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.