Another Reason I Like to Travel

I've been lucky enough (or as my wife used to say, we've been willing enough to go into debt) to travel a lot of different places over the years.

And every place I go, I look for wearable heraldic souvenirs of our travels. What this means in practice is tee shirts and baseball caps with coats of arms on them.

Now, not every place offers such items (I'm looking at you, Dublin, Ireland and Glasgow, Scotland! No tee shirts, no baseball caps, not even a keychain with the city arms on them. And I looked! I even asked! The closest I came in Dublin was a fuzzy "viking" horned hat with the city's coat of arms on it. I bought it, but it's not something I feel quite brave enough to wear in public. Especially with the little bells hanging from the ends of the horns, not to mention the blue braids on each side. See photograph immediately below).

And, of course, not every place I've gone offers "real" heraldry on their wearable souvenirs.

Once example of this is my recent trip to Victoria, British Columbia, to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, of which I have been a member for more years than I care to remember.

Having some free time before meetings, I wandered down to the central city to see what I could find. And I found an armorial tee shirt and matching (sort of) baseball cap.

As you can see, they both bear the same fictitious coat of arms, though only the shirt bears the legend: Canada: Fast and Furious.

The "arms" consist of the logo of the Porsche automobile company (with the legend "Canada" across the top of the shield instead of "Porsche"), and the inescutcheon bears a black rampant moose (instead of the black rearing horse) and the word "Original" in chief instead of "Stuttgart", the city where Porsche is located.

Here's Porsche to compare:

And the "arms" on the shirt:

So, while it may not be the arms of the city of Victoria, or even the arms of British Columbia, it's a fun little take-off with a specifically Canadian twist of the logo of Porsche, and I expect to have some fun wearing each of these items in the future.

And if you can't have some fun with heraldry, what's the point? As J.P. Brooke-Little said in his Introduction to his book An Heraldic Alphabet: "[H]erein lies the fun and if heraldry ever ceases to be fun - chuck it."

Why I Like to Travel

Well, maybe saying that I "like" to travel is a bit of an overstatement.

Because, honestly, while I like being in new and different places, or revisiting places I have been to before, the getting there -- whether by plane, train, or automobile -- isn't all that pleasant to me, especially at my increasing age.

Nonetheless, I can't do one without the other (at least until they invent the Star Trek transporter system), so I at least tolerate the going to enjoy the being.

A recent trip to the Pacific Northwest allowed me to indulge myself in at least one way; I was able for the first time since I commissioned it (from artist and craftsman Steve Cowan) to use my heraldic table banner to mark my place at the table at the gala banquet at the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada.

Here are two photographs of its first public "unveiling", as it were. The first picture is of the obverse side with my coat of arms:

And the second is the reverse, with my crest:

Note that on the crest, one of the apples has fallen from the tree and has landed on the torse.

Steve asked me before drawing it up if I would have any objection to him drawing it that way, and I told him that I thought it would add a nice little touch of whimsy, so he did.

And it warms my heart and makes me laugh a little every time I see it.

And, really, if you can't have a little fun with heraldry, what's the point of it?

As J.P. Brooke-Little said so well in his introduction to his book, An Heraldic Alphabet: "[H]erein lies the fun and if heraldry ever ceases to be fun - chuck it."

Armorial Memorial to a Man, His Wife, and Their Son

Once again, because of the dearth of information found on-line or in the usual suspects (Papworth, Burke's, etc.), with the exception of an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography for Sir William Morton, some of the information for these entries was found in the Register of Burials at the Temple Church, 1628-1853, by H. G. Woods, D.D., Master of the Temple, Henry Sotheran and Co., London, 1905

Heic subtus jacet corpus Willielmi Morton, Militis, unius Justiciariorum ad Placita coram ipso Rege tenenda, &c. Collonellus equorum atque pedum Caroli beatæ memoriæ primi, &c. 1672 (Here under lies the body of William Morton, Soldier, one of the Justiciary to hold Pleas before the King himself, &c. Colonel of the Horse and Foot of Charles the First of blessed memory, &c. 1672).

The Roll-call of Temple Worthies buried within the precincts includes a large number of Masters of the Bench of the two Honourable Societies [Inner Temple and Middle Temple in London]. The following were Judges: … Sir William Morton, who fought on the royalist side (1672), ….

So here we have the armorial memorial to the Hon. Judge Sir William Morton, Kt. (died 1672), his wife, Lady Anne Morton, née Smith (died 1668), wife of Sir William Morton, and their son, John Morton (died 1668).

The Register of Burials gives us the following for these last two individuals:

Mistress Anne Morton, wife of the Hon. Judge Morton of the Inner Temple, was buried in the south aisle upon the 7th of January, 1668-9.

John Morton of the Inner Temple, esq., was buried in the south isle the 26th day of November, 1668.

John Morton, Esq; eldest Son of Sir William Morton Kt. and Anne his Wife, of the Inner Temple. And Captain of a Regiment of Foot in Ireland, and Governor of Kilkenny, 1668.

The arms are blazoned: Quarterly gules and ermine, in the first and fourth quarters a goat's head erased argent armed or. The crest is A goat's head as in the arms.

We have seen this coat of arms before in connection with another individual. The Archbishop of Canterbury John Morton (d. 1500) also bore these arms, and we have seen them at Canterbury Cathedral and at the Church of St. Mary at Lambeth in London.

Two Armorial Memorials in Temple Church

It is sometimes difficult to find good information about an individual, or the coat of arms, on a memorial in a church. Either I cannot find much, if any, biographical information on-line, and/or the usual armorial sources (e.g., Burke's General Armory, Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials, etc.) aren't specific to the individual memorialized.

Still, I try to do what I can. Some of the information for the entries today, as sparce as it was, was found in the Register of Burials at the Temple Church, 1628-1853, by H. G. Woods, D.D., Master of the Temple, Henry Sotheran and Co., London, 1905

Today we see the memorial to Sir John Williams, of Minster, in the County of Kent, Kt. 1668.

The Register of Burials informs us that Sir John Williams of Minster Court in the Isle of Tenett, a member of the Inner Temple, was buried in the church under near the saints bell the 26 of March, 1669.

Burke’s General Armory only cites Williams (Minster, in the Isle of Thanet, co. Kent). Vert three eagles displayed in fess or. Crest: An eagle displayed or.

Here, of course, the Williams arms are quartering Gules three lions passant in pale argent, which are probably the arms of Giffard or Gifford.

However, I have been unable to find a Sir John Williams whose wife was a Giffard or Gifford, so I have no other information about this individual.

Next we have the memorial to George Wilde:

Here again, the Register of Burials informs us that George Wilde of the Inner Temple, Esq., was buried in the round on Friday the first of August, 1679.

The arms would be blazoned Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent on a chief sable three martlets argent (Wild/Wylde); 2, Argent on a cross sable a crescent or [too many possibilities to positively identify]; 3, Or a chevron checky azure and gules between three cinquefoils azure [Cooke]; overall a crescent gules for difference. Crest: A lion passant gules resting its dexter forepaw on an escutcheon argent, the lion charged on the shoulder with a crescent or.

Here, too, I have been unable to find additional information about Mr. Wilde, not even in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Still, though, these are some very nicely done coats of arms.

"They're Everywhere! They're Everywhere!"

"Who?", you may ask?

Well, first, "they're everywhere" pretty much because we're looking at yet another stained glass window in yet another English church, and the people who made those stained glass windows had to be pretty much everywhere.

So, yeah, "they're everywhere!"

I refer, of course, to the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, whose arms we have seen before not that long ago in Ely Cathedral and in York Minster.

And today, we see that coat of arms once again, this time in Temple Church, London.

First, here's the (very impressive) window in which the arms of the Glaziers is placed, in the center light near the bottom:

And here's the detail:

I swear, if it hadn't been me or my late wife Jo Ann taking the photographs of the arms of the Company of Glaziers in all these different places, I might start to get a little paranoid and think that they were following me around.

But I know that isn't the case, and really, it's nice to find the same coat of arms done by different glaziers and stained glass painters in wildly different places, if only to see how the individual artists have treated the same shield, helm, crest, mantling, and supporters.

So for your edification, and so you don't have to scroll through previous posts to find them, here are the other depictions that we found in:

the Stained Glass Museum in Ely Cathedral:

and in York Minster:

Enjoy comparing them!

An English Coat of Arms With an American Connection

Not having taken any trips recently to photograph and identify coats of arms and post them here, I have been reduced to going through pictures from previous trips to find and identify heraldry that I haven't posted here before.

Fortunately for me, and I hope for you, I've been able to do some of that.

And beginning today, we're going to look at some heraldry that I photographed, but did not research or post on this blog, found in Temple Church, London.

Today's is especially fun, as I discovered when researching it, that there is an American connection.

But first, here's the memorial to Thomas Lake (1656-1711), Utter Barrister of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple.

Now, you'd think that with an impressive memorial like this, and his position in the world of the time, that there would be a lot of biographical information easily available about him.

You would be incorrect.

Still, using multiple sources, I have been able to gather the following information about Thomas Lake, Jr.

Thomas Lake was a Boston (Massachusetts Bay Colony)-born English-educated lawyer, who was a barrister of the Middle Temple, London.

He was the son of Captain Thomas Lake, a wealthy Bostonian who was the younger half-brother of Sir Edward Lake, 1st Baronet. Captain Lake bought Arrowsic, Maine, in 1660, and was killed aged 61 in a fight with Native Americans at his trading post, now the Clarke and Lake Company Archeological Site, on August 14, 1676. He is buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Boston, and I found a photograph of his gravestone there.*

Sir Edward Lake died without issue aged 77 on April 18, 1674, and his estate subsequently devolved to Thomas Lake, the son of Captain Lake.

The arms at the top of the monument may be blazoned: Quarterly: 1, for a coat of augmentation granted to Edward Lake by King Charles I, for services at Edge Hill, to be borne in the first quarter, Gules an arm embowed in armor issuing from the sinister side of the shield holding in the hand a sword erect all proper thereto affixed a banner argent charged with a cross between sixteen escutcheons gules, on the cross a lion passant guardant or; 2, Sable on a bend between six crosses crosslet argent a mullet [gules] for difference; 3, Argent a chevron between three boar’s heads couped sable; 4, Quarterly argent and sable on a bend sable three fleurs-de-lis argent; impaling Per fess indented argent and sable three ravens counterchanged (Story/Storey). 

Thomas Lake, Jr.'s wife was Elizabeth Storey; they married November 30, 1676 in Kniveton, Derbyshire.

At the base of the monument, we find a repetition of the coat of augmentation granted by King Charles I.

So, a wonderful armorial memorial to a man with a very interesting family history! Even if it was a little hard to track down.

* In an interesting (at least to me!) coincidence, my 10th great grandmother, Judith (or Goodeth) Copp, née Itchenor, and the wife of the man for whom Copp's Hill is named, is also buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground. Her gravestone is not very far from that of Capt. Thomas Lake.

What Can I Do With My Coat of Arms? Part 36 - I Thought We Were Done With These!

So, just when we thought the "What Can I Do With My Coat of Arms?" series was all done, finishing up in my post of February 20, 2025 (the series began way back on October 21, 2024), wouldn't you know it? I found some more examples!

So here are some additional ideas for ways to use your coat of arms in your daily life:

A full achievement of arms on an entryway rug. (The dog would, of course, be extra.)

A Scottish clan badge as a pocket watch fob:

Another example of identifying your car with your coat of arms, crest, helm, and mantling, in a nice, somewhat understated way:

Going back to the kitchen, here's a seal-like butter mold that impresses an achievement of arms into a bit of butter:

And finally (yeah, I know I said that before when I ended the series. I can't help it if people keep finding more ways to use their heraldry, can I?), here's a couple of computer mouse pads with different heraldic treatments:

I continue to be impressed, and sometimes surprised, by the inventive ways in which people find to use their coat of arms, even on what might otherwise be somewhat everyday items.

What new ways have you seen people use heraldry?

A New Resource for Heraldry Enthusiasts

If you haven't seen it yet, our good friends over at Heraldry of the World (You do know about the Heraldry of the World ("HotW") website, don't you? And visit it regularly? No? Then stop reading this right now -- it'll still be here when you get back -- and go visit https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Heraldry_of_the_world and see what's available for you there! No, really, go!) have recently created a new resource for people like you and me.

You know, people who read about, study, and involve themselves in heraldry in its many forms. Stuff like that.

Well, HotW has created a new site entitled "Bibliography of heraldry: a free overview of international heraldic literature". It's a list, broken down by topic, of books, periodicals, and even newspaper articles on some aspect or another of heraldry.

It is not links to those items, many of which are not available on the world wide web, but clicking on an item will bring up all of the bibliographic information that will tell you what, by whom, when, in what publication, and so on, which will let you track it down precisely if you are interested in reading (or owning) it.

There are two relevant URLs to the Bibliography of heraldry:

The first contains information about what is contained in and how to use the Bibliography. It also informs you that it is a "never ending project" which will be added to, with the aim of helping heraldists find "heraldic publications, old and modern, common or obscure." This page can be found on the HotW website at: https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/bibliography/

The second is to the Bibliography itself, to let you start searching. You can get to it from a link near the top of the HotW page above, or access it directly here: https://www.zotero.org/groups/5854305/bibliography_of_heraldry/library

As one of my alter egos* says, "Check it out!"

* Da'ud Bob ibn Briggs, Historical Drive-In Movie Critic. Our motto: "We watch 'em so you don't have to." Often only heraldry-adjacent, but if you are interested you can learn more at: http://www.appletonstudios.com/movies1.htm

The Worshipful Company of Glaziers

It's always fun to be looking through a set of photographs and find a coat of arms that one recognizes from somewhere else, an "old friend" as it were.

I was going through the last of the pictures that my late wife Jo took of heraldry for me, and ran across this window in York Minster.

It is, of course, as you can easily determine both from the heraldry (Argent, two grozing irons in saltire between four closing nails sable on a chief gules a lion passant guardant or, with the crest A lion's head couped or between a pair of wings azure,  and motto: Lucem tuam da nobis Deus (God, give us Your light) as well as from the legend at the bottom noting that the window was replaced following World War II, that what we have here is the achievement of arms of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers.

But we have also seen these arms, though in a different depiction, in another cathedral, Ely Cathedral, about which I posted on July 3, 2023 (http://blog.appletonstudios.com/2023/07/armorial-stained-glass-in-ely-cathedral.html).

What fun to see this "old friend" appearing in a different cathedral in a different county!

Heraldry (or Is It?) in the Wild

Placing things on, or simply the use of, a shield has long been popular as a symbol of protection. I've seen usage like that for organizations as disparate as police departments, security companies, and even lawyers.

And then, early one morning, driving to the gym, I saw this one with a similar theme of protection, but new to me. (Thank goodness Jo was with me to take the picture; trying to drive down the freeway, maintain my speed and lane, trying to pull out my phone, open the camera app, aim it, frame it, and focus it, all at the same time would probably not have worked out well for me!)

Anyway, what we saw was a truck owned by StormShield Restoration, Residential and Commercial Roofing Contractors, emblazoned with their logo, a shield emblematic of protection against rain and snow.

My attempt at a blazon (likely a fruitless effort, I realize, given that it's probably just a copyrighted design and not heraldry, per se, but you know heralds, we will attempt to blazon just about anything), would be: Per bend sinister [yeah, it’s really closer to “per pale”] vert and azure a lighting flash bendwise sinister [ditto] throughout between three gouttes bendwise sinister [ditto] one and two in chief and a snowflake in base all argent.

So this was a fun bit of quasi-heraldry to spot while driving down the highway early one morning.

But I do find myself somewhat tempted to call them up and offer advice on how to make just a couple of small changes to turn it into a real coat of arms. But then, they're not looking for my advice, are they? And there's that old saw about letting sleeping dogs lie, so I'll just sit here in front of my computer and keep my thoughts about this shield to myself.

Where Was This Picture of Heraldry Taken?

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm at a bit of a loss to know where Jo took this picture of a coat of arms for me. The automatic number that her camera put on this doesn't match up with any of the others that she took while we were on our last big trip together.

All I can say, really, is that it appears to be a pub sign.

Given the name at the bottom, I have to suspect that it comes from The Harlescott, a pub in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, a place we have never visited. And then there's the issue that The Harlescott was closed back in 2006, and was later demolished following an arson attack. (A little more information, along with a couple of photographs of the pub, though neither one including this pub sign, can be found on-line at https://www.closedpubs.co.uk/shropshire/shrewsbury_harlescott.html)

Still, regardless of this sign's provenance, it's got heraldry on it, and so we take an interest.

The arms would be blazoned Sable a chevron argent between three casks (or tuns) fesswise proper hooped sable. The crest is: A ship sails set gules, flagged argent, the mainsail charged with a wheel or. The supporters are Two swans proper, each gorged vert with a bunch of grapes pendant proper. And the motto (in Latin) is a most appropriate: Vinum exhilarat animum (Wine cheers the soul).

It's a lovely sign, with some well-painted heraldry on it. I just have no idea where it came from or where Jo saw it. I am glad, though, that wherever it was, she photographed it for me! And that I can share it with you!

Another Armorial Memorial in Ely Cathedral

Today's armorial memorial in Ely Cathedral was erected by his wife, who survived him by nearly 40 years.

This is the memorial of Charles Fleetwood, a son of William Fleetwood, Bishop of Ely. He was Archdeacon of Cornwall, Canon of Ely and Exeter, and Rector of Cottenham. He married Anne, the eldest daughter of Rt Revd, Stephen Weston, Bishop of Exeter. He died 24 July 1737 aged 44. Anne outlived him by nearly 40 years, dying 11 May 1777, and is buried with him in Ely Cathedral.

But of course, it is the heraldry on this monument that caused my late wife, Jo, to photograph it for me.

The arms are blazoned: Per pale nebuly azure and or six martlets counterchanged (Fleetwood), impaling Argent a cross of Calvary gules on a chief azure five bezants in fess (Weston). Crest: A wolf statant reguardant argent.

It's a very touching memorial commissioned by a wife to her late husband, with beautifully done carving and a nicely painted coat of arms.

Just sayin'.

The Armorial Tomb of a Dean of Ely

Today we come to the armorial tomb of Augustus Duncombe, Dean of Ely 1858-1880.

Augustus was the fifth son of Charles Duncombe, 1st Baron Feversham. The Dean has a short entry on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Duncombe

The two shields at the head of his tomb are, on the left: the Dean of Ely (variant). Usually seen as either Gules two keys in saltire or, or sometimes, Gules two keys in saltire and in chief a capital letter "D" or, this version replaces the D with a crown, impaling Duncombe, Per chevron engrailed gules and argent three talbot’s heads erased counterchanged.

And the shield on the right is Duncombe (as above) impaling Douglas, Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent a human heart gules imperially crowned proper on a chief azure three mullets argent (Douglas); 2 and 3, Azure a bend between six crosses crosslet fitchy or (Mar); all within a bordure or charged with a double tressure flory counter-flory gules.

Augustus Duncombe married, on 13 May 1841, Lady Harriet Christian Douglas, the second child of Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry.

Some Unusually Marshaled Arms on Bishop Redman's Memorial

A sign by the tomb of Bishop Richard Redman notes that he was originally Abbott of Shap Abbey, and later Bishop of both St. Asaph and Exeter, before coming to Ely. He worked for both King Richard III and King Henry VII, and it was probably as a result of this service that he was awarded the See of Ely. He was Bishop here from 1501-1505.

His tomb is one of the very few in Ely Cathedral that has never been moved or deliberately damaged, possibly, at least in part, because of Bishop Redman's well-known hospitality.

The three shields on the side of his tomb are, from left to right:

See of Exeter: Gules a sword in bend proper between two keys in bend sinister addorsed and conjoined in the bows interlaced the upper or and the lower argent.

Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a lion rampant argent charged on the shoulder with a fleur-de-lis sable (Daldeburgh); 2 and 3, Gules three cushions ermine (Redman).

See of Ely: Gules three crowns or.

These same three shields appear in the same order above his effigy's head:

But it is the two shields at the foot of his tomb that are somewhat anomalous:

On the left we see a shield of Daldeburgh quartering Redman impaling the See of Exeter, Gules a sword in bend proper between two keys in bend sinister addorsed and conjoined in the bows interlaced the upper or and the lower argent.

And on the right, we have Daldeburgh quartering Redman impaling the See of Ely, Gules three crowns or.

It is unusual, to say the least, to have the personal arms of the Bishop to dexter and the arms of the diocese, or as here, his two dioceses, to sinister. The usual manner of display places the arms of the see to dexter, the reverse of what we see here. I have not found any explanation which might explain this unusual form of marshaling.

Two Coats of Arms Today, of a Bishop and of a Dean

Today we're going to look at the heraldic memorials of two of Ely Cathedral's churchmen.

The first is that of James Russell Woodford, Bishop of Ely 1873-1885.

Bishop Woodford was born in 1820, the only son of James Russell Woodford, a hop-merchant of Southwark, Surrey, and Frances, the daughter of Robert Appleton (no relation, alas) of Henley-on-Thames. John Woodford was educated at the Merchant Taylors School and Pembroke College, Cambridge.

He has his own entry on Wikipedia, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Woodford_(bishop)

On the side of his memorial there are three shields. From left to right in the image above, they are:

On a shield supported by an angel, is the arms of the See of Ely: Gules three crowns or.

The second is the arms of the See of Ely impaling the arms of Woodford:

And the third is the arms of Woodford, Sable three leopard’s faces inverted jessant-de-lys argent.

Our next, far less ornate, memorial is that of Robert Moss, Dean of Ely 1713-1739.

The memorial notes, in Latin, that he was Dean of Ely, and that he died 26 March 1729, aged 63.

What the memorial does not note, is that he died that date "after suffering much from gout." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moss_(priest)). More of his biography can also be found at that Wikipedia link.

Dean Moss' remarkably simple arms arms are blazoned: Ermine on a cross paty sable a bezant.

And there we have photographs of two armorial memorials taken in Ely Cathedral by my own "heraldry helper" Jo Appleton, who was always on the lookout for coats of arms that I might have missed seeing, my attention being drawn elsewhere.

Heraldry on the Façade of Bishop's Old Ely Palace

Continuing to look at some of the pictures of heraldry that my late wife Jo took for me, today we look at the façade of Bishop's Old Ely Palace, next door to Ely Cathedral in, naturally enough, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

The palace was built in the 15th century by Bishop John Alcock and was one of the official residences of the Bishop of Ely until 1941. During the Second World War the palace was used as a base for the British Red Cross, and then as a home for disabled children until its closure in the 1980s. Following this the palace was purchased on a 99-year lease by the Sue Ryder Care organization, although the palace went up for sale again in 2010. Later that year King's Ely (renamed from "The King's School" in March 2012), a cathedral school, took over the lease and had the palace refurbished to be used as the school's Sixth Form Centre.

With that historical information, you should be able to guess what two coats of arms are found on the exterior of the Palace.

Can you?

The first is, unsurprisingly, the arms of the Diocese of Ely, Gules three crowns or, which we have seen many times over in the pictures taken of heraldry in both the exterior and interior of Ely Cathedral.

The other is, of course, the arms of the man who had the Palace built: John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, Argent on a fess between three cock’s heads erased sable crested and jelloped gules a mitre or. Jesus College, Cambridge, whose arms we have also seen before, uses a modified version of Bishop Alcock’s arms, adding a charged bordure, as he was a founder of the College.

The Palace has had a long and involved history, which you can read more about at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop%27s_Palace,_Ely, but the heraldry which was placed there at its beginning remains identifiable to this day, some 600 years later.

How cool is that?

A Great Display of Heraldry at Ely Cathedral

While we were visiting Ely Cathedral in 2022, while I was rushing around like made taking pictures of all the heraldry I could see because the tour bus was only giving us a limited amount of time there, my wife Jo was taking a more leisurely pace and ran across a really nice display that I hadn't seen (and therefore, hadn't photographed).

The book that we found in the Cathedral gift shop, The Heraldry of Ely Cathedral by Tim and Chloë Cockerill, describes the display as: "Five coloured shields, commemorating substantial benefactors to the 19th century restoration of the Cathedral."

The authors then go on to identify each of the five shields. From left to right, they are:

John Charles Sharpe: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Azure a pheon argent within on a bordure or eight hurts (Sharpe); 2 and 3, Argent a chevron between three coneys feeding sable (Lever). The crest is: An eagle's head erased argent gorged with a ducal coronet or and holding in its beak a pheon inverted bendwise argent. John C. Sharpe, of Goslings and Sharpe, bankers in Fleet Street, London, paid for the restoration of Prior Crauden's Chapel in 1846.

John Dunn-Gardner (1811-1903), M.P., and his first wife, Mary Lawson. Mr. Dunn-Gardner has his own entry on Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dunn-Gardner

Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent a saltire or between three griffin's heads sable and a cushion azure (Gardener); 2 and 3, Azure on a chevron or between two boar's heads couped and a padlock argent a lozenge gules between two keys wards to base and turned upwards sable (Dunn); impaling, Paly of four gules and vert on a chevron argent a greyhound's head erased sable between two cinquefoils azure and on a chief or a pellet charged with a demi-lion argent between two crescents sable each charged with three plates (Lawson). The crests: (Dexter) A griffin's head erased argent between two branches of laurel in saltire proper (Gardner); (Sinister) Two swords in saltire proper tied with a riband vert and pendent therefrom a key sable.

Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford, K.G. (1788-1861). The Duke has his own entry on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Russell,_7th_Duke_of_Bedford

Argent a lion rampant gules on a chief sable three escallops argent, the shield surmounted by the coronet of a duke. Crest: A goat passant argent.

Alexander James Beresford-Hope (1820-1887). You can find more about Mr. Beresford-Hope on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Beresford_Hope

Azure a chevron or between three bezants. Crest: A broken globe surmounted by a rainbow with clouds at each end proper.

And finally, the Rev. Thomas Halford (d. ca. 1858). Argent a greyhound passant sable on a chief azure three fleurs-de-lys argent (Halford), on an inescutcheon, Per fess embattled or and gules three gates counterchanged (Yeats). Crest: A greyhound's head couped argent. Motto: Naseby.

The motto comes from an historical event in which the family played a part. The Halfords once owned Wistow Hall, Kilby, Leicestershire, where King Charles I called after retreating from the Battle of Naseby in 1645.

What an amazing display of heraldry! And to think that I would have missed it entirely if it hadn't been for my very own "Heraldry Helper" taking the time to photograph it because she knew that I would have been sorry to have missed it in my hurried circumnavigation of Ely Cathedral.