Outside the old Corn Exchange in, of course, Corn Street, in the centre of town, the small area that managed, in part, to survive the attentions of the Luftwaffe, we find these curious objects.
Four waist high bronze nails, all of different design and dates - one is Elizabethan, one Caroline. They were moved to their present location when the Corn Exchange was built in the early 1740s. Commercial wares may have been displayed, and deals were struck on them, payable in cash.
Bristol myth is that they are the source of the phrase 'paying on, or cash on, the nail,' but this seems to have arisen before the nails were set up in Bristol, and may even be Anglo-Norman in source from payer sur l'ungle. In any event Bristol isn't the only city to have nails - Liverpool and Limerick are others.
But nice quirk, and why spoil a good story. Just don't rest your fish and chips or pint on them. They are too splendid for that.
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