The sign that hangs over the door is a huge animal's bladebone encased in copper.
The folowing legend accounts for its origin:

It is said that once upon a time a ferocious mammoth lived in the Kennet Valley. Not content with its native haunts, it prowled far and wide, attacking the human inhabitants of the surrounding country and spreading terror for miles.

At last the men of Newbury and Thatcham district (or as some say, the men of Thatcham and Bucklebury) determined to put an end to the monster's tyranny, so they raised an army, which fought and slew it.
They buried the mammoth on the banks of the Kennet.

Centuries later its skeleton was discovered. A Bucklebury man secured the bladebone, which was covered witha wooden case and hung as the sign of The Bladebone Inn, now a favourite meet of the South Berks foxhounds. No dates are given in the legend, but the bladebone appears on the only type of Bucklebury token ever struck, and that was in 1666.
(The name of the issuer of the token was John Moorcock, who married Jane Knapp at Bucklebury Church on August 25th, 1645, as the parish register records)
In quite recent years the signboard has twice been taken down for renovation, and the bone inside found to be in an excellent state of preservation.