Everything but the loggerheads

This postcard is on sale widely in Shrewsbury. It displays a list of the curious & particular words, places, people and aspects which are essential - and even unique - to the town,  But do you see what important and historic characteristic is missing?  Yes..., there is no reference to the loggerheads. It's bewildering.
In the last post we wondered (sadly) if the people simply no longer understood the role the loggerheads have played and do play in the town’s life. 

However ... the good news for loggerheads-lovers is that a new book, marking the 600 years since they appeared in history, comes out next month.  Entitled 'The Mysteries of The Loggerheads', it will explain much and reveal even more. It may even help townsfolk remember how central to Shrewsbury town the loggerheads are! Look out for our next post for details.

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Noticeable by absence at the tree fest

 
Are the loggerheads losing their popularity?  Usually there are plenty of them to be seen, one way or another, at the Shrewsbury Christmas Tree festival.  (The festival is held at St Chad's, the town’s famous round church, every year).
However, although there were around fifty decorated trees this year, all identifying local businesses and organisations, there were no loggerheads to be seen.  Let's hope the absence is a blip!

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Christmas baubles

 
The town council's Christmas tree has taken its usual place at this time of year in the centre of town, by the side of the indoor market. Around the base of the tree is its protective wrapping - complete with images of loggerhead baubles...

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Where are the souvenirs?

 
If you're looking for Xmas stocking fillers, you may be wondering where all the Shrewsbury loggerheads souvenirs are. When one sees the large amount of Shropshire loggerheads on sale in souvenir shops (see photo above), it's a sort of mystery.

Part of the answer is that Shropshire County Council wisely allowed its arms to be used in a community flag project, which is why these Shropshire arms are everywhere, even on flags.
By contrast, the Shrewsbury loggerheads (the plain three leopards faces on a blue background, i.e. the arms of the town) can't be found.  Shrewsbury Town Council has so far not come to a similar community arrangement... which is a great shame.
If you have more information on why this is, we'd love to know. Please use the comments box below or email us.

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Beery spottedness in Shrewsbury

 
The Joules Brewery, and its pubs, which once used to be based in Staffordshire, are now very much a Shropshire concern.  One of their latest acquisitions is the Henry Tudor Bar in Shrewsbury, inside the old and very historic Henry Tudor House.

As part of the refurbishment that the brewery undertook (which was beautifully done), it installed some new coloured windows. These two particular panels represent the arms of the brewery itself and of Shrewsbury.
Unusually, they've given the leopard-loggerheads a marked spottedness, but that's ok...

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Loggerheads in red

 

Here's another mystery. In the east window of St George's Church at Pontesbury (some seven miles from Shrewsbury) is this set of loggerheads.  But it's not clear why they are here. 

Also, though they have the right colouring for the leopards' faces (gold), the background is a rather luscious red rather than the traditional blue.   
Did the stained-glass artist of the time (the late Victorian era) simply not realise?   Or, is this gold and red version particular to some organisation or family?
If you know... let us know! 

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Big banner at Henry Tudor House

 
This is a detail taken from a fascinating illustration in Thomas Auden's 1905 Book Of Shrewsbury.  It shows one of the town's most famous historic buildings, Henry Tudor House, with a huge loggerheads banner hanging from it. Sadly, it's not clear if this flag-display was a permanent feature of the house at the time, or put up for a special occasion. 

Oddly, the artist only shows one shield of arms in the stained-glass of the central first-floor window, yet we know there are six shields today (see previous post).  Was this just a mistake by the artist, or were the current windows put in after 1905?  It would be lovely to know - suggestions please!

At the time of this illustration, a fishmonger called Harry Mudd tenanted Henry Tudor House (the ground floor at least), which is why there is a reference to Grimsby on the frontage, Grimsby being thought to be the home of the very best fish.

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