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?
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Wasn't the rampant lion one of the heraldic symbols of Earl Talbot, Lord of Shrewsbury?
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed you are quite right.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, George Talbot, 14th Earl of Shrewsbury, died in 1787, the same year as this piece was dated.
Some sort of commemorative item?
M