The Griffin is a former public house in

Whitecross Street Whitecross Street is a short street in Islington, in Inner London. It features an eponymous street market and a large housing estate. Since 2010, there has been an annual Whitecross Street Party one weekend in the summer, together with an exhi ...

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, Wales. The building dates from the 18th century and has been

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

since 2005. Its name and

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

refer to the legendary creature, the

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

. In the 18th century the pub was called ''The Old Griffin''. It was rebuilt in the 1830s and refurbished in the 1990s. The building is situated on the corner of Whitecross Street and St Mary's Street, which were both main thoroughfares for the town until the mid 18th century. The building's rounded entrance was designed to accommodate traffic turning on the tight corner.

Keith Kissack Keith Edward Kissack MBE (18 November 1913 – 31 March 2010) was a British schoolteacher and historian. He is notable for his many publications on the history of Monmouth and Monmouthshire. Life Kissack was born in Clun, Shropshire, to Rev. ...

, ''Victorian Monmouth'', The Monmouth Historical and Educational trust, , page 45 The Landlady of the pub was once Eleanor Jones. At the turn of the 19th century it was occupied by Charles Ballinger who also produced mineral water, enabling the pub to cater for more temperate drinkers.Heather Hurley, ''The Pubs of Monmouth Chepstow and The Wye Valley'', Logaston Press, 2007, , page 38

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Monmouth History of Monmouthshire Pubs in Monmouth Grade II listed buildings in Monmouthshire Grade II listed pubs in Wales