The diary of a Heraldry Addict
In the the third group, wherein part of the bearer's name is shown by the charges, it is possible that Bostock makes similar play with his silver fesse having its ends cut off, for this is no true fesse, but may be designed to suggest a conventionalised stock of a tree. A very tenuous pun but worthy of consideration.
Bostock
Sable a fesse hummette Argent.
In the the third group, wherein part of the bearer's name is shown by the charges,the arms of Spurstow of Spurstow, who carried in his green shield three pierced molets of gold, must also be included, for his charges are spur rowels.
Spurstow of Spurstow
Arms: Quarterly
1 & 4 Vert, three mullets pierced Or
2 Argent, a lion rampant Gules [Leigh]
3 Azure crussily, and three eagles displayed Or [Alphram]
Crest: A woman's head affronte, couped below the breast proper, hair dishevelled Or.
Also in the the third group, wherein part of the bearer's name is shown by the charges, we find the daws that Dawson of Nantwich painted on an engrailed bend of silver.
Dawson of Nantwich
Arms: Azure, on a bend engrailed Argent three dawes (Jackdaw's) Sable [Dawson]
Lingering for a while within the third group, wherein part of the bearer's name is shown by the charges, I am rather fond of the fretted trout of Troutbeck.
To this second group we can add the crests of Leche of Carden and Leche of Nantwich, who differenced, the one with a crescent on a crescent, the other with a ring, the old family crest of an arm coming out of a crown, the hand grasping the serpent of Aesculapius, patron of all leeches.
Leech of Cawarden, al's Carden
Arms: Ermine, on a chief indented Gules three ducal coronets Or, a crescent on a crescent for difference.
Crest: Out of a ducal coronet Or, a cubit arm erect proper, grasping a snake entwined of the first, a crescent on a crescent for difference.
Crest: Out of a ducal coronet Or, a cubit arm erect proper, grasping a snake entwined of the first, an annulet for difference
Perhaps to our more modern eyes not entirely of the first division, the arms of Shalcross of Stowshaw, a cadet of Shalcross of Shalcross in Derbyshire, made his pun less easily; nevertheless his saltire cross between four golden rings* in red is a fair example of the humour which the medieval armorists did not disdain.
Shalcross of Stowshaw
Arms: Gules, a saltire between four annulets Or, a crescent for difference.
Crest: A martlet Or, holding in the beak a cross formee fitchee Gules, a crescent for difference.
* For my reader who still hasn't got the pun, in the marriage vows, where rings are exchanged, substitute "I will" for "I shall" .
We remain in our first division of puns to make mention of the arms of Corona of Adlington, who perhaps missed his chance to use only one crown but nevertheless still maintained the pun because he bore a golden chevron and three golden crowns in a blue field.
Corona (Adlington, co. Chester): Azure a chevron between three ducal coronets Or.
One of my favourite puns, not included in the Visitations of Chester but recorded in Burke's G.A. and recorded in The Vale Royal of England, first published by Daniel King in 1656, is that of Croxton who placed two tuns between three crosses to illustrate his name.
Croxton (co. Chester and Ireland)
Argent, on a fesse Azure between three crosses crosslet fitchee Sable two tuns Or.
Continuing with the first division, we would be missing a trick if we did not add Cotton of Cotton who placed a silver chevron between the three hanks of cotton that indicate his name.
Cotton of Cotton
Azure, a chevron between three cotton shanks Argent.
To the arms of Delves and Bonbury of Stanney, in that first division, we may now add Bird of Clopton who bore on silver a cross paty between four martlets all coloured red, with a canton differently coloured for each branch of this family.
Bird of Clopton
Arms: Argent, a cross flory between four martlets Gules, a canton Azure.
To the arms of Delves, mentioned previously as a characteristic example of those arms which combine other charges with objects of the same name as the family, we may add those of Bonbury of Stanney, in whose silver chess-rooks we see three good castles.
[The name Bunbury (Bonbury) derives from the Old English personal name Buna, and the burh, which means "fortress". Bon of course is French for "good".]
Bonbury (Bunbury)
Argent on a bend Sable three chess rooks of the field.
Fitting easily into our first group is the crest of Brooke of Leighton, which naturally is a brock.
The latest addition to the Funeral Certificates series:
Anthony Hough, Gentleman, 1605.
Arms: Quarterly 1st and 4th, Argent, a bend Sable; 2nd and 3rd, Argent, a wolf's head erased Sable.
The Starkeys of Stretton and the various branches that came off the parent house had nought to do but to show the bird of their name in black on silver.
Starkey of Stretton
Arms: Quarterly -
1 & 4 Argent, a stork close Sable, beaked and legged Gules
2 Sable, a leopard's face Or, jessant de lis Argent [Morley]
3 Argent, a chevron engrailed between three garbs Sable [Darby]
Starkey of Stretton of the Overhall
Arms: Quarterly -
1 & 4 Argent, a stork close Sable, beaked and legged Gules
2 & 3 Argent, a griffin segreant Sable
I stumbled upon this by accident whilst looking for something else. It has an heraldic interest (from the Records of the Cheshire Quarter Sessions).
Newton of Pownall fell upon his pun more easily when he displayed a fine new tun of gold in his green escutcheon.
Newton of Pownall: Vert, a tun in fess Or.
Tun: noun; a large beer or wine cask.
Another pun which isn't difficult to solve is that of Harthill who placed a red hart on a green hill in his shield of silver.
Harthill: Argent, on a mount Vert, a buck couchant Gules.
Staying in the first division of heraldic puns we find Griffin of Cattenhall and Griffin of Barterton who charged their silver shield with a black griffin. No explanation needed there.
Griffin of Barterton
Arms: Argent, a griffin segreant Sable.
Happy Birthday Your Majesty.
The Royal Arms of England
John Hope, Gentleman, 1633.
Son and heir to George Hope of Dodleston. He died in his father's lifetime.
Arms: Quarterly of nine: 1, Argent, a chevron engrailed Sable between three birds [storks?*] ... beaked and legged Gules; 2, Gules, three uncorns' heads couped Or [Paris]; 3, Azure, a chevron between three fleurs-de-lis Or, on a canton .... two roundles ... [?]; 4, Argent, two bars Gules, each charged with three bezants, a crescent for difference [Martin co. York]; 5, Per bend sinister Ermine and Ermines, a lion rampant Or [Edwards]; 6, Azure, a lion rampant Argent, within a bordure of the second; 7, Or, a lion rampant Gules [Wale?]; 8, Or, a lion rampant Gules within a bordure of the second; 9, Azure, three boars passant in pale Argent; over the first three quarterings a label of three points Vert.
Staying for a while in the first and best group we next must come to Birches of Birches whose achievement is parted chevron-wise, with colours of gold in the chief and green in the foot, and placed therein three sprigs of a birch tree counter coloured.
Birches of Birches
Bird of Yowley and Bird of Crew
Arms: Quarterly 1 & 4 Per pale Argent and Or, an eagle displayed Sable.
2 & 3 Argent, an ass's head erased Sable [Hocknell]
By now, it should be obvious that any attempt at classification will show that not all examples of canting arms are of equal merit; some are simple and obvious whilst others are tenuous at best and obscure rather than obvious. Some names do not lend themselves so readily as others to this treatment, and of course this form of humour may not have appealed with equal force to every man whose name might have suggested the devising of a canting coat. Nevertheless, in our first group we can count Bird of Yowley, whose parted shield of silver and gold is charged with a black eagle.
While we are discussing the arms of Bird of Yowley, we may as well touch on the 2nd and 3rd quarters of Hocknell. The black ass's head which Hocknell of Hocknell bore on silver is not a very obvious pun until we remember that the humble ass might quite reasonably be regarded as a little hackney.
Praers
Gules, a scythe Argent.
In our last group we shall find the humour beaten even thinner still when the name of the bearer only hints delicately at something which the charge in the shield has to do with. Praers with his silver scythe on red carries an object which seems to have little suggestion of any pun however, when we remember that he too is of the band of punsters, and that the charge in his knightly shield is the tool wherewith his meadows were mown, we may be able, stretching a point, to see some pun. Snelston of Snelston, who bears the same arms but differently coloured a black scythe on silver makes his arms pun more closely on his name; for the first three letters of it are a hint at the word sneyd, which is the term for the handle of a scythe.
Snelston
Argent, a scythe erect Sable.
Downes of Downes and Tarhall
Arms: Sable, a buck lodged Argent.
Into the fifth group we can bring together the arms of families whose names do nothing more than suggest something which the charge is or does. The humour, my reader will note, is growing more subtle as we proceed with our classification; but there is an obvious appropriateness, for example, in the silver hart lying down which Downes of Downes painted on his black shield.
George Calveley of the Ley
Arms: Quarterly -
1 & 4 Argent, a fesse Gules between three calves passant Sable [Calveley]
2 Argent, on a bend sinister Gules nine annulets interlaced in threes, Or [Hawberk]
3 Sable, two hinds counter trippant Argent [Cottingham]
Crest: Out of a ducal coronet Or a calf's head Sable.
Continuing our sojourn around the puns in Cheshire armorial bearings, a fourth group might consist of shields whose charges are objects, the name whereof is part only of the bearer's name, combined with an ordinary. The arms of George Calveley of the Lea, as one example, would fit into this category, with arms of three black calves in a silver field having a red fesse between them, while his crest of a black calf's head erased and collared with a golden crown is equally an example of canting heraldry.
Calveley
Argent, a fesse Gules between three calves Sable.
Millington of Millington Azure, three millstones Argent each charged with a millrind Sable.
The third group of pun would contain shields of arms in which part only of the names of the owners is indicated by the charges. Of this type are coats like that of Millington of Millington, who placed three silver millstones in his blue shield.
In what might be considered a slightly less obvious group might be placed those coats in which charges whose names are the whole names of the bearers are combined with other charges. Delves of Doddington, so pleased to add the chevron of the Audley colours between the three black delves in his silver shield, could be included in this type of pun; here we see both the play on his name and his proclamation of his kinship with that Staffordshire squire whom James Audley delighted to honour for his valorous work at Poitiers.
We all like a good heraldic pun and one of my favourites is the arms of Toft.
Having just started the emblazonment of the arms of Mrs. Margaret Hockenhull, late wife of John Hokenhull of Prenton," 1613, I noted that there is no tincture given for the field of the Shotwick quarter and that the Hockenhull arms are noted as being in the 2nd and 3rd quarters rather than the 1st and 4th.
The first port of call (for the tincture of the shield) is, as always, Burke's but there is no entry for Shotwick. So, I looked for what I could find on Shotwick Hall and came across details of these arms in the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 12th March 1914, Shotwick Hall.
Shotwick Hall
In the parlour, to the right, there is a carving over the mantelpiece, disfigured by successive coats of paint ; in the centre are the arms of Hockenhull of Hockenhull and Shotwick, with helm and mantlet, viz. Crest on a wreath, party per fesse, Argent and Or, a buck's head and neck erased, attired Or, pierced through the nostrils with a dart in bend of the last, feathered Argent, barbed Azure.
Arms Quarterly, 1 and 4, a plain cross [Shotwick] ; 2 and 3, Argent, an ass's head erased Sable [Hockenhull].
Hugh Lupus
Azure, a wolf's head erased Argent.
The famous arms attributed to Hugh Lupus are perhaps in the first division of heraldic puns even though this great Domesday earl was not really armigerous in the sense in which we understand the term however, once we accept that these arms are attributed, they must stand as a most dignified representation of an heraldic pun
Richard Grosvenor, Esquire, 1619.
Funeral Certificates
Dame Elizabeth Grosvenor, 1628.
Daughter and sole heir to Sir Peter Warberton of Grafton [1st husband Sir Thomas Stanley of Auderley. 2nd husband Sir Richard Grosvenor of Eaton]
Arms, Quarterly of four: 1, Quarterly, Argent and Gules, in the second and third a fret Or, in the first quarter an ermine spot; over all a crescent for difference; 2, Argent, a chevron between three cormorants Sable; 3, Argent, two chevronels Gules on a canton of the second, a mullet Or; 4, Barry wavy of six Argent and Sable, a chief per pale Ermine and Gules, the latter charged with a fleur-de-lis Or; a crescent Sable for difference.
[I have not rendered these arms in a lozenge]
The first quarter is for Dutton* but bears an additional charge of fleur-de-lis in the first quarter as well as the cadency mark. The second quarter is for Warburton and the third is Warburton Ancient, or Orreby. I have yet to identify the fourth quarter.
*I received a reminder from Richard Lichten of a note by Clive Cheeseman (Coat of Arms, Journal of the Heraldry Society, Volume II 2006) that the Warburtons claimed male-line descent from Adam of Dutton, who had half the manor of Warburton in frank marriage with Agnes daughter of Roger son of Alured, the other half being granted to him by the Prior of St John of Jerusalem in 1189; see also G . Ormerod, History of the Count y Palatine and City of Chester (3 vols., London 1819), vol. 1, pp. 430-1. The family therefore frequently displayed the arms of Dutton in first place, sometimes adding a crescent to indicate that Adam was a second son.
I've been putting this one off for a while now because it has twelve quarters but having a few moments to myself (ha ... more like hours!) this afternoon decided to take the bull by the horns.
Image of the arms courtesy of Sodacan.
This image has just appeared on Facebook and it's raised a few questions.
There is no doubt that the creation of this digital image by Quentin Peacock is, in itself quite beautiful however, keeping it heraldic, the armiger should have been informed that baronies, particularly English feudal baronies (quite apart from the fact that there is a strong argument to say that they don't exist) never had arms of their own and so a feudal baron would never display arms of pretence in this way and in any case, English feudal barons never had any "additaments" such as the chapeau so the escutcheon of pretence would not be ensigned by one. Setting aside the escutcheon of pretence, which ought not be there, the actual shield is excellent and there is no reason why the crest should not feature a chapeau in the way that it does. Remove the escutcheon of pretence and it would have five stars (no criticism at all of the artwork).
In his other Facebook page (why do people assign to themselves the status of "Public Figure"?) he lends the impression that he would rather like the coronet of a baron of the UK Peerage!
The latest College of Arms Newsletter for April 2024 is now online .
