The phrase 'seven stars' pre-dates this pub's origin by more than eight centuries.
The OED gives these meanings - a. The Pleiades. b. ?The planets.
c. The Great Bear.
William Shakespeare's play 'King Lear,' dated 1605, includes this line -
The reason why the seuen Starres are no mo then seuen,
is a pretty reason.
The earliest quotation in the OED links the phrase to the
Pleiades star cluster -
c725 Corpus Gloss (Hessels) P 451 Pliadas, sibunsterri.
In February 1946, a correspondent to the periodical Notes
And Queries wrote -
'SIGNBOARD: SEVEN STARS.-What is the generally accepted origin of the "Seven
Stars," as an inn sign? Kelly's Directory for 1889 gives twelve inns
in Devonshire with that sign, most of which are in South Devon.
Larwood and Hotten - 'The History of Signboards' says: "These Seven Stars
have always been great favourites; they seem to be the same Pleiad which is
used as a Masonic emblem - a circle of six stars with one in the centre."
The same work gives 1653 as the first recorded use of the sign. Dymond in
'Old Inns and Taverns of Exeter': Devon Association Transactions 1880,
gives 1725 as the earliest record.
There were only five planets known to the Ancients: Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn. The seven were not made up until Uranus, 1781, and Neptune,
1845, were discovered, at dates much later than the inn signs in question.
Ursa Major has seven stars of First, Second and Third magnitude, but the various
astronomers of early dates give various numbers to this constellation.
The Pleiades are commonly spoken of as "seven stars," but only six
are visible to the average unaided eye. F.W.MORTON PALMER. Totnes.'
Signboard, Seven Stars, Carey
Street.
In April 1946, Notes And Queries printed further letters
on the subject -
THERE were seven planets long before the discovery of Uranus and Neptune,
as in astrology the sun and the moon are called planets, and included with
the five planets which are so called by astronomers. Thus the seven planets
of the astrologers were Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Sun and
the Moon (Sol and Luna). The more immediate source from which the Seven Stars
sign is derived is the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, the seven
stars of the seven churches. There the seven candlesticks, another symbol
for the churches, are arranged in the order of the stars in the Masonic emblem;
the arrangement of the stars is not mentioned in the Book of Revelation, but
no doubt the Masons assumed it would be the same as that of the candlesticks.
This inn-sign is often associated with bridges, and at the second reference
MR.J.B.WAINEWRIGHT explained why. But as we shall all soon be reading Trollope's
'Nina Balatka' I quote from that as far as it goes: "There [in Prague]
having a place in the long row of huge statues which adorn the bridge, is
the figure of the martyr St.John Nepomucene, who at this spot was thrown into
the river because he would not betray the secrets of a queen's confession,
and was drowned, and who has ever been, from that period downwards, the favourite
saint of Prague - and of rivers." But for the seven stars we must go
to MR.WAINEWRIGHT: "Part of his legend is that his body was found floating
in the river with seven stars about his head. His statue, so ornamented, is
frequently to be found in Central Europe, and especially on bridges."
There is a very small river, the Pont, which flowers through the village of
Ponteland (pronounced Pont-ee-land, probably a form of Pont Island). There
is a bridge over the river in the middle of the village and by it a small
public-house, the Seven Stars. M.H.DODDS and ED.'
'The origin of this sign was discussed in great detail at
the references above, but in the nature of things nothing very decisive can
be stated. For my part I would advance two possible origins, without ruling
out the probability of other origins occurring: Since signboards were originally
pictorial I imagine that it did not take long for some bright lad whose house
was originally called the Plough to exhibit the well known constellation of
that name in place of the more ordinary ploughshare; nor would it take long
for his duller witted neighbours to re-christen his house the Seven Stars.
(That the sign of the Plough is commonly associated with Ursa Major may indeed
be seen on many signboards: in Buckinghamshire, for instance, we have ten
Plough Inns with pictorial signs and four of these show the constellation.)
The other possibility is this. The sign of the Star is probably religious
in origin (the Star of Bethlehem) but when at a later date its religious significance
was forgotten, the tradesman who wished to outdo his companions might well
think that Seven Stars would attract more attention than one. Why he would
choose seven rather than any other number is one of the mysteries of the human
mind, but a glance at Brewer's 'Phrase and fable' will indicate the popularity
of that number. (It is indeed a curious fact that the only signboards one
sees are The Star, The One Star and The Seven Stars, and not any other number
of stars, although I have heard (doubtfully) of a former inn in High Wycombe
called The Five Stars. It would be interesting to know if any other reader
can authenticate a signboard with some other number of stars).
Whatever origin one chooses to accept, I think it must be appreciated that
some other theory may be equally good. A particular sign may have a dozen
different origins, and most existing inns have merely copied their signs from
earlier ones, so that one must be lucky indeed to say how any sign originated
or any inn got its sign. L.M.W.'
Two further, shorter letters also appeared -
'The lost Pleiad, though unseen is never forgotten. But the seven stars are most probably the seven planets. MR.F.W.MORTON PALMER is correct of course about our ancestors' lack of knowledge of Uranus and Neptune. But the astrologers always counted seven from ancient times, because they included the Sun and Moon along with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn! And remember the almanacs carried this to almost every literate person; that 1653 is a date when there was much interest in "judicial astrology." I think some Puritans wanted to suppress it, but Mr.Milton had his horoscope cast after 1649. The date 1653 seems to me too early for a direct Masonic allusion on an inn sign. T.O.MABBOTT.'
'Stars other than one or seven are rare on signboards. Larwood and Hotten (1866) says "as a change upon the Seven Stars, a publican at Counterslip, Bristol, has put up the Fourteen Stars.". Hunt's East Norfolk directory for 1850 records a Fourteen Stars at Gaol Street Great Yarmouth. 'Lincolnshire Town and Tradesmen's Tokens,' by Arthur Smith (Morton, Horncastle, 1931), lists a farthing issued by Francis Cocke at Tattershall Ferry bearing three stars. A.L.COX.'
In his book 'Pub Signs' (Lennard Publishing, 1988), Paul Corballis writes of Seven Stars -
'In the Middle Ages this was a religious sign, being the seven stars in the crown of the Virgin Mary. In later centuries it was thought to be a masonic symbol with a secret meaning. In some instances, it seems to be derived from the seven stars of Ursa Major. On modern signs, the seven stars sometimes are arranged in a figure seven, sometimes like the heavenly plough or a circle of six with one in the centre.'
'British Inn Signs' by Eric R.Delderfield includes the above illustration
with this comment -
'A unique and different approach to the old religious
sign of the Seven Stars, at Stratford on Avon'.
In 1987, Lennard Publishing (who a year later would bring out the book 'Pub
Signs,' from which I previously quoted) brought out a book of photographs
by Paul Barkshire, called 'Unexplored London.'
This book, which has a foreword by David
Bailey, coincidentally includes both a photograph [No.20] of the
'Entry Lincoln's Inn Holborn' that takes in the side of the Legastat shop
David Bowie worked in 1968-69, and a photograph [No.103] of 'Seven Stars Carey
Street Holborn.'
Of the latter, Mr.Barkshire writes - '..built in 1602 this pub is across the
road from the Royal Courts of Justice and the buildings behind the pub are
part of Lincoln's Inn.'
* * * * * * *
A book of special relevance to the Pleiadian connection - 'Atlantis And The Seven Stars' by J.Countryman - was published in 1979.
Here's the summary on the fly-leaf:
'The beautiful female stars of the Pleiades have been among the most noted
objects of history, poetry and mythology of the heavens. This book captures
a great deal of this literary treasure and suggests the magnificence and beauty
of this celebrated cluster may be of a different order from other stars. The
cluster's uniqueness may be revealed in our ancient scriptures, megalithic
ruins and archaeological discoveries that suggest its stars may have sent
cosmic initiators to earth. If this evidence is true we would have sister
planets in the Pleiades that are connected to our past and possibly to our
future. It seems incredible to us at first, but may be elementary in a universe
whose fundamental laws are the communications and inner galactic mixing of
her species.
The theory is advanced that the Pleiades initiated our western civilization
through Atlantis and the Mediterranean regions. A new approach is taken to
the story of Atlantis (the most fascinating tale ever told to mankind). Viewed
in a cosmic setting the Atlantis account may be revealing great universal
truths showing us how the species of man and his civilizations are propagated
throughout the cosmos.
In this book Jack Countryman adds new dimensions to our treasury of ancient
literature and archaeology and leads us to further speculation that a good
part of the missing link, so sought after by Darwin and others but never found,
may lie in this select cluster of beautiful stars.'
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