Bloody place

 
This loggerheads design is the standard one for Shrewsbury Borough Council (as was) in the 1930s - flaring fur, very red tongues, staring slightly to their left. 

You'll find it on the 'execution plaque' at the top of Pride Hill in the centre of Shrewsbury.

This marks the spot (almost) where Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last prince of an independent Wales was executed in 1283, not to mention some rebels of the 1403 rebellion.
The plaque was erected by Shrewsbury Borough Council sometime in the first half of the last century.

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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.
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Wide-mouthed loggerheads

 

This small plaque appears over the door on Wesley House in Shrewsbury's Fish Street. The building dates back to the 1400s; it's so named because John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists, preached from it in 1761.
In 2019, it was converted - in a respectful way - and is now a bed & breakfast.

The plaque is not be confused with an insurance mark, but it's not quite clear what its function is - if indeed it has one. Certainly these particular loggerheads have the widest mouths of all loggerheads we've seen!

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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? 
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Atcham 'new' bridge

 
There are two bridges in Atcham, side by side - which seems slightly unnecessary, but when it seemed the old bridge was going to be replaced, it was given a heritage listing, so it couldn't just be demolished.

So, right alongside it, Shropshre County Council built a new bridge - which is what you see in the photo.  It crosses the Rivern Severn, and carries the main road through the village.

It was opened in 1929 by the rather famous politician & writer Herbert Morrison, who was the transport minister at the time.

The involvement of the county council explains the loggerheads' presence. 

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Loggerheads in Birmingham/Hereford

At the front of Birmingham Catholic Cathedral, one will find a number of heraldic designs in glass panels, including these arms. As we're a bit away from Shropshire, it was odd to see the loggerheads here.
However, the Birmingham Diocesan Archivist points out that they represent the coat of arms of Thomas Brown, the first Bishop of Newport & Menevia (died 1880).  The Catholic Diocese of Newport & Menevia, which doesn't exist any more, covered the whole of Wales (which is why the Welsh harp) plus, oddly, Herefordshire.  

So... what's the connection? Bit mysterious, this.
The usual explanation is that the ancient arms of the see of Hereford carry the three leopards' heads, which is why Bishop Brown adopted them - but the Hereford ones are upside down with fleur-de-lys issuing from them... so that explanation seems a bit thin, to me.
Does anyone have a better explanation? 

The leopards' faces are also rather crudely painted, which also struck me as odd.

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Daubing on Butcher Row

Butcher Row is one of Shrewsbury's iconic medieval streets and is full of listed buildings - but it looks like someone once thought it a good idea to paint daubs on some of these venerable door frames.

You have to look for them, but when you find them, you'll see that one of the daubs is a set of loggerheads. The work is amateurish and includes an unusual heraldic lion.

The other daub  that interests us is a shield of arms (see below right) - which we don't recognise. 

So, the mysteries are: who painted the loggerheads, and when, and why?  And whose arms are those on the second image?

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