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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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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Design in stained-glass

 
It’s a shame that Shrewsbury's St Julian’s Church is now ‘redundant’ and so is closed nearly all of the time. It has a lot of lovely heraldic and decorative stained-glass among its features.
Fortunately, it was acquired by a man who has decided to keep the building as it is; and so it is still used at least a little, by a group that gathers for prayer and by the Greek Orthodox community.

In the mid-nineteenth century, David Evans was the go-to craftsman for stained-glass in Shrewsbury (and Shropshire).  His bright colours and design are actually quite special; and it’s believed that these loggerheads, in a window of the north side of the nave, are probably by him. Wh they are there... is anybod's guess.

If you want to know more about David Evans, one authority is Robert Walker and it’s worth checking to find out if he has any talks coming up.

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