The Newports were an ancient Shropshire family which made it into the peerage when Francis Newport became Viscount Newport in 1675. He then progressed upwards to be created Earl of Bradford (his esatte in mid-Shropshire) in 1694. His son later acquired Weston Park in the east of the county.
What's fascinating about the Earl's shield of arms is that it specifically references leopards. The spotted fur of leopards is quite clear in this device. That's an important detail, because there's always been an argument over whether the loggerheads are in fact lions, though many heraldic experts down the years have actually identified the figures as leopards.
Obviously, Francis plumped for leopards...
These leopards are not standard loggerheads. Standard loggerheads would be in blue & gold, and show no chevron - but neverthelss the earl's arms' configuration is related to them.
(Detail taken from the contemporary 'Hundreds in Shropshire' map by R Blome, which was dedicated to the first Earl)
+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.
To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form
