Pub Sign Study Ye Olde Dolphin Inn Derby / myLot

Photo taken by me – the pub sign for Ye Olde Dolphin Inn Derby

Preston, England

June 25, 2019 5:57pm CST

Dating from 1580, this is Derby’s oldest pub, and I enjoyed calling in for a beer on my whistle-stop tour of the city. The hideous looking three dimensional monstrous fish creature on the sign is supposed to be a dolphin, and the pub is being authentic to the way they were depicted on heraldic shields. The artists did not know whales and dolphins are mammals and not fish. Part of the pub was once the mortuary of a licensed vivisectionist who often bought and worked on the bodies of men hanged for their crimes in Derby. Arthur Chappell

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9 responses

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (338682)

• Rockingham, Australia

26 Jun 19

Is there any talk that the pub is haunted? If any pub was, that one should be.

3 people like this

Greg

@xander6464 (43902)

• Wapello, Iowa

26 Jun 19

I had the same thought, "Is it haunted?"

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (338682)

• Rockingham, Australia

26 Jun 19

@xander6464 You'd think it would have to be. :(

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Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (44998)

• Preston, England

26 Jun 19

@JudyEv @xander6464 allegedly yes, as just mentioned in the reply post above though I don't believe in ghosts.

3 people like this

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LindaOH

@LindaOHio (176697)

• United States

26 Jun 19

I like the unique sign, the age of the pub and its history. Neat post.

3 people like this

pumpkinjam

@pumpkinjam (8754)

• United Kingdom

26 Jun 19

That does not look very much like a dolphin! Derby is not far from me - about an hour drive or 2 hours on a train - but I have only visited it once or twice. There are some lovely places around Derbyshire. I might put this pub on my 'to-do' list. I have been to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham, which claims to be the oldest pub in England.

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@arthurchappell (44998)

• Preston, England

26 Jun 19

@pumpkinjam Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem One I am yet to visit

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