Sign for the Black Swan, North Walsham
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Sign for the Black Swan, North Walsham 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 Black Swan, North Walsham
Image: © Maigheach-gheal Taken: 15 Apr 2008
A Roman named Juvenal jokingly referred to a 'black swan' as an example of a "rara avis", a 'rare bird'. He would not have known that such birds existed in Australia. Black Swan appeared as a tavern or inn sign in the 16th century, at which time it may have been meant to be a signal what a "rara avis", a remarkable person, the landlord was. Later references may well be Australian, since a black swan is the emblem of Western Australia. A naval reference is also possible, since HMS Black Swan was active between 1939 and 1956.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.820491
Longitude
1.384141