The arms of education

 
Recently, the University Of Chester established an outpost in Shrewsbury. Although the number of students here is small, it is growing.
Naturally, the arms of the new establishment had to include loggerheads.

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Loggerheads for Winefride

 
These loggerheads are to be found well outside Shropshire, in some stained-glass at Holy Name Church in Oxton near Liverpool. Yet the Shrewsbury connection is very strong.

Oxton is inside the Roman Catholic diocese of Shrewsbury (which covers a huge area).
The section of glass you see here surmounts a window dedicated to St Winefride, the patron saint of Shrewsbury.
And the stained-glass piece itself was actually made by Margaret Agnes Rope, probably the finest artist ever to have been born in Shropshire.

It all connects!

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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.
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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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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