Bridge in loggerheads colours

We talk a lot on this blog about the blue-gold colouring of the loggerheads’ design – gold for the leopards' faces, blue for the background. It has been a constant feature of the emblem all down the centuries.
So it is natural that Shrewsbury Town Council, the direct ‘descendants’ of the original Shrewsbury Corporation, which first created and adopted the loggerheads, should also sport blue-gold as their colours. By extension, anything that wants to feel ‘Shrewsbury’, should also come in that combination.

This explains the slightly garish painting on the railings of this pedestrian bridge in Shrewsbury which crosses the Rea Brook stream into Meole Brace village. The decorative colour-work, which has appeared just in time for the loggerheads' 600th anniversary year, tells us that this is the work of an organisation that is proud to demonstrate the traditional blue-gold of Shrewsbury.

Actually, it's doubly clever to have painted this bridge in blue-gold. This bridge is on the route that Shrewsbury Town Football Club supporters use when they want to walk back into town from the club's stadium. 
And the colours of Shrewsbury Town Football Club are... of course... gold and blue!

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

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Sabrina's birthday wishes

 

Over the last couple of years, the Shrewsbury improvement group, BID, has been commissioning artists to paint bollards and telecom-cabinets across the town.  It’s a novel way of beautifying the urban environment.

In this year 2025, there had of course to be pieces remembering the 600th-birthday of the loggerheads (see SNIDs’ bollard for an example).  
One of the most charming of them is the one shown here, located near English Bridge. It shows Sabrina, the patronal goddess of the town, holding the emblem. There’s an air of Botticelli about it; and it quite raises the spirits when one walks past it, even if the loggerheads themselves look strangely thoughtful!   
Katherine Morris is the artist.  

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 updated for the 21st century

 

There have been a number of anniversary activities to honour the 600th year of the Shrewsbury loggerheads, but few as dramatic as the make-over at the school in Longden Coleham.
The school, built when Victoria was on the throne, lies just a few yards from Shrewsbury’s Greyfriars Bridge; and it has been proud to wear the loggerheads on its branding for over one hundred years. Despite various updates over more than one hundred years, the school has never abandoned the loggerheads!

However, this year, it took advantage of the loggerheads’ 600th to re-design and modernise the logo once again.  The end-result is a vibrant and colourful new approach, just right for a 21st century primary school which wants to progress but also to remember its roots.
The school put together an article explaining what it was trying to do, which is quite a fascinating story in itself.

The school is on a relatively small site in a residential area, so it is doubly remarkable that, all in all, it displays ten (yes, ten!!) sets of large loggerheads – five of the new design, and five of the Victorian design.

The five loggerheads-sets on the school that date back to 1901 (when the school was founded) are all stone-carvings built into the walls on the two public sides of the building.  The loggerheads then would have referenced the funders – the Education board of Shropshire County Council – but have since transmuted into regular, home-grown, ‘modern’, Shrewsbury loggerheads. Somehow, the loggerheads can just keep adapting...

It is remarkable indeed that the loggerheads, old as they are, still can inspire much affection in the local population.  The parents & children totally approve!  

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

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Refreshed loggerheads

 

The pub-sign on the famous Loggerheads Inn in Shrewsbury was definitely in need of a spruce-up – and what better time to have it done than during the loggerheads’ 600th anniversary year?

So, for a few weeks this year, the pub was sign-less, while the renovation took place. 
But now, all is well, and the sign is back – all shiny and refreshed!

For those who don’t know, the pub goes back to the 17th century and was originally called The Shrewsbury Arms.  However, as the arms of Shrewsbury are better known by their nickname “the loggerheads”, the regulars started to call it by that nickname – and the moniker stuck.

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

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Bright and beautiful loggerheads

  

There have been a flurry of loggerheads renovations/restorations during 2025.  It’s probably coincidence, but maybe also an unconscious tribute to the emblem in this, the loggerheads' 600th year. Perhaps.
(See also: Pub-Sign Refresher and Coleham School updates).

Among these renovations is the complete refurbishment of the famous grade 2-listed Quarry Park gates. They were commissioned by the Shropshire Horticultural Society in 1881.
The main gates were even taken off site to get their makeover, which restored them to their pristine condition and also ensures their future. The park’s similarly designed side-gates were also restored.

The loggerheads are the main decoration on the structure, as the Horticultural Society seemed very fond of them.  (See Magnificent Gates)
It’s a bit of a puzzle however why the society ordered some of the loggerheads on the gates to be painted in blue only (see pic below).  The emblem should really be: gold faces, blue background.  Odd.

The gates are now back to their brilliant and vibrant best, and Shrewsbury Town Council should be congratulated on driving the project forward.

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

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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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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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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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