How many can fix this Bideford object?

Is it St George? Is it one of Caesar’s men? Does it depict the guarding spirit of a reputable centre of hospitality?

We know it is a familiar symbol above the main entrance to Tanton’s Hotel, Bideford, where it commands the river stretch and Long Bridge.

One supposition is that it was a ship’s figurehead from an old sailing vessel repaired in the port which found its way into the hands of a previous owner of the hotel. Mr Berale, the manager of the hotel, said he understood the legend to be that a sea captain who couldn’t pay his bill and left his ship’s figurehead in lieu in about 1865.

Gazette article 29 August 1952