Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire - Bird of Yowley

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.

Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire - Praers and Snelston

 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.      

Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire - Downes of Downes and Tarhall

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. 

Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire - Calveley of the Lea

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.     

Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire - Millington of Millington

 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.

Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire - Delves of Doddington

Delves
Argent, a chevron Gules fretty Or between three delves (sods of turf) Sable.          

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.

Heraldic Puns abound in Cheshire

We all like a good heraldic pun and one of my favourites is the arms of Toft. 

The Tofts of Toft, a very ancient Cheshire house, charged their silver shield with a black chevron and three text T's of the same, the T oft repeated being an exact representation of their name. 

Addendum:

Extracts from Ormerod's History of Chester illustrating that the original Toft of Toft coat did not have the chevron.