Where are the souvenirs?

 
If you're looking for Xmas stocking fillers, you may be wondering where all the Shrewsbury loggerheads souvenirs are. When one sees the large amount of Shropshire loggerheads on sale in souvenir shops (see photo above), it's a sort of mystery.

Part of the answer is that Shropshire County Council wisely allowed its arms to be used in a community flag project, which is why these Shropshire arms are everywhere, even on flags.
By contrast, the Shrewsbury loggerheads (the plain three leopards faces on a blue background, i.e. the arms of the town) can't be found.  Shrewsbury Town Council has so far not come to a similar community arrangement... which is a great shame.
If you have more information on why this is, we'd love to know. Please use the comments box below or email us.

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Loggerheads in red

 

Here's another mystery. In the east window of St George's Church at Pontesbury (some seven miles from Shrewsbury) is this set of loggerheads.  But it's not clear why they are here. 

Also, though they have the right colouring for the leopards' faces (gold), the background is a rather luscious red rather than the traditional blue.   
Did the stained-glass artist of the time (the late Victorian era) simply not realise?   Or, is this gold and red version particular to some organisation or family?
If you know... let us know! 

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Big banner at Henry Tudor House

 
This is a detail taken from a fascinating illustration in Thomas Auden's 1905 Book Of Shrewsbury.  It shows one of the town's most famous historic buildings, Henry Tudor House, with a huge loggerheads banner hanging from it. Sadly, it's not clear if this flag-display was a permanent feature of the house at the time, or put up for a special occasion. 

Oddly, the artist only shows one shield of arms in the stained-glass of the central first-floor window, yet we know there are six shields today (see previous post).  Was this just a mistake by the artist, or were the current windows put in after 1905?  It would be lovely to know - suggestions please!

At the time of this illustration, a fishmonger called Harry Mudd tenanted Henry Tudor House (the ground floor at least), which is why there is a reference to Grimsby on the frontage, Grimsby being thought to be the home of the very best fish.

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Missing Angel puzzle

 

Here’s a real puzzle.  This image appears on the internet now and again, and is described ‘Painting at St Julian’s Church Shrewsbury, 1643’.  The image comes from a small hand-painted paper now in store at the Shrewsbury Town Archives, but there is no information as to exactly what old artefact this is a painting of... 
We don't know what the 1643 date refers to either, as the image itself was probably painted from the original (which has now disappeared) in the nineteenth century.

The only clue is in a line above the angel’s head which says "Angel taken from the tower of St Julian's".  

Is it a representation of an old coloured carving that was once on the tower side, or of a fresco once on its inside?
The people at St Julian’s Church don’t know anything about it and googling doesn’t lead to a result.

It would be wonderful to know some more of the story. Anybody know anything?

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Stratford mash-up

The large stock room of the WH Smith store in Shrewsbury’s Pride Hill is a treasure trove for stained-glass enthusiasts. (Sadly it’s off-limits to the public now).
Its windows were installed in the 1920s by Morris & Co, which had created the most opulent tea-rooms the town had seen. As well as the windows, a grand fireplace adorned the space.  (Fortunately, the windows have not been touched since those days). 
As you’d expect, loggerheads, as a symbol of Salopian pride, were all over the room.

The photos above & right show a detail from the central one of the six windows. 
Actually, although it shows three leopards heads, these are not 'Salopian loggerheads', but the three leopards’ heads from the town arms of Stratford upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare.  The reason for the Stratford connection is that the room was fashioned in mock-Elizabethan style.

However, it’s a rather bizarre image really; the artist appears to be mashing up the arms of Stratford, a scroll with a pen (to represent Shakespeare I think) and the windmill-tilting scene from the book of Don Quixote.  (The arms of Stratford should also have a blue chevron, not a red).
Very odd mix.  Can someone explain it?

It would also be lovely if someone carried out a full-scale examination of all these windows before too much time goes by.

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It's Loggerheads Day!

 

Today (May 2nd) is Loggerheads Day… at least, so far as Shrewsbury Town Football Club supporters are concerned.  It was on this day in 2015 that the Shrewsbury loggerheads were rightfully restored to the club’s badge, after a hiatus in which a rather ordinary lion had replaced them (Lord knows why!).

It only happened however because of a year-long and very loud campaign by fans (which was of course dubbed the Bring Back The Loggerheads Campaign). To their credit, the club’s owners listened, and then agreed with the fans. 

The campaign is remembered in a lovely poem, a framed copy of which is to be found in The Loggerheads Pub in central Shrewsbury.  It’s a funny pastiche on the stirring St Crispian's Day speech by the king in Shakespeare's play of Henry V.  It’s really clever.

The mystery is:  who was the author?

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Found in Huw's garden

 
Though the Romaldesham carvings would seem to be the oldest set of Shrewsbury loggerheads in existence (outside of documents and seals), there is another claimant.

The carving you see in the photo is likely a capital (head of a pillar) from an ancient town church. It is early medieval in age and was found in the Shrewsbury garden that once belonged to the antiquarian & author Huw Owen. (Owen doesn’t record what he thought it was).
It is now on display at Shrewsbury Museum.

Huw, who along with colleague John Blakeway was responsible for The History of Shrewsbury (1825), is also in Shrewsbury Museum, where a portrait of the pair has pride of place.  (See a detail of the portrait - showing Huw -, left).

However..., modern archaeologists (see the Salopian History report) want to say it is a loggerhead - which means it would predate the earliest solid evidence we have of loggerheads by over 200 years.

Hmm.  Could it really be a (single) loggerhead?
Maybe.

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The Leopard tomb

 

This post is a bit of a long-shot, but if anyone has any more information, I'd be glad of it.

This is the Leopard tomb at Haughmond Abbey, a medieval ruin near Shrewsbury. (It's in a lovely spot, still has interesting carvings, and it's free entry, so it's well worth a visit).
The tomb is so-called because it features what experts believe to be the figure of a leopard.  You can't see the leopard in this photo because it chipped off, and is now in the site exhibition.

If you look at the illustration, right, it shows how the leopard fitted into the tomb.

What's interesting is that, while lions were a well-known motif in heraldry, leopards and tigers much less so, especially in England.  So, what would be wonderful to know is whose tomb this is; currently, nobody is sure.
If that information is out there, it might establish yet another connection between Shrewsbury and leopards. 
So - if you have a thought, let us hear it!

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'Hereford loggerheads' in south Shropshire

The East Window at Church Stretton St Laurence Church carries a number of heraldic panels, including these in this photo.  The arms on the left side carry the 'Hereford Diocese loggerheads' - three leopards' heads upside down with fleur-de-lys issuing from the top.  These upside down loggerheads are an integral part of the arms of the ancient see of Hereford.
Church Stretton is in the part of south Shropshire that is in the Diocese of Hereford.

The origin of the Hereford loggerheads is shrouded in mystery. 
The upside-down leopards' heads appear on the arms of the Bishop of Hereford Thomas de Cantilupe (died 1282) - but no one seems to know why the Cantilupe family had adopted them. If you do, let us know!

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University heads

 

You feel as these three could really bite if they wanted to; their whiskers are sharp enough too!

You’ll find them overhead as you mount the stairs inside the entrance to the new University of Shrewsbury. This work is clearly an homage to the loggerheads themselves, as there is no sign that they derive from a heraldic device. The sculptor has given them a bronze colour as well, rather than the traditional gold/amber.

The university took over the Guildhall complex from the old Shrewsbury Council when it was set up just a few years ago, so the trio might have been left behind by the departing councillors. Or was it a new addition – a gesture of allegiance by the university to its home-to-be?

It would be interesting to know – please contact us if you have the knowledge.

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London loggerheads

 
This piece of stained glass, made by the famous firm of CE Kempe in 1920, clearly shows a loggerheads (on the left). They are even in the right colours - gold and blue.
BUT... they are in Southwark Cathedral in London, not Shropshire. 

The main part of the window is a tribute to the medieval poet John Gower, but these two lights are probably to do with the donors, the Winkey family.
Can anyone help explain the connection between some Shropshire loggerheads and the Winkeys?

For more on the Gower window, see: https://victorianweb.org/art/stainedglass/kempe/25.html

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Prince Rupert's glass

 

Some help please!  Of what organisation or family are these arms featuring loggerheads?

You’ll find these two windows in Church Street in Shrewsbury, an old cobbled street that links St Mary’s and St Alkmund’s churches. 
By coincidence, the windows face the old Loggerheads Public House, a hostelry that doesn’t seem to have changed much in its hundreds of years of existence.

The windows are in an equally ancient building, the Prince Rupert Hotel, so called because the king’s military commander – Prince Rupert – stayed there in the seventeenth century.
No one is suggesting the windows are that old, but it’s a nice connection.

The windows contain two shields with loggerheads in them: one is a set of three black-faced ones with a chevron device; the other a single one (with the more traditional gold face on a blue background) on a cross.

However – heraldry enthusiasts that I’ve spoken to don’t recognize the two shields here.
Clearly, the presence of loggerheads in them suggests Shrewsbury connections – but can anyone identify them?

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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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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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A latter-day mason's mark?

The puzzle in this photo is: when were these loggerheads put up?   

This is the early nineteenth-century building, in Dogpole in central Shrewsbury, which is still known as the Mountford Carriage Works, even though Mountford & Company had left by 1916.  (Edward Burd, the owner of next-door Newport House, seems to have disliked the noise the works made, and forced them out).

In 1917, the new owners of Newport House were the local Borough Council (who then resurrected the house’s old title - The Guildhall) and then (in the 1940s?) took over this adjacent former carriage works building.
Did they put up the loggerheads as a 'proprietorial' sign at this time?
The second theory is that the Dogpole roadway was widened outside Newport House, some time, by the borough’s engineers - who put up the loggerheads as a sign of their work - a kind of latter-day mason’s mark.

However, I’ve never found proof of either theory.  Does anyone have thoughts to add?

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Anonymous planter

 
You'll see a number of lead planters/troughs around Shrewsbury, some of which go back 250 years (see Shrewsbury Library planter for example).  However, the story of this one is not clear.  It bears the loggerheads and sits on the wall outside St Julian's Church, but otherwise it's rather anonymous.
Can anyone help us by giving us any clues to its story?  

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Antique road sign - with odd yellows

It seems rather bizarre to realise that this shiny road sign in Shrewsbury is already an antique.  Like thousands of others in the area, it shows the arms of Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council - which no longer exists. It was abolished in 2009, and its powers were split between Shropshire County and the new Shrewsbury Town Council.  People mistakenly believe that the bridge in the picture is one of Shrewsbury's bridges, but, no, it's Atcham Bridge.

Of course, it would cost a fortune to replace all the road signs, so they will stay up until they decay, one supposes.

By the way, I have never been able to work out if the yellow markings are just a case of poor, misaligned printing or a deliberate attempt at a 'modern design' in scrolling.  Does anyone know?

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Cabbies' shelter

 
This quaint little structure, just inside the gates of Shrewsbury Castle, is in fact a former cabmen’s shelter/rank. It once stood in the town's Market Square, just a couple of hundred yards away – where it had provided a place out of the rain for cabbies as far back as horse-drawn times.

The roundel in the top window shows the arms of Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council, which existed from 1974 to 2009. As the shelter is much older than 1974, one wonders why this badge was installed...
Also... does anyone know exactly how old the shelter is?

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Oswestry's nod to the loggerheads

 
The Guildhall at Oswestry (in north Shropshire) was designed for the use of the borough council as well as the townspeople. It's said to have been designed in a 'seventeenth century renaissance, freely treated' style, whatever that means.
It opened in November 1893 - and the loggerheads adorn its friezes, as you can see.

Even though the loggerheads can represent 'Salop' generally, many towns in Shropshire (apart from Shrewsbury of course) have an ambivalent attitude toward the loggerheads; indeed, some towns just ignore them altogether.
So, it would be interesting to know why the Oswestry councillors of the 1890s adopted them on their town hall. Oswestry's arms do not carry the loggerheads.  It's a puzzle - which it would be good to have an answer to.
Please let us have your thoughts on this matter... Use the comments field just down this page, or email us direct.  

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1787 was a good year

 

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? 
Please let us have your thoughts... Use the comments field just down this page or email us direct.  

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