The Heraldic Visitations of Shropshire Volume 1

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A facsimile copy of The Visitation of Cheshire in the Year 1580

I am presently putting the finishing touches to a facsimile copy of The Visitation of Cheshire in the Year 1580 which will be produced and privately printed by me and available to order on-line via Lulu.com. Although this work is readily available in CD format it is practically impossible to get hold of in book form. This project came about as a spin off from my illustrated book of the Visitations of 1580 when, as a result of my having to continually refer to my own copy of the book I took time out to produce a facsimile copy so that I could preserve the original. I found it much easier to continually refer to a real book which I could have by the side of my computer while working on the creation of the images than have to refer to the contents of a CD which was also on my computer. I also found it more relaxing as bed time reading! 

 

This book will make a nice companion to the volume of illustrations (and of course it contains all of the pedigrees).

The Visitation of Cheshire in the Year 1580, Made by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, for William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, with Numerous Additions and Continuations, Including Those From the Visitation of Cheshire Made in the Year 1566, by the Same Herald, with an Appendix, Containing the Visitation of a Part of Cheshire in the Year 1533, Made by William Fellows, Lancaster Herald, for Thomas Benolte, Clarenceaux King of Arms, and a Fragment of the Visitation of the City of Chester in the Year 1591, Made by Thomas Chaloner, Deputy to the Office of Arms. Edited by John Paul Rylands, F. S. A. London 1882.

STOP PRESS

Now available. See: http://www.lulu.com/shop/martin-s-j-goldstraw/the-heraldic-visitations-of-cheshire-1533-to-1580/hardcover/product-21170494.html

Leftwich of Leftwich 1663 ... an error?

I have just emblazoned the arms of Leftwich of Leftwich as recorded in the Visitations of 1666 and I am left with the opinion that either the entry itself or the transcription of it must surely be an error. The blazon is recorded as: Argent, an escutcheon between eight martlets in orle Sable, a canton also Sable. (No crest is recorded).

The arms of Leftwich of Leftwich are extremely well documented elsewhere as being Argent, an escucheon voided within an orle of martlets Sable, within the escucheon a cross pattee Gules and they are so closely related by design and blood to their cousins the Winningtons that an error is the only conclusion that can be drawn.  

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/visitations/CV17.html

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/weblog/?p=248

Lee of Darnhall

You know what it’s like, you read a blazon and it is somehow different to the norm? Well today I set about emblazoning the arms of Lee of Darnhall, from the Cheshire Visitations of 1666, when I questioned the blazon for the crest, doubting what I had transcribed. Was the blazon really “On a ducal coronet Or a leopard's face Sable? Surely it must be “Issuing from a ducal coronet Or a leopard's face Sable”?   A quick check in Burke’s G.A. confirmed the Visitations record. Or… perhaps it just confirmed the Visitations mistake!

Either way, it is interesting to note that the entry in Burke’s records that from this family the Earls of Lichfield were a branch; the chief line removed from Lee to Darnhall temp Charles I and became extinct in the male line at the decease of General Charles Lee, the American General.

Lee of Darnhall
Arms: Quarterly:
1 Argent, a chevron between three leopards' faces Sable [Lee]
2 Sable a scythe in bend sinister Argent [Lee]
3 Sable, two bars Argent on a canton of the first a garb Or [Weever]
4 Or a chevron between three tau crosses Azure [              ]

Crest: On a ducal coronet Or a leopard's face Sable.

A cast bronze parrot of Hatherton

Many of you will know that I have in my possession a copper medal of the Walgherton Female Friendly Society, c. 1840 where upon the obverse are illustrated the arms of John Twemlow. I continue to seek details of this friendly society without much success however today I stumbled upon another curiosity demonstrating that John Twemlow was not shy about the use of his armorial bearings.

The British Museum has in its possession a rather novel armorial paperweight (Museum number 2003,0331.40). Unfortunately this item is not illustrated and although I would dearly love to see it, at a cost of over £60 to commission a photograph I think that I will have to give it a miss.

The object is described as a cast bronze parrot with raised wings, standing on an oval base with and supporting a shield with coat of arms and motto on a scroll below, which reads: TENEO TENVERE MAJORES. The parrot has a crown round its neck form which hangs a chain attached to the base. Round the edge of the base, the inscription: *PRESENTED TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM BY JOHN TWEMLOW ESQR OF HATHERTON CHESHIRE 1835. Possibly for use as a paperweight.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3005920&partId=1

Grosvenor of Eaton - 1663

Latest addition to the web site:



Grosvenor of Eaton
Arms: Quarterly of twelve:
1 Azure, a garb Or [Grosvenor]
2 Sable a cross patonce Argent [Pulford]
3 Azure, three pheasants Or [Fesant]
4 Quarterly Argent and Sable, a cross patonce counterchanged [Eaton]
5 Vert, three stumps of trees couped and eradicated Or [                ]
6 Argent, a bend Sable between three ogresses [              ]
7 Azure, an eagle displayed Argent [Cotton]
8 Gules, three swords erect (two and one) Argent hilts Or [              ]
9 Or, six eagles displayed (three, two and one) Sable a canton Ermine
10 Argent, three birds Gules [               ]
11 Azure, two bars Argent [Wilbraham]
12 Or, a fess Azure [                ]

Crest: A talbot statant Or. 

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/visitations1663/CV1663_6.html

Ludlow

Photographed in Ludlow (Shropshire) yesterday.

The armorial bearings of the town of Ludlow: Azure, a lion couchant between three roses Argent. Photographed on the almshouses provided by Johannis Hosyer.



Cannon outsite the entrance to Ludlow Castle: