Tucked away in the narrow part of Church Street in Lacock is the Sign of the Angel Inn.
The Angel Inn was built at the end of the 15th C, possibly circa 1480.[i] It was possibly an inn from the start. However, in the 16th or early 17th C it was believed to have been converted into a wool merchant’s house. It has a ‘horse passage’ as a feature. The name is derived from a gold coin know as an ‘angel’.[ii] The Gold Angel was an English hammered coin dating from the first reign of Edward IV: 1461-1470.[iii] His second reign was 1471 to 1483, which is when the inn possibly dates from.
The building is two storeys with the ground floor being of rubble stone. The first floor is timber framed and jettied. The roof is covered in stone slates. The main range has a gable and a roof hipped (on the west side) and a ridge stack. The main gable has a decorative framed and two leaded oriel windows (these are from the 20th C). The front 15-pane window is probably from the time the building was a shop. This window was inserted into a broad 15th C hollow-moulded frame. The gable to the right has a fine, canted-stone bay window. The gabled part to the left has a triple casement window on the ground floor.[iv]
The entrance has Tudor-arched carved timber lintel (16th C). The inner plank door is in a pointed-arched hollow-moulded surround.
Brief History of the origin of the Gold Angel
The Gold Angel was an English hammered coin dating from the first reign of Edward IV (1461-1470). There was a problem in the 1430s to 60s as coins in England were being exported on the black market from England to continental Europe because of rising precious metal prices there. The face value of a Gold Noblewas worth considerably more abroad than its face value in England. English silver coins were also been exported to be melted down for profit. This led to coinage shortages.[v]
On 13 August 1464, Edward IV ordered by indenture a reduction in weight of the silver coinage and raised the value of the gold coinage. The mintage of the Gold Noble was stopped. The value of the nobles in circulation was raised from 6s 8d (6 shillings and eight pence) to 8s 4d. The aim was to keep the coins’ value competitive and attract old nobles back into circulation. The strategy didn’t work, and Edward raised the buying price again to 8s 6 1/2d. This stimulated the coins coming back into circulation. As for the silver coins, Edward ordered them to be reduced by 20% in 1464, producing the ‘light coinage’.[vi]
A higher-valued coin was introduced in 1465, the Gold Ryal (also known as the rose noble as it had a large Tudor Rose on the reverse). This had the value of 10s. Possibly due to the high denomination, the highest in England yet, the coin was not popular, and production ceased in 1470. It was reintroduced briefly in 1487 and then with greater success in 1553.[vii]
The Gold Angel was introduced in 1465, weighing 80 grains with a value of 6s 8d. The earlier Gold Noble had weighed 108 grains. It was at first called the ‘Noble Angel’ as it featured on its obverse (the side bearing the principal design) the Archangel Michael. The name became soon shortened to ‘Angel’ and it proved to be a popular coin.[viii]
In 1471, the Half Angel (or ‘angelet’) was introduced. It had a weight of 40 grains. Its initial value was 3s 4d. Gold Angels were minted from 1465 until 1642 – production ceased as Charles I was forced to leave London in January 1642. The Half Angel was produced from 1471, until 1619.[ix]
NOTES
[i] ‘The Sign of the Angel’, Historic England List Entry 1198180, (1960), https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1198180[accessed 28 January 2021].
[ii] Claire Skinner ‘At the Sign of the Angel’, 2015, Lacock Unlocked, https://wshc.org.uk/lacock/lacock-unlocked/places/item/the-sign-of-the-angel.html
[accessed 28 January 2021].
[iii] ‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages, http://www.coinandbullionpages.com/english-gold-coins/gold-angel.html [accessed 28 January 2021].
[iv] ‘The Sign of the Angel’, Historic England List Entry 1198180
[v] ‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages.
[vi] ‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages.
[vii] ‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages.
[viii] ‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages.
[ix] ‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘Gold Angel’, Coin and Bullion Pages, http://www.coinandbullionpages.com/english-gold-coins/gold-angel.html [accessed 28 January 2021].
‘The Sign of the Angel’, Historic England List Entry 1198180, (1960), https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1198180 [accessed 28 January 2021].
Skinner. Claire, ‘At the Sign of the Angel’, 2015, Lacock Unlocked, https://wshc.org.uk/lacock/lacock-unlocked/places/item/the-sign-of-the-angel.html