Sir William Brereton

Back in November last year I commented on the arms of Brereton of Ashley and find myself, because of an enquiry from a good friend of Cheshire Heraldry, with an excuse to publish a little more of my research. I have been asked if I have identified the quarterings in the arms of the Brereton Memorial. I have indeed:



These are impaled arms.

Dexter:
1 Argent, two bars Sable [Brereton]
2 Argent, an inescutcheon within a double tressure counter flory Gules [Scotland]
3 Or, three piles in point Gules [Scot Earl of Chester]
4 Quarterly; 1 & 4 (Kevelioc and Lupus) 2 & 3 Azure, three garbs Or (Kevelioc Earl of Chester)
5 Gules, three pheons Argent [pro Egerton inherited from Belward, Baron of Malpas]
6 Azure, three garbs Or [Kevelioc Earl of Chester]
7 Azure, a wolf’s head erased Argent [Lupus Earl of Chester]
8 Argent a cross flory Azure [pro Egerton inherited from Malpas, baron of Malpas]
9 Argent, a lion rampant Gules between three (sometimes as here six) pheons Sable [Egerton of Egerton]
10 Or, two ravens in pale Sable [Corbet of Leighton]
11 Ermine, five chevronels Gules, on a canton of the second a lion passant Or [Orreby]
12 Gules, two lions pasant Argent, a label of three points Or [Strange of Dalby]
13 Quarterly Argent and Gules, over all on a bend Sable three mullets of the first [Ashley]
14 Gules, three cross-crosslets fitchee Or, a chief of the second charged with a crescent for difference [Arderne]
15 Argent, on a bend engrailed Sable, an annulet Or [Radcliffe]
16 Argent, a griffin segreant Gules [Chaderton]
17 Quarterly, Argent and Gules, a bend Azure [Timperley]
18 Gules, a lion rampant Argent [unidentified]

It is believed that there is no real evidence to substantiate the descent bringing in the quarterings of the earls of Chester line.

Sinister:
Warburton, of Arley
1 Quarterly Argent and Gules, in the second and third quarters a fret Or (a crescent for difference) [Dutton]
2 Argent, four bars Gules
3 Argent, a chevron between three cormorants Sable [Warburton]
4 Argent, three chevrons Gules, on a canton of the last a mullet Or [Warburton Ancient, or Orreby]
5 Argent, a shield voided Sable, an orle of martlets of the last [Winnington]
6 Azure, a garb Or, between two bezants in fess [Grosvenor]
7 Sable, a cross patonce Argent [Pulford] [this coat is also recorded elsewhere as that of Eaton]
8 Azure, three pheasants Or [Fesant]*
9 Quarterly Argent and Gules, in the second and third quarters a fret Or (a crescent for difference) [Dutton]

* The charges on this quarter on the Brereton tomb do not admittedly look very much like pheasants, indeed they look more like cocks however quarters 6, 7 and 8 are brought into this family by an alleged alliance with Grosvenor of Caton and therefore this shield is undoubtedly that of Fesant.