Salopian tree - from London

 It’s not as well-known a fact as it should be, but there is a Shropshire Society In London group – made up of former Salopians now based in the capital.  They honour their home county often; and this year they contributed a tree to the Decorated Christmas Tree Festival at St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury.

As you can see, the Salop loggerheads form the society’s badge.  As they should…

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University heads

 

You feel as these three could really bite if they wanted to; their whiskers are sharp enough too!

You’ll find them overhead as you mount the stairs inside the entrance to the new University of Shrewsbury. This work is clearly an homage to the loggerheads themselves, as there is no sign that they derive from a heraldic device. The sculptor has given them a bronze colour as well, rather than the traditional gold/amber.

The university took over the Guildhall complex from the old Shrewsbury Council when it was set up just a few years ago, so the trio might have been left behind by the departing councillors. Or was it a new addition – a gesture of allegiance by the university to its home-to-be?

It would be interesting to know – please contact us if you have the knowledge.

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Lighting it up

A friend on mine spotted this set.
If you squint a bit you can see a marker, perhaps burnt on to the glass (it’s too high up to see properly), inside this street lamp. It bears the arms of the old Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council. There's a painted white F there too. I suppose it’s there as a mark of ownership.
Was it a way to deter thieves perhaps?

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Waggly footballing

 
This rather vibrantly-coloured set of loggerheads is representative of those that featured on the Shrewsbury Town Football Club badge for a century.  

The design and shape would alter down the years, but the loggerheads were a constant – except for one dark twelve-months. In a moment of great controversy, in the 2000s, the loggerheads were discarded by the club – but brought back after a ‘fans’ revolt’!

This 1970s version of the logo features particularly waggly, long tongues.

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Blue for Shropshire education

North Shropshire College is based on a campus just outside Oswestry, and is a shining example of modern educational achievement.

The badge is a twentieth-century mash-up of ancient influences.  
The ‘lion-passant’, most famous for its presence on the arms of England, was on the arms of the old Oswestry Town Council; the (single) loggerhead and fleur-de-lys come from the arms of Shropshire County; the blue colouring comes from the Shropshire County badge; while the wavy lines must represent the River Perry, surely?  (Does anyone know for sure?)

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Crash-barrier types!

This rather lonely bollard is to be found in the tiny St Alkmund's Square, an out of the way location in a back-street of Shrewsbury. It was probably placed in this odd position to stop carriages crashing into the corner of the house.

Embossed on the front of the bollard, facing the viewer, is a set of loggerheads (see right).
It's hard to see them clearly as they have been painted over in black, the same colour as the post itself.
They are probably civic loggerheads - i.e. placed on the structure to indicate that it was erected by the borough/town council.

Though there are many such posts in the town, there are very few such embossed posts. The only other ones I've found are in nearby St Mary's Court, but those are very worn.

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Monolithic

It is perhaps not surprising that the centrepiece of the new Shrewsbury Cemetery in the suburb of Emstrey (built in the late fifties) should be a monolith with a set of civic loggerheads on one side.  The piece was created for the millennium, in 2000.

However that does contrast with the fact that the old (19th century) Shrewsbury Cemetery, in Longden Road, has no loggerheads anywhere in it. Odd.

The three loggerheads look rather unhappy, don't they? They are also of the type that have the sharp (not rounded) ears.

On the obverse of this monolith is an pictorial impression of the town - with its three oldest extant churches (St Mary's, St Alkmund's and St Julian's) represented, along with the town walls.

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London loggerheads

 
This piece of stained glass, made by the famous firm of CE Kempe in 1920, clearly shows a loggerheads (on the left). They are even in the right colours - gold and blue.
BUT... they are in Southwark Cathedral in London, not Shropshire. 

The main part of the window is a tribute to the medieval poet John Gower, but these two lights are probably to do with the donors, the Winkey family.
Can anyone help explain the connection between some Shropshire loggerheads and the Winkeys?

For more on the Gower window, see: https://victorianweb.org/art/stainedglass/kempe/25.html

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Prince Rupert's glass

 

Some help please!  Of what organisation or family are these arms featuring loggerheads?

You’ll find these two windows in Church Street in Shrewsbury, an old cobbled street that links St Mary’s and St Alkmund’s churches. 
By coincidence, the windows face the old Loggerheads Public House, a hostelry that doesn’t seem to have changed much in its hundreds of years of existence.

The windows are in an equally ancient building, the Prince Rupert Hotel, so called because the king’s military commander – Prince Rupert – stayed there in the seventeenth century.
No one is suggesting the windows are that old, but it’s a nice connection.

The windows contain two shields with loggerheads in them: one is a set of three black-faced ones with a chevron device; the other a single one (with the more traditional gold face on a blue background) on a cross.

However – heraldry enthusiasts that I’ve spoken to don’t recognize the two shields here.
Clearly, the presence of loggerheads in them suggests Shrewsbury connections – but can anyone identify them?

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Oldest loggerheads

 
This may be the oldest full set of loggerheads (outside of seals or manuscripts) still in existence.  It was in Shrewsbury’s old Romaldesham Hall, which was demolished in 1760, so this set possibly dates back to the 17th century.
It now has pride of place in Shrewsbury Museum.

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Dodo on box

 
The public relations company working to boost Shrewsbury, ‘Shrewsbury BID’, has been busy this summer commissioning artists to paint the town's telecom cabinets.  The artworks give a very colourful look to the environment.
As they seem to be on a general wildlife theme, I had rather hoped a loggerhead-leopard might be included – but sadly no.
This bird here is an (extinct) dodo, reminding us of how many species are now no longer with us.

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Last act of display

 
The large plaque by the main doors at the Severn Theatre in Shrewsbury is one of the last art commissions made by Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council. It wasn't long after this plaque went up that the council was dissolved - and the new Shrewsbury Town Council came into being.
(The loggerheads represent Shrewsbury, and the bridge represnts the village of Atcham).

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Malevolent ones

 

 
Continuing on the theme of modern interpretations of the loggerheads, here we have the loggerheads of the Shropshire Football Association's logo.  Unlike the cheerful ones designed for Coleham School (as in the last post), they are distinctly more menacing, with a look of almost malevolent glee.  I knew a rather aggressive defender who used to look like that sometimes - perhaps the designer had him in mind(!).

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Cheerful loggerheads at school

 
In our last post, we looked at the 150 year-old carved loggerheads on the exterior of Coleham School in Shrewsbury.  
What’s interesting is to see how the loggerheads device keeps on being updated.
In this instance, the design in the photo above is the current Coleham School version, which can be seen on the school’s current signs and its pupils’ jumpers.  The traditional blue & amber colouring has been retained, though the lolling tongues are gone. 
The faces on the new design are however noticeably more cheerful than those of a hundred years ago, though – one might observe – some of the old heraldic gravitas has gone.

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School's ornate pediment

 
They don't make 'em like this anymore!  This pediment over Coleham Primary School is as ornate as you can get. Not only is there this huge effort but miniature versions over three doors.
Shrewsbury & Atcham Council seemed to have had a determination around 1900 to really stamp a civic look (including its loggerheads device) on the town.
You can find the school easily, just five minutes walk from the town centre and over Greyfriars foot-bridge.

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William Clement - 'Mister Shrewsbury'

The monument to William James Clement, the radical Shrewsbury politician, show three shields of arms on it – those of the borough of Shrewsbury, those the Royal (Shrewsbury) Grammar School and those – presumably – of William Clement himself (see photo above). 

He was a ‘commoner’ so he must have applied for the set of arms, and chosen the elements within it... and he chose loggerheads – the icon of his home town.

Clement served on the town council for over 30 years, getting involved in fine tussles with the dominant Tory group, and also did a stint as an MP for the town.
Did he choose the loggerheads for his device as a sign of his native credentials, to spite his Tory opponents?  Well… maybe, who knows?
In fact, are these definitely his arms?

You can find the monument just by Greyfriars Bridge (north side). There is also a portrait of him in the town art gallery, though it is not always on show.

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Magnificent gates

 
You'll not come across gates looking like this very often!  This photo shows just one of the range of gates, put up in 1885, at the roadside entrances to Shrewsbury's Quarry Park.
The grounds of the park, which run alongside the river at the other end, were donated to Shrewsbury Corporation in order to make a public park.  The gates were a gift of the Shropshire Horticultural Society, although they show a Shrewsbury loggerheads device rather than a Shropshire loggerheads device.
In full sunshine, they are a pretty magnificent sight in their blue & gold colours.

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Civic pride loggerheads

 When one first sees the 1A Castle Gates building in Shrewsbury, it looks yet another great example of the town's ‘black & white’ Tudor buildings. In fact, although very attractive, it’s deceptive, as it was actually built in 1902, probably as a shop.

On the bottom corners of the third storey, it has two tiny heraldic shields, as you can see in the photo – with loggerheads on the left, the Cross of St George on the right. Another example of civic pride no doubt.

However, I have still yet to find out who built 1A Castle Gates, and what exactly its first use was.  Can anyone help? 

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A latter-day mason's mark?

The puzzle in this photo is: when were these loggerheads put up?   

This is the early nineteenth-century building, in Dogpole in central Shrewsbury, which is still known as the Mountford Carriage Works, even though Mountford & Company had left by 1916.  (Edward Burd, the owner of next-door Newport House, seems to have disliked the noise the works made, and forced them out).

In 1917, the new owners of Newport House were the local Borough Council (who then resurrected the house’s old title - The Guildhall) and then (in the 1940s?) took over this adjacent former carriage works building.
Did they put up the loggerheads as a 'proprietorial' sign at this time?
The second theory is that the Dogpole roadway was widened outside Newport House, some time, by the borough’s engineers - who put up the loggerheads as a sign of their work - a kind of latter-day mason’s mark.

However, I’ve never found proof of either theory.  Does anyone have thoughts to add?

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Anonymous planter

 
You'll see a number of lead planters/troughs around Shrewsbury, some of which go back 250 years (see Shrewsbury Library planter for example).  However, the story of this one is not clear.  It bears the loggerheads and sits on the wall outside St Julian's Church, but otherwise it's rather anonymous.
Can anyone help us by giving us any clues to its story?  

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Visitors' loss

 
Oddly, now and again, you DON'T find loggerheads when you really would have expected them.  Shrewsbury Bus Station is a building that is dreary beyond belief, so it would be enhanced by a set of loggerheads - but not one is in evidence.
Also, you'd have thought that a loggerheads would be prominently displayed anyway, just as an identifying form of welcome for arriving visitors.  But no.

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Leaving his mark

 
One of the least noticed loggerheads-sets is this one, which is in the apex of The Old Bank Buildings in Shrewsbury's Barker Street. They were probably erected in the 1930s when Arthur Ward, the Borough Surveyor, drove through the plans to widen the road at this point, resulting in new frontages. 

You could call them 'post Arts & Crafts' in style if you wanted to.  (Ward was no philistine, so he ensured the new-build was sensitive).
Ward was also very proud of the town, so (it's thought) he liked to leave a set of loggerheads here and there!

(Credit for the information for this post to: Phil Scoggins' article in the Civic Society's Newsletter of March 2020)

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Freemen loggerheads

 
This corner-detail of a lovely piece of modern stained-glass (the St Benedict Window) in Shrewsbury Abbey reminds us that the sponsors of the window were The Gild (sic) of Freemen of Shrewsbury.  As you'd expect, their badge carries the loggerheads.

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Antique road sign - with odd yellows

It seems rather bizarre to realise that this shiny road sign in Shrewsbury is already an antique.  Like thousands of others in the area, it shows the arms of Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council - which no longer exists. It was abolished in 2009, and its powers were split between Shropshire County and the new Shrewsbury Town Council.  People mistakenly believe that the bridge in the picture is one of Shrewsbury's bridges, but, no, it's Atcham Bridge.

Of course, it would cost a fortune to replace all the road signs, so they will stay up until they decay, one supposes.

By the way, I have never been able to work out if the yellow markings are just a case of poor, misaligned printing or a deliberate attempt at a 'modern design' in scrolling.  Does anyone know?

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Cabbies' shelter

 
This quaint little structure, just inside the gates of Shrewsbury Castle, is in fact a former cabmen’s shelter/rank. It once stood in the town's Market Square, just a couple of hundred yards away – where it had provided a place out of the rain for cabbies as far back as horse-drawn times.

The roundel in the top window shows the arms of Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council, which existed from 1974 to 2009. As the shelter is much older than 1974, one wonders why this badge was installed...
Also... does anyone know exactly how old the shelter is?

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Loggerhead banking

 
Bridgnorth, in south-east Shropshire, has few loggerheads that we could find, but this one is prominent and central. It’s on the frontage of 21 High Street, the site of the old National Provincial Bank building (1905), which is now owned by Nat West.
Presumably, banks wanted to display loggerheads as a sign of their commitment to the locality.

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HMS Shropshire and Atcham

 

This plaque, now on display in Shrewsbury Castle Military Museum, was a gift from The Admiralty to Atcham Rural Council in 1943.  Atcham is a village in Shropshire not far from Shrewsbury.
The council was one of those to ‘adopt’ a ship during the Second World War: adoption meant a number of things, from knitting socks for the sailors to financial aid.  Curiously, it must have been very soon after this presentation (perhaps?) that HMS Shropshire was gifted to the Royal Australian Navy, as it was in late 1943.

Interestingly, this is another example of a single loggerhead; and another instance of the tongue being depicted in a 'disc', not lolling, shape. The shape - presumably - is a protruding tongue which is then folded over.  Is that right? Does anyone know the true interpretation?

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Loggerheads for Easter

 
There are surprisingly few loggerheads souvenir items available on general sale, even in Shrewsbury, and almost no novelty ones.
So this loggerheads inspired Easter egg is in fact a one-off, especially created - as a welcome surprise - for a loggerheads fan. 
And he was delighted with it!

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Coloured loggerheads

 
It's quite unsual to see a coloured firemark, as on this house in Meole Brace, a village near Shrewsbury. This probably means the item has been acquired as a curio and then painted.
Such firemarks (numbered plaques issued by local fire insurance companies) are now regarded as antiques.
However, the colours are spot on - gold/amber for the leopards' heads, and blue for the background - so, truly Salopian loggerheads! 

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The arms of education

 
Recently, the University Of Chester established an outpost in Shrewsbury. Although the number of students here is small, it is growing.
Naturally, the arms of the new establishment had to include loggerheads.

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Loggerheads for Winefride

 
These loggerheads are to be found well outside Shropshire, in some stained-glass at Holy Name Church in Oxton near Liverpool. Yet the Shrewsbury connection is very strong.

Oxton is inside the Roman Catholic diocese of Shrewsbury (which covers a huge area).
The section of glass you see here surmounts a window dedicated to St Winefride, the patron saint of Shrewsbury.
And the stained-glass piece itself was actually made by Margaret Agnes Rope, probably the finest artist ever to have been born in Shropshire.

It all connects!

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Bloody place

 
This loggerheads design is the standard one for Shrewsbury Borough Council (as was) in the 1930s - flaring fur, very red tongues, staring slightly to their left. 

You'll find it on the 'execution plaque' at the top of Pride Hill in the centre of Shrewsbury.

This marks the spot (almost) where Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last prince of an independent Wales was executed in 1283, not to mention some rebels of the 1403 rebellion.
The plaque was erected by Shrewsbury Borough Council sometime in the first half of the last century.

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Oswestry's nod to the loggerheads

 
The Guildhall at Oswestry (in north Shropshire) was designed for the use of the borough council as well as the townspeople. It's said to have been designed in a 'seventeenth century renaissance, freely treated' style, whatever that means.
It opened in November 1893 - and the loggerheads adorn its friezes, as you can see.

Even though the loggerheads can represent 'Salop' generally, many towns in Shropshire (apart from Shrewsbury of course) have an ambivalent attitude toward the loggerheads; indeed, some towns just ignore them altogether.
So, it would be interesting to know why the Oswestry councillors of the 1890s adopted them on their town hall. Oswestry's arms do not carry the loggerheads.  It's a puzzle - which it would be good to have an answer to.
Please let us have your thoughts on this matter... Use the comments field just down this page, or email us direct.  

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Wide-mouthed loggerheads

 

This small plaque appears over the door on Wesley House in Shrewsbury's Fish Street. The building dates back to the 1400s; it's so named because John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists, preached from it in 1761.
In 2019, it was converted - in a respectful way - and is now a bed & breakfast.

The plaque is not be confused with an insurance mark, but it's not quite clear what its function is - if indeed it has one. Certainly these particular loggerheads have the widest mouths of all loggerheads we've seen!

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1787 was a good year

 

Although the loggerheads appeared on Shrewsbury Corporation's official insignia for centuries, their popularity as a decorative feature on town objects seems to have waxed and waned.

But 1787 must have been a good year; this lead trough - now utilised as a planter in the entry-way at Shrewsbury Library - is dated to then. To enhance the decorative design, there are four (not the usual three) loggerheads around each lion.

It's curious though that the loggerheads surround a 'rampant' lion. The loggerheads clearly are meant as a heraldic device, but the lion rampant holds no particular heraldic meaning in Shrewsbury.
Or... does it? 
Please let us have your thoughts... Use the comments field just down this page or email us direct.  

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Atcham 'new' bridge

 
There are two bridges in Atcham, side by side - which seems slightly unnecessary, but when it seemed the old bridge was going to be replaced, it was given a heritage listing, so it couldn't just be demolished.

So, right alongside it, Shropshre County Council built a new bridge - which is what you see in the photo.  It crosses the Rivern Severn, and carries the main road through the village.

It was opened in 1929 by the rather famous politician & writer Herbert Morrison, who was the transport minister at the time.

The involvement of the county council explains the loggerheads' presence. 

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Loggerheads in Birmingham/Hereford

At the front of Birmingham Catholic Cathedral, one will find a number of heraldic designs in glass panels, including these arms. As we're a bit away from Shropshire, it was odd to see the loggerheads here.
However, the Birmingham Diocesan Archivist points out that they represent the coat of arms of Thomas Brown, the first Bishop of Newport & Menevia (died 1880).  The Catholic Diocese of Newport & Menevia, which doesn't exist any more, covered the whole of Wales (which is why the Welsh harp) plus, oddly, Herefordshire.  

So... what's the connection? Bit mysterious, this.
The usual explanation is that the ancient arms of the see of Hereford carry the three leopards' heads, which is why Bishop Brown adopted them - but the Hereford ones are upside down with fleur-de-lys issuing from them... so that explanation seems a bit thin, to me.
Does anyone have a better explanation? 

The leopards' faces are also rather crudely painted, which also struck me as odd.

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Daubing on Butcher Row

Butcher Row is one of Shrewsbury's iconic medieval streets and is full of listed buildings - but it looks like someone once thought it a good idea to paint daubs on some of these venerable door frames.

You have to look for them, but when you find them, you'll see that one of the daubs is a set of loggerheads. The work is amateurish and includes an unusual heraldic lion.

The other daub  that interests us is a shield of arms (see below right) - which we don't recognise. 

So, the mysteries are: who painted the loggerheads, and when, and why?  And whose arms are those on the second image?

Please let us have your thoughts... Use the comments field just down this page or email us direct.  

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