Sign for the Unicorn Hotel, Llanidloes
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Sign for the Unicorn Hotel, Llanidloes by Maigheach-gheal as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Sign for the Unicorn Hotel, Llanidloes
Image: © Maigheach-gheal Taken: 10 Oct 2008
The unicorn came to pub signs after being on other signs as it was often used by chemists and goldsmiths and there are numerous mentions of this fabled animal in the Old Testament. Because a unicorn could only be captured by a beautiful young virgin early Christians chose him to represent Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. It was believed that dipping the horn of a unicorn in liquid would determine whether it contained any poison and powdered horn was considered to be an aphrodisiac. These beliefs led to the unicorn being a sign for an apothecary. The unicorn appears on the arms of the Goldsmiths, Wax Chandlers and Apothecaries Companies and it is also on the royal badge of Scotland. The arms of James I had two unicorns.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.449497
Longitude
-3.54011