Staffordshire's Punning Heraldry - Bagnall

 Bagnall

Arms: Per saltire Or and Ermine, a lion rampant Azure.

Crest: An antelope sejant Argent ducally gorged Or.

There is a clever heraldic pun (known as canting arms) to be found in the crest of this achievement. The pun relies on a very rare, mythical heraldic beast known as the bagwyn. 

The blazon describes the crest as an antelope sejant. In traditional British heraldry, a bagwyn is an imaginary monster that looks almost exactly like a heraldic antelope. The primary distinction between the two is minimal, mostly involving the specific shape of the horns and the horse-like tail. Because they are so visually identical, armourists frequently substituted or conflated the two creatures. Bagwyn, is a direct phonetic pun on the surname Bagnall ("Bag-wyn" / "Bag-nall"). By placing an antelope in the crest, the designer created a visual nod to the bagwyn, cementing a classic medieval wordplay on the bearer's family name.