Shropshire

County

The arms were officially granted on June 18, 1896 and continnued by the new authority in 2009.

The leopards’ faces in these arms were adopted by the County Council in 1895 from the Borough of Shrewsbury (Azure, 3 leopards’ faces Or). It is only in the incorporation of the ermine that the County arms differ from those of the Borough. The heads appear on the fifteenth century seal of the Corporation but their origin is unknown. They may have been derived from the Royal Arms, or from the Arms of De La Pole, Earls of Suffolk in the fourteenth century (Azure, a chevron, and three leopards’ faces Or), or arms of some local family.

The heads are often referred to as “the loggerheads”. This originates presumably in the practice of carving some such motif on the head of the log used as a battering ram.

Floreat Salopia, the county’s motto, means “May Shropshire flourish!” – Salop. is the standard abbreviation for Shropshire.

Coalbrook Dale

1792 Shropshire Coalbrook Dale Halfpenny Conder Token

Obverse:

Reverse:

Edge: PAYABLE AT COALBROOK-DALE AND KETLEY.

D&H Shropshire No. 10 rated Scarce

1792 Shropshire Coalbrook Dale Halfpenny Conder Token

Edge: Plain

Needs research

Shrewsbury

The arms were officially recorded in 1623.

Shrewsbury is an ancient borough. Its earliest surviving charter, granted by King John in 1199, refers to an even earlier one of Henry I, and before the time of James I it had been granted 32 charters conveying many rights and privileges to the town. Its Coat of Arms cannot be dated with certainty, but they appear on the Town Seal of 1425 and were confirmed by the Heralds during their Visitation of Shropshire in 1623. The arms also appear on the Market Hall in the Square, which was built in 1595.

The reason for the occurrence of leopards’ heads on Shrewsbury’s coat of arms is less readily explained. It has been suggested that they are really the three gold lions which have formed the English Royal Arms since the twelfth century. Possibly Shrewsbury was allowed to use the royal lions as their Arms by one of the medieval Kings, perhaps Edward I, who often made the town his headquarters during his conquest of Wales in the late thirteenth century and who substantially rebuilt the Castle. Certainly the three Royal leopards or lions formed the entire shield of Edward I, in whose time Shrewsbury, as a military centre of great importance, began to assume its medieval aspect of a semi-royal city.

Alternatively, it may be that the loyal burgesses of Shrewsbury themselves decided to adopt the charge to demonstrate their fidelity to the King.

The three leopards’ faces been called locally as the three “loggerheads”, a term which has puzzled many historians over time, as there is no logical linguistic explanation thereof. The term is still used widely and also used by a famous local pub.

1793 Shropshire Shrewsbury Halfpenny Conder Token

Obverse: Shield of arms of the borough of Shrewsbury. SHREWSBURY HALFPENNY 1793

Reverse: A woolpack. SALOP WOOLLEN MANUFACTORY *. The legend beneath the woolpack more divided.

Edge: PAYABLE AT SHREWSBURY + +

D&H Shropshire No. 20 rated Rare