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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Oldest loggerheads

 
This may be the oldest full set of loggerheads (outside of seals or manuscripts) still in existence.  It was in Shrewsbury’s old Romaldesham Hall, which was demolished in 1760, so this set possibly dates back to the 17th century.
It now has pride of place in Shrewsbury Museum.

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Dodo on box

 
The public relations company working to boost Shrewsbury, ‘Shrewsbury BID’, has been busy this summer commissioning artists to paint the town's telecom cabinets.  The artworks give a very colourful look to the environment.
As they seem to be on a general wildlife theme, I had rather hoped a loggerhead-leopard might be included – but sadly no.
This bird here is an (extinct) dodo, reminding us of how many species are now no longer with us.

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Last act of display

 
The large plaque by the main doors at the Severn Theatre in Shrewsbury is one of the last art commissions made by Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council. It wasn't long after this plaque went up that the council was dissolved - and the new Shrewsbury Town Council came into being.
(The loggerheads represent Shrewsbury, and the bridge represnts the village of Atcham).

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Malevolent ones

 

 
Continuing on the theme of modern interpretations of the loggerheads, here we have the loggerheads of the Shropshire Football Association's logo.  Unlike the cheerful ones designed for Coleham School (as in the last post), they are distinctly more menacing, with a look of almost malevolent glee.  I knew a rather aggressive defender who used to look like that sometimes - perhaps the designer had him in mind(!).

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Cheerful loggerheads at school

 
In our last post, we looked at the 150 year-old carved loggerheads on the exterior of Coleham School in Shrewsbury.  
What’s interesting is to see how the loggerheads device keeps on being updated.
In this instance, the design in the photo above is the current Coleham School version, which can be seen on the school’s current signs and its pupils’ jumpers.  The traditional blue & amber colouring has been retained, though the lolling tongues are gone. 
The faces on the new design are however noticeably more cheerful than those of a hundred years ago, though – one might observe – some of the old heraldic gravitas has gone.

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School's ornate pediment

 
They don't make 'em like this anymore!  This pediment over Coleham Primary School is as ornate as you can get. Not only is there this huge effort but miniature versions over three doors.
Shrewsbury & Atcham Council seemed to have had a determination around 1900 to really stamp a civic look (including its loggerheads device) on the town.
You can find the school easily, just five minutes walk from the town centre and over Greyfriars foot-bridge.

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