An expert called in to examine Shrewsbury’s coats of arms, has revealed that the weight of tradition supports leopard’s faces.
See also: Big cat problem – your views
Shrewsbury Town Council – which will be created next year when Shropshire becomes a unitary authority – will need a logo but officials have discovered more than one design – one with three lions’ faces and one with three “loggerheads”, or leopards.
Robert Noel, Lancaster Herald at The College of Arms, who investigated the case using ancient manuscripts, said: “Many, or even most, early heralds did not trouble to distinguish very clearly between lions and leopards.
“Armorists still debate today whether the beasts in the arms of England were originally meant for lions or for leopards.
“However, the early tradition in respect of Shrewsbury seems from a scrutiny of the manuscript and printed sources here to be unequivocal.
“A manuscript dating from the reign of William III calls the devices in the arms of Shrewsbury ‘leopard’s faces’ and this description is followed in leading printed works of the 18th and 19th centuries.”
Mr Noel said the arms were much older than the reign of William III but the written description is the earliest he can find. He said: “In 1896, Shropshire County Council established arms and these feature leopard’s faces, as is well known.
“But in 1975, Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council established arms and these featured lion’s faces.”
The online poll we recently ran currently shows that 54 per cent of people who voted favoured leopards.
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3 Comments
I suggest they’re neither lions nor leopards, but actually Lynx. Lug meant lynx in old Gaelic, and the Celtic god Lugh was identified with the lynx.
Over the years Lug’s heads could easily be distorted to loggerheads.
The arms granted to Shropshire by the Royal College of Arms in 1896 – see http://www.answers.com/topic/salop-arms-png-1
show cats with lynx-like beards and ears, rather than leopard or lion characteristics.
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The ‘Loggerheads’ pub opposite the Prince Rupert used to be called the ‘Shrewsbury Arms’.
Hence there have always been leopards, not lions, on the coat of arms!
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Yet the joke that is Shrewsbury Town FC just picked up the lion off Microsoft clipart as their club badge!
hahahaha
Years of tradition and distinctiveness down the drain.
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