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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