Pig & Whistle, Aston, Herts, UK
Posted by: 
bill&ben
N 51° 53.315 W 000° 08.885
30U E 696252 N 5752490
A two sided inn sign for the Pig & Whistle in Aston.
Waymark Code: WM9NGR
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/09/2010
Views: 5
At its peak Aston had six ale houses :-
The Crown, The Boot, The Rose & Crown, the Bee Hive, The Fox and The Plough.
Today only two of these establishments carry on their trade at their original
premises, The Rose & Crown and the Boot, renamed the Pig & Whistle.
It has been estimated that there are fewer than ten pubs
carrying the name Pig & Whistle, a fact which a Google search tends to
confirm. The origin of the name Pig and Whistle is somewhat obscure. There are
a number of explanations many of which hang around the meaning of the two words
pig and whistle. A pig is supposed, in many theories, to be a reference to a
drinking vessel and the whistle to wassail, a toast. According to Wikipedia the
name is a corruption of piggin wassail, meaning good
health. For a fuller discussion of the name see the web site.
Ominously, the Rose & Crown at Aston is undergoing
refurbishment. The painted sign has gone – whether it is reinstated or is
replaced with a sign just saying Rose & Crown remains to be seen.