Loggerheads far from home

 

This set of loggerheads is actually in a stained glass window in Oxton Catholic Church in Merseyside, so you might reckon at first that they are a little lost.  However, in this instance, the loggerheads still signify a Shrewsbury connection.
First, Oxton is in the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury, even though it is a good few miles from the actual town of Shrewsbury.
Secondly, the main body of the window (which is a really lovely work of art) depicts Saint Winefride, who is the patron saint of Shrewsbury, even though she lived in North Wales.

The window was created by a Shrewsbury woman, Margaret Agnes Rope, in 1929 and is one of a number of windows by her in this small church.  All her windows here are sublime and well worth the effort to go and see them if you can. 

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

+

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

Collectors of loggerheads

 
It had been hoped to have a Loggerheads 600th exhibition this year to mark the emblem's anniversary.  It would have been a 'people's exhibition' in that, alongside the historic artefacts, there would have been items temporarily loaned by local people.  However, it was not be.

Many local people's loans would presumably have been one such as this souvenir spoon, now quite rare, which would have been sold as a takeaway item at Shrewsbury Castle.  The enthusiast who now has it says that loggerheads-collecting is his passion, and he has many more items. 

(Image: copyright I Pritchard)

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

+

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

Dod's fleur-de-lys arms

 

As a mark of respect to those local philanthropists who sustained and maintained hospitals before the days of the NHS, their coats of arms can still be seen, framed and honoured, on some of the corridors in the present-day Shrewsbury Hospital.

The arms of JW Dod are interesting in that they incorporate what look very much like Shrewsbury loggerheads. They are in the right configuration and have yellow and blue colouring in the design, though, admittedly, the leopards' faces are monochrome or silver, not gold.
What's more, Dod has added some fleur-de-lys.

John Whitehall Dodd himself was a leading Shropshire landowner and served as the MP for North Shropshire for ten years. He also built St. Bartholomew's Church in nearby Prees.

It was not unknown for an individual to apply for loggerheads to be added to his/her arms - but it was unusual.  So - one might say -, the leopards' faces possibly represent something else, perhaps a family connection.  It's frustrating not to know though.  Can anyone shed some light on this?

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

+

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

Bring on a birthday beer...

 
Apparently, Shropshire Hop beer (made at Joule's Brewery in Market Drayton, north Shrops) is back - after a while away.  It's a light, almost floral, beer - very suitable for the warm weather. Drinkable!

The design here pays obeisance to its titular county with a loggerhead in its presentation, though, sadly, only one such head, not three.  It also carries the traditional gold & blue colour combination of the loggerheads and even the ermine-spots (the things in this particular design which resemble Xmas trees) of the 'Shropshire loggerheads'.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Joules produced a specific Loggerheads Beer this year - in honour of the loggerheads' 600th birthday?  I'd drink it...  

#ShropshireHop

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

+

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

Helmet, swords and loggerheads

 
Surprisingly, not all Shropshire's military outfits adopted the loggerheads, but the Yeomanry Cavalry, one of the oldest, certainly did. 

In the official history of the regiment, written in 1953 by EW Gladstone, the first image in the book is of the unit's badge - which features the loggerheads (see pic right).  

#ShropshireYeomanry

A new book has now been published to celebrate 600 years of the loggerheads - click here to find out more.

+

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

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.

+

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

Second Chapter gives MOL a chance

 

'The Mysteries Of The Loggerheads', the book about the 600-year story of the emblem of Shrewsbury, is now on sale at yet another bookshop in the town.  As well as being on sale at Pengwern Books and the Bear Steps Gallery Shop, it is now at Second Chapter. Click here for details of the shops and their opening times (mail-order is available).

Second Chapter is an antiquarian bookshop specialising in all sort of curious and fascinating old books - especially anything to do with the local area.  It's to be found in the Parade Centre behind St Mary's Church.  It's worth going to just for the pleasure of browsing!

+

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