Salopian tree - from London

 It’s not as well-known a fact as it should be, but there is a Shropshire Society In London group – made up of former Salopians now based in the capital.  They honour their home county often; and this year they contributed a tree to the Decorated Christmas Tree Festival at St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury.

As you can see, the Salop loggerheads form the society’s badge.  As they should…

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

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.

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

Lighting it up

A friend on mine spotted this set.
If you squint a bit you can see a marker, perhaps burnt on to the glass (it’s too high up to see properly), inside this street lamp. It bears the arms of the old Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council. There's a painted white F there too. I suppose it’s there as a mark of ownership.
Was it a way to deter thieves perhaps?

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

Waggly footballing

 
This rather vibrantly-coloured set of loggerheads is representative of those that featured on the Shrewsbury Town Football Club badge for a century.  

The design and shape would alter down the years, but the loggerheads were a constant – except for one dark twelve-months. In a moment of great controversy, in the 2000s, the loggerheads were discarded by the club – but brought back after a ‘fans’ revolt’!

This 1970s version of the logo features particularly waggly, long tongues.

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

Blue for Shropshire education

North Shropshire College is based on a campus just outside Oswestry, and is a shining example of modern educational achievement.

The badge is a twentieth-century mash-up of ancient influences.  
The ‘lion-passant’, most famous for its presence on the arms of England, was on the arms of the old Oswestry Town Council; the (single) loggerhead and fleur-de-lys come from the arms of Shropshire County; the blue colouring comes from the Shropshire County badge; while the wavy lines must represent the River Perry, surely?  (Does anyone know for sure?)

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

Crash-barrier types!

This rather lonely bollard is to be found in the tiny St Alkmund's Square, an out of the way location in a back-street of Shrewsbury. It was probably placed in this odd position to stop carriages crashing into the corner of the house.

Embossed on the front of the bollard, facing the viewer, is a set of loggerheads (see right).
It's hard to see them clearly as they have been painted over in black, the same colour as the post itself.
They are probably civic loggerheads - i.e. placed on the structure to indicate that it was erected by the borough/town council.

Though there are many such posts in the town, there are very few such embossed posts. The only other ones I've found are in nearby St Mary's Court, but those are very worn.

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

Monolithic

It is perhaps not surprising that the centrepiece of the new Shrewsbury Cemetery in the suburb of Emstrey (built in the late fifties) should be a monolith with a set of civic loggerheads on one side.  The piece was created for the millennium, in 2000.

However that does contrast with the fact that the old (19th century) Shrewsbury Cemetery, in Longden Road, has no loggerheads anywhere in it. Odd.

The three loggerheads look rather unhappy, don't they? They are also of the type that have the sharp (not rounded) ears.

On the obverse of this monolith is an pictorial impression of the town - with its three oldest extant churches (St Mary's, St Alkmund's and St Julian's) represented, along with the town walls.

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form