Īs you wander round Hereford you will also spot the arms of the city and its surrounding county. They are Gules, three leopard’s faces jessant-de-lys reversed Or. I can’t trace the arms of the Cathedral (Or five chevronels azure) but the Bishop of Hereford has unusual arms derived from Bishop Thomas Cantilupe in the Thirteenth Century. At Hereford Cathedral the arms of the Cathedral and those of the Bishop are given equal prominence. There is a strange division in the Church where the Dean and Chapter hold a cathedral while the Bishop as pastor of his diocese or ‘see’ visits the cathedral only on the invitation of the Chapter. You can even engrave the arms in stone without any use of colour! The yellow described as ‘Or’ originally represented gold so it may have a metallic sheen or it may be anything from a pale yellow to brown. You will notice that colours are not defined beyond a single word. You see these arms around the town, not just representing the town but displaying the authority of Cheltenham Borough Council. The oak symbolizes Cheltenham’s position, both historical and today, as one of Britain’s foremost garden towns.

The blue background at the top represents the spa waters the cross is the cross of Edward the Confessor who once owned much of the land that is now Cheltenham and the books incorporate the learning as a result of the establishment of the Ladies College and the College for boys. You can see the meaning of the arms when you understand the story that the spa waters were supposedly discovered after observing pigeons at a local spring. Crest: A wreath of gold and red (taken from the arms) with a crest of two oak sprigs and a pigeon on a ball of water. A blue area at the top has a silver cross with flowery ends between two open books with gold bindings and clasps. Two pigeons above the chevron and an oak tree with its roots exposed below it in their natural colours. You could write the blazon in more modern English as: Arms : Gold with a wavy red chevron. Crest: On a Wreath of the Colours upon a Mount between two Branches of Oak a Fountain thereon a Pigeon all proper. The official blazon granted to the town of Cheltenham in 1877 is as follows: Arms : Or a Chevron engrailed Gules between two Pigeons in chief and an Oak Tree eradicated in base proper on a Chief Azure a Cross flory Argent between two open Books also proper binding and clasps of the first. It’s more of a general introduction to heraldry. I won’t say much about where I found these pictures. Heraldry used to be for individual men and families but we see it more often now for towns, counties and organisations. I wanted to say a bit about heraldry after a brief allusion in Tewkesbury Banners. Jessant-de-lys Reversed – A Blog about Heraldry

Molet arcade