Originally Posted by
Pangolin
Presumably as a publicity gimmick, they have also seized on the Nag's Head as having made the top 25 (nowhere near according to us) and trotted out (or should that be Trottered?) the totally ridiculous story that appeared a while ago that the name derives from lanterns hung on horses to signal to smugglers. Quite apart from the fact that smugglers' signal lanterns were closely masked to avoid alerting the excisemen, you might expect that this would mean many Nag's Heads would be on the coast. Needless to say, hardly any of them are, with only one being anywhere near a 'smuggling' area. It is a great shame that if you repeat something often enough it becomes accepted as a fact.