Pub Sign Photo Study Three Legs Of Man Hulme Manchester

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To many this has to be among the city’s strangest names and signs, but it is actually the coat of arms of The Isle Of Man, located between England and Ireland. The symbol of the three legs has a Sicilian origin, and it was probably exported to Man by Celtic traders and Danish invaders who had also served in Sicily where the symbol had mythical roots, and the image was an altered variation on the spokes of a wheel. On Sicilian versions, the legs are bare and hairy. The Isle of Man legs are armoured and spurred. The Isle Of Man was often answerable to its big neighbours, England, Ireland and Scotland, and the Scots invaded the island in the 13th century, about the time the armoured leg coat of arms first appeared. The defiant motto of the island’s heraldic coat states in Latin that the island will stand upright whichever way it is thrown. In other words, whichever of its three big neighbours exerts political or military influence or force over it the Isle will always retain its own identity. The original pub opened in 1793 but it was demolished and rebuilt in 1850. Its 1793 founder landlord undoubtedly had some connection to the Isle Of Man. Arthur Chappell