Oxford Inscriptions: Lamb & Flag
This inscription over the door of the Lamb & Flag pub in Lamb & Flag Passage off St Giles' dates from the pub's reopening in the autumn of 2022.
It is written in “Elvish” (the dwarf runes adopted by Tolkien from the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian rune scripts) and means:
“Speak, 'Friend', and enter” (as stated in the Heritage Asset Statement provided by the Inklings Group CLC in their retrospective planning application for listed building consent: 22/02817/LBC).
The Lamb & Flag was one of the two pubs in St Giles' frequented by J. R. R. Tolkien, a member of the Inklings.
The compass points on Tolkien's former home in Sandfield Road, Oxford are also inscribed in Elvish.