Painting of the 1st baron Hungerford by Jim Wynstanley

Ready to be rehung in my office. The arms of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford. Also illustrated are the associated arms of Heytesbury, Hussey, Peverell and Botreaux. Painted by the wonderful and talented Jim Wynstanley in 2008.

Heraldic Inn Signs

I am presently, due to this present order to stay safe and stay at home, scanning and editing all of the photographs of heraldic Inn signs given to me some time ago by the late Alan Fennely.


It occurs to me while I scan and edit all of these photographs of Inn signs that the late Alan Fennely, the original photographer, could never have imagined that there would come a time, albeit temporary, when every single public house in the whole of the United Kingdom would be closed by Order of the Government. Something the Temperance movements could only ever dream about!


All of these images were in the Cheshire Heraldry Gallery but due to a glitch, the gallery is no more. I do have the images and so will be looking at an alternative hosting solution shortly.

The Chief Herald of Arms of Malta

Some of you may know that I have challenged the right of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta to grant new arms, register/matriculate existing arms and, most importantly, to regulate heraldry in Malta. Letters have been exchanged, the first being an enquiry to the Chief Herald himself which gained no response. I then wrote to his boss, the Chief Executive of Heritage Malta and received a reply from a learned advocate which did not answer my questions. I then wrote to the Maltese Government Ombudsman and the matter was placed into the hands of their Chief Investigating Officer who accepted that I and The Armorial Register Limited had an interest in the matter and asked me to provide a response to the FAQs since posted on the website of the Chief Herald. I have now submitted the response to the Chief Investigator.

For those of you who are interested, here is my response:

https://bit.ly/3aWv1yi

Pointon - is it a "pun"?

It is hard to imagine how the blazon "Ermine, on a fess Sable three crosses pattee Or" could provide a pun on the surname Pointon.

Perhaps this one has been staring me in the face for years, perhaps it was never meant to be a pun, perhaps it was and I just missed it but I've just reached the surnames beginning with "P" in the Vale Royal section of the website revamp and the arms of Pointon and now, after all these years, I realize that it may indeed be a pun.

When I first emblazoned these arms, many years ago, I had to concentrate to see the crosses pattee and always felt that the emblazonment presented me with an optical illusion which prevented me from seeing the crosses; it dawns on me now that the optical illusion presents me with double ended arrows; could these be pointing - or pointon!

Website back up and running

My reader may be interested to learn that I have begun the work of restoring the main website of Cheshire Heraldry.

I have started with the Vale Royal section, mainly because that it how the whole thing began. As of today I am up to page six - slow but steady progress.

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/vale_royal/VRE6.html

Bees in Heraldry

Amongst the Heraldry books in the library of the late Alan Fennely is a wire bound thesis by Kathleen J. Kell titled Bees in Heraldry. It is dated 1987. It is thought that Ms Kell probably completed this for the Heraldry Society Examination.

Alan Fennely, Hon FHS

I am sorry to inform you that our very good friend in heraldry, Alan Fennely, our "Northern Plenipotentiary" passed away at his home at 7:30 this morning. He had been unwell for some time. The Heraldry Society Secretary has been informed and an obituary will appear in the next Heraldry Gazette.He will be very much missed.Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.