Cheshire Heraldry Web Journal

Now here’s a novel approach - The [Kenyan] College of Arms, the body mandated under the College of Arms Act (Cap 98), Laws of Kenya, to approve and award Grant of Arms seeks to constitute a Panel of Artists for purposes of designing Coat of Arms and engrossing Grants of Arms for applicants thereof.

The tender document, which can be seen on the link below, seems to require the applicant to be rather more than just an heraldic artist. In the UK at least, we leave the designing bit to the herald but in today’s cost cutting world perhaps the Kenyans will start a trend!

Requiring a herald to tender for his job seems a tad too 21st century for us.

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The above advertisement contained a number of quite unacceptable spelling errors (given that it originates from a law office). I have taken the liberty of correcting them. [They were - specifcations (sic) (five times) - qualifcations (sic) - feld (sic) - Ground foor (sic) - who fulfll the (sic) ].

One hopes that the applicants for the post have a greater grasp of basis spelling than the law officers who placed the advertisement.

http://www.tenders.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=410&Itemid=1

I’m always pleased to see armorial inn signs but too often today these signs tend to have no relationship with their armorial names. Two examples close to my own home have now, sadly, lost all connection with their armorial names; The Granville Arms now sports an inn sign upon which is painted a view of what appears to be a coppice of silver birch trees (your guess is as good as mine!) and the sign of The Swinnerton Arms is simply a painting of the pub itself.

I was therefore quite pleased when I noticed an image of an armorial inn sign posted on an internet photo storage site however, upon close examination the painting itself, whilst not too bad artistically, is an heraldic abomination. The shield itself is about the only part of the achievement which could be awarded the accolade of being heraldically true to the blazon. The supporters seem to have lost their decoration; the lion should be semée of fleur-de-lis Sable and the stag should be semée of mullets Gules. To make matters worse for the poor lion, he appears to have collected the wrong head gear from the cloak room and been stitched up with the coronet of an earl instead of his own ducal coronet with five ostrich feathers. Come to think of it, the crest itself seems to have suffered the same fate; the crest of the achievement and the head wear of the lion should be identical.

For those who have an interest in the heraldically correct, I offer, without any pretensions to artistic quality, my own meager image along with the correct blazon: 

The Earl of Dartmouth

Arms: Azure a Buck’s Head cabossed Argent
Crest: Out of a ducal coronet Or, a plume of five ostrich feathers Argent and Azure alternately.
Supporters: Dexter, a lion Argent semée of fleur-de-lis Sable ducally crowned Or, and issuing from the coronet a plume of five ostrich feathers argent and Azure alternately;
Sinister, a stag Argent semée of mullets Gules. 

Today we say a farewell and a hello to two Kings of Arms.

Sir Peter Gwynn-Jones, KCVO retires from the College of arms after a long and distinguished career and Thomas Woodcock LVO, DL, takes up the crown as Garter King of Arms.

[Image courtesy of The College of Arms Newsletter]

A full account of the Garters past and present can be found in the latest College Newsletter.

On the 26th March with six bidders competing for ownership the eBay hammer was knocked down at £385.00 (plus £10 UK postage) on a grant of arms to Reginald Benett Graves Knyfton of Uphill castle in Somerset.  Described by the vendor as a ”grant of a coat of arms document with 4 hand painted coats of arms along the top, dated 1895 and awarded to Reginald Benett Graves Knyfton of Uphill castle in Somerset, complete with the two gilt metal cased red wax seals attached to the lower edge by blue ribbons, comes in its original red leather covered wood case with gold crowned V.R. cyphers and sliding brass catches, excellent condition “.

Row
(Row of Marfield: Harl 1424, fo. 121) Argent, a beehive beset with bees diversely volant Sable.
Macclesfield; granted 20th March 1653.  

Simple, uncomplicated, beautiful.

Needham of Shevington & of Cranage
Arms: Quarterly -
1 & 9 Argent, a bend engrailed Azure between two bucks’ heads cabossed Sable.
2 Quarterly per fess indented Gules and Or [Bromley]
3 Argent, on a chevron Gules five bezants [Chetelton]
4 Quarterly Argent and Sable, in the second and third quarters a fleur-de-lis Or, over all a bendlet Gules [Hextall]
5 Sable, a chevron engrailed between three owls Argent [Hewit?]
6 Or, a chief indented Azure [Butler?]
7 Gules, a scythe Argent [Praers]
8 Argent, a garb Vert.

Crest: Out of a crown palisado Or a buck’s head proper, attired of the first.  

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/visitations/CV22.html           

As a pure personal indulgence and without apology for the fact that there is nought but a tenuous heraldic link, I bring to my reader the joyous news that on Saturday last we welcomed into our family Tom’s new bride Nicola. The wedding took place in Newstead Abbey and without a doubt it was a wonderful day.

Marvelous!

Posted on rec.heraldry yesterday:

In response to the calamitous earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday
evening, the College of Arms has decided that all proceeds arising
from future sales of The Armorial of Haiti: Symbols of Nobility in the
Reign of Henry Christophe (ISBN 978-09506980-2-1) will be donated to
the relief effort.
The book is an edition, with commentary, of an extraordinary heraldic
manuscript created in Haiti in the second decade of the nineteenth
century and now held in the College of Arms. It was published by the
College in 2007 and is available on-line for 45 pounds sterling (plus
despatch costs) at http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Haiti.htm and
through amazon.co.uk. Production costs for the book have been met, and
all sums received by the College over and above normal packing and
postage costs will be held for the benefit of a recognised charity
working towards the international relief effort, the charity to be
selected on the basis of official advice.
I would urge those who have not yet acquired a copy of this book to
consider doing so, and to mention it to others who may be interested
either in New World heraldry, in Caribbean history or specifically in
the politics and culture of Haiti. Doing so will raise money directly
for the relief of the nation that produced this unusual and
fascinating artefact.
If you have already purchased a copy of the book, or as an alternative
to doing so now, please consider donating directly to the effort to
the relief campaign through a charity of your choice.
Clive Cheesman
Rouge Dragon
College of Arms
Queen Victoria Street
London
EC4V 4BT

This Saturday sees John E. Titterton FSA present the first Cheshire Heraldry Society lecture of 2010.

Changing Names and Changing Arms.

Details of the Society’s lecture programme and venue can be found on the web page:

http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/society

All are welcome whether member of the society or not.

Mrs G. is rather fond of the BBC’s property programme Escape to the Country and whilst we were both putting our feet up during the post Christmas wind down I caught sight of an interesting and rather beautiful Cheshire property with a definite Cheshire heraldic interest.

Located in the village of Buerton and featured on the programme in April 2008 the cottage’s dining room had the benefit of a fireplace moved from another, much older (but undisclosed), property and installed in its new home in the 1980’s.

 From left to right (with apologies for the poor quality screen shots):

England dimidiating the Earls of Cheshire

Leigh

The arms of the City of Chester. The arms Azure, a sword erect Argent hilted Or between three garbs Or. are those known to have been used as the city arms of Chester in 1560 and which can be seen on the bridge at Eastgate Chester. These arms were also used occasionally from 1779 as the Chester Assay Office hallmark.
 
The arms of the County Council were designed by County Architect F. Anstead Brown, as a commemoration of the Coronation year and the Council’s Jubilee. Anstead Brown used the ancient shield of the City of Chester as the base upon which to build his design and, apart from a change in tincture for the sword, the shields are practically the same. Of course the arms of the County Council have the additional supporters, helm and crest etc which the ancient arms do not have.

Most probably from a Leigh house, this is a very fine addition to any home, it just leaves me wondering from whence it came?