How Well Do You Know Your Loggerheads??

 

The town council in Shrewsbury is running a special ‘Identify The Loggerheads!’ quiz. It’s part of the celebrations of the 600th anniversary of the loggerheads.

 The process of answering the quiz is a bit of convoluted … but here’s how it works:-

1.  Take a walk around the town's Quarry Park and its fringes.  You will find twenty posters on your walk, each numbered, and each with a photo on it of a set of loggerheads. Check the photo above for an example - it is 'poster number one'.
The council have provided a leaflet indicating where all the posters are (see pic right - to see the image more clearly, just click on it once to enlarge it).

2.  Each of the twenty posters shows a different set of loggerheads.  The point of the quiz is to remember where each set is actually located. (Clue: all the pictured sets of loggerheads are situated up on a public place somewhere within the town).

3.   Then, once you have identified the locations of the twenty sets of loggerheads, send your answers (numbered, of course) to the town council’s offices in St John’s Hill  – and, if your entry is correct, you go into a draw for a prize.  The deadline is August 31st.
(You don’t actually need the entry form, but if you want one, you can obtain one at the town council’s offices in St John’s Hill.) 

Sounds easy…   But...  Even for long-time loggerheads-spotters, this quiz is not as easy as you’d think!  
Loggerheads are strange in that you might see dozens of them every day as you walk around Shrewsbury, but you kinda forget about them after a while.  They are ‘hidden in plain sight’, to quote the phrase. 
So I found I really had to rack my brains to remember where each of the twenty loggerheads is actually to be found in the town.
It’s a loggerheads challenge!

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Smoking for loggerheads

 

In the old days when nearly everybody smoked, cigarette companies gave away a free card in each pack as a sort of extra incentive to get people to buy.  Depending on the promotion at the time, these might be cards of famous footballers or international flags or Kings & Queens and so on; and there were usually about twenty to be collected. 

This is a photo of such a card.  Perhaps Wills had put together a collection of 'shields of arms of local authorities' (?). It doesn't sound the most exciting promotion though....

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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The Beast at Shrewsbury Archives

 

The poster advertising a talk at Shrewsbury Archives features this single-loggerhead. By definition, loggerheads come in threes, but single-loggerheads do appear now & again. 

The featured image is a photo of the wonderful metal carving on the main door at the Shrewsbury Archives building. It's a fine piece of art.  (Does anyone know who created it?)

The talk, on May 29th at 2pm, is actually about how to research obscure subjects, such as the loggerheads, at the Archives.

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Loggerheads far from home

 

This set of loggerheads is actually in a stained glass window in Oxton Catholic Church in Merseyside, so you might reckon at first that they are a little lost.  However, in this instance, the loggerheads still signify a Shrewsbury connection.
First, Oxton is in the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, even though it is a good few miles from the actual town of Shrewsbury.
Secondly, the main body of the window (which is a really lovely work of art) depicts Saint Winefride, who is the patron saint of Shrewsbury, even though she lived in North Wales.

The window was created by a Shrewsbury woman, Margaret Agnes Rope, in 1929 and is one of a number of windows by her in this small church.  All her windows here are sublime and well worth the effort to go and see them if you can. 

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Collectors of loggerheads

 
It had been hoped to have a Loggerheads 600th exhibition this year to mark the emblem's anniversary.  It would have been a 'people's exhibition' in that, alongside the historic artefacts, there would have been items temporarily loaned by local people.  However, it was not be.

Many local people's loans would presumably have been one such as this souvenir spoon, now quite rare, which would have been sold as a takeaway item at Shrewsbury Castle.  The enthusiast who now has it says that loggerheads-collecting is his passion, and he has many more items. 

(Image: copyright I Pritchard)

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Dod's fleur-de-lys arms

 

As a mark of respect to those local philanthropists who sustained and maintained hospitals before the days of the NHS, their coats of arms can still be seen, framed and honoured, on some of the corridors in the present-day Shrewsbury Hospital.

The arms of JW Dod are interesting in that they incorporate what look very much like Shrewsbury loggerheads. They are in the right configuration and have yellow and blue colouring in the design, though, admittedly, the leopards' faces are monochrome or silver, not gold.
What's more, Dod has added some fleur-de-lys.

John Whitehall Dodd himself was a leading Shropshire landowner and served as the MP for North Shropshire for ten years. He also built St. Bartholomew's Church in nearby Prees.

It was not unknown for an individual to apply for loggerheads to be added to his/her arms - but it was unusual.  So - one might say -, the leopards' faces possibly represent something else, perhaps a family connection.  It's frustrating not to know though.  Can anyone shed some light on this?

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Bring on a birthday beer...

 
Apparently, Shropshire Hop beer (made at Joule's Brewery in Market Drayton, north Shrops) is back - after a while away.  It's a light, almost floral, beer - very suitable for the warm weather. Drinkable!

The design here pays obeisance to its titular county with a loggerhead in its presentation, though, sadly, only one such head, not three.  It also carries the traditional gold & blue colour combination of the loggerheads and even the ermine-spots (the things in this particular design which resemble Xmas trees) of the 'Shropshire loggerheads'.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Joules produced a specific Loggerheads Beer this year - in honour of the loggerheads' 600th birthday?  I'd drink it...  

#ShropshireHop

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Helmet, swords and loggerheads

 
Surprisingly, not all Shropshire's military outfits adopted the loggerheads, but the Yeomanry Cavalry, one of the oldest, certainly did. 

In the official history of the regiment, written in 1953 by EW Gladstone, the first image in the book is of the unit's badge - which features the loggerheads (see pic right).  

#ShropshireYeomanry

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Heraldry at St Julian's

 
St Julian’s Church, at the top of Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury, has quite a few loggerheads - more than any other town church.  The trouble is: we don't know why they are there, as the sources on St Julian's are rather quiet.

This lovely heraldic window in the church could be showing a set of arms for a member of the Bennett family because the underlying motto, 'de bon vouloir servir le roi', appears to be theirs.  It could be that the Bennetts married into the Newports, as the Newports had arms based on a loggerheads with a gold chevron (as quartered in the top right-hand of the shield depicted). 
But it's a mystery for now.  (Maybe there's a connection with the historic Bennett's Hall?). 
If you have a suggestion, please complete the Comments Form below.  We'd be grateful!

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

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Second Chapter gives MOL a chance

 

'The Mysteries Of The Loggerheads', the book about the 600-year story of the emblem of Shrewsbury, is now on sale at yet another bookshop in the town.  As well as being on sale at Pengwern Books and the Bear Steps Gallery Shop, it is now at Second Chapter. Click here for details of the shops and their opening times (mail-order is available).

Second Chapter is an antiquarian bookshop specialising in all sort of curious and fascinating old books - especially anything to do with the local area.  It's to be found in the Parade Centre behind St Mary's Church.  It's worth going to just for the pleasure of browsing!

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Loggerheads book now on sale

 

As 2025 marks the 600th anniversary of the coat of arms of Shrewsbury (three leopards' heads, known familiarly as 'loggerheads'), it's only fitting that a book telling their centuries-old story, from 1425 to the present day, is being published.

It's on the shelves now at three bookshops in the town - Pengwern Books, Second Chapter Books and the Bear Steps Bookshop - at £7.99 a copy.  Click here for details of the shops and their opening times (mail-order is available).

Although it's hot on historical fact, the book is a lot of fun, being told in an easy and accessible way with lots of photos and even a joke or two.  
It's called 'The Mysteries Of The Loggerheads' because it purports to unravel almost all the myths surrounding their story. 
Get your copy before they are sold out!

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The Gild's pretty badge

 

The Gild of Freemen of Shrewsbury looks, from a distance, just like another exclusive club, but in fact it has an important role in monitoring the development of the medieval town.

 

The Gild has adopted as its badge an image of the ancient town Common Seal of 1425, which shows the loggerheads on the old town walls.
The Gild has taken a little artistic licence with the badge though, as the seal was not painted, so it had no colours.  The badge looks pretty though!  

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Happy loggerheads anniversary

It's the 600th anniversary of the loggerheads this year.  They first appeared in history on the Shrewsbury Common Seal, which is dated 1425.

So... here's a birthday card! Liz Mellor, a self-confessed Proud Salopian artist, created this rather lovely tribute to the loggerheads.

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Everything but the loggerheads

This postcard is on sale widely in Shrewsbury. It displays a list of the curious & particular words, places, people and aspects which are essential - and even unique - to the town,  But do you see what important and historic characteristic is missing?  Yes..., there is no reference to the loggerheads. It's bewildering.
In the last post we wondered (sadly) if the people simply no longer understood the role the loggerheads have played and do play in the town’s life. 

However ... the good news for loggerheads-lovers is that a new book, marking the 600 years since they appeared in history, comes out next month.  Entitled 'The Mysteries of The Loggerheads', it will explain much and reveal even more. It may even help townsfolk remember how central to Shrewsbury town the loggerheads are! Look out for our next post for details.

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Noticeable by absence at the tree fest

 
Are the loggerheads losing their popularity?  Usually there are plenty of them to be seen, one way or another, at the Shrewsbury Christmas Tree festival.  (The festival is held at St Chad's, the town’s famous round church, every year).
However, although there were around fifty decorated trees this year, all identifying local businesses and organisations, there were no loggerheads to be seen.  Let's hope the absence is a blip!

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