The Royal Heraldry of Sandwich

( 216 ) THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. BY V. J. B. TOBB. SANDWICH, at the northern end of the long line of Cinque Ports, is surely one of the fairest jewels in the thickly-studded Kentish crown. So many are the attractions of this fascinating place—an ancient town for its size perhaps unchaUenged in interest by any in England—that very scanty notice has hitherto been paid to its remarkably rich store of royal heraldry, which it is the aim of this paper to describe. Every one of the churches and several other buUdings in Sandwich can boast possession of royal arms, and no other place in Kent has such an assembly of examples of the reign of Charles I I , perhaps the more interesting as survivors in a district rich in those of the Hanoverian sovereigns. The Sandwich churches escaped restoration in early Victorian days, when so many precious landmarks were often obhterated, and there was comment during the fifties and sixties of last century upon their deplorably neglected state.1 When at length amelioration came, the restorer's hand was gentler than in earher years, and by great good fortune far more royal heraldry was spared than in neighbouring parts. Thus the more numerous churches in the city of Canterbury make a meagre display beside those of Sandwich ; and the Isle of Thanet has also been swept nearly bare.2 So large a proportion of Stuart heraldry is remarkable in a town which, along with East Kent generaUy, sided with the Parhament rather than the Crown in the conflict of the 1 E.g., Gent. Mag., July, 1866, p. 68 (but St. Peter's churchyard is well kept), and Arch. Cant., VI, liii-lviii (1864 Sandwich Meeting). Glynne, however, reports before 1840 that St. Clement's and St. Mary's, were well cared for. 2 Apparently the only surviving royal arms in the island are at St. Laurence (Geo. II, 1729) and St. Nicholas at Wade (Geo. I l l , ante 1801), though a coat of Geo. IV, 1821, formerly existed at Monkton (see. Mockett's Journal, 181). Holy Trinity, Margate, has also Geo. IV, c 1827. THE ROYAL HERALDRY OE SANDWICH. 217 mid-seventeenth century, and which from its many foreign religious refugee inhabitants, had a strongly Puritan atmosphere both before and after the CivU Wars. If the foUowing notes cannot claim to be exhaustive they must be very nearly so, for I have included and personally inspected every example which I could find, and have also recorded a few lost coats. The scope of this study extends, of course, only to the usual carved or painted display of the royal arms, and not to any further examples in the town which may exist in books, documents, seals, etc. As far as possible the notes are arranged chronologicaUy. Happy as is the survival of so many royal arms in Sandwich, it should be stressed that several of them are in a faded condition. In other pages of this volume wiU be found a Ust of recent restorations in Kent, and the process successfuUy used ; it is therefore earnestly hoped that the authorities concerned wiU not be remiss in giving necessary attention to the cases hereafter cited. If the contrary is not stated it may be assumed that the present condition of each item is satisfactory. 1. ST. CLEMENT'S FONT. (FIFTEENTH CENTUBY.) The earhest royal arms now remaining in Sandwich seems beyond doubt to be the shield on the eastern face of the bowl of this beautUul octagonal font of the Perpendicular period. It stands in the north aisle of the great church of St. Clement, near the Norman staircase leading to the famous tower ; and it appears to have successively occupied positions in the south aisle, by the west door, in the north chapel, and finaUy its fourth site as described. This font is one of a group of three in East Kent which display the royal arms of the fifteenth century later than about 1405 : (a) Herne (S. face) : also bearing the see of Canterbury impaled with Arundel, and the French quarters of the royal shield being Modern, this font must date between c. 1405 and 1414. 218 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OE SANDWICH. (b) St. John's in Thanet, ahas Margate parish church (S.E. face). (c) St. Clement's, Sandwich (E. face). Considerable variety of opinion has existed as to the age of the St. Clement's font, it having been ascribed to the periods of the Black Prince, Henry IV, and Henry VIII. The first conjecture, to be dismissed at once, apparently began with Boys, who however retracted it, convinced by the Modern France bearings on the royal shield. The third idea, though less wide of the mark, is nevertheless unUkely, in view of the general character of the work and the great refinement of its detail; the only corroboration of which might seem the rather poor heraldry of the Cinque Ports arms on the western face of the bowl, a point however which •cannot outweigh the contrary evidence. Boys conjectured the font to be the gUt of Thomas Elhs, founder of St. Thomas's Hospital in this town, about 1392, on the strength of the southern side shield of Ellis (the fourth and northern one bears a merchant's mark). This would rightly seem to imply an Elhs gift or connexion, but probably of a later member of the famUy, perhaps in the first or second decade of the fifteenth century but at all events after 1405. The shield on the S. of the bowl gives a cross engrailed ermine with a crescent for difference in the first quarter (Boys strangely mistook the ermine spots for escallops), but there are variants of Elhs. Boys (p. 166) quotes PhUipott as giving Or, on a cross sable, five crescents argent, with which Add. MS. 14,307 f. 16 (a coUection of Kentish arms made about 1700) agrees ; but the Kent Visitation of 1574 (Harl. Soe, Vol. 75, p. 28) has Ar. on a cross sa. 5 crescents or. At aU events it seems likely that one of the EUis family was the donor of the font, which must be nearly contemporary with its feUow at Herne. The royal arms on the eastern side of the bowl are in the form of a sculptured shield only, now without tinctures, and hung from carved ribbons, the bearings being France Modern quartering England, as in use from the abandonment THE ROYAL HERALDRY OE SANDWICH. 219 of France Ancient by Henry IV, about 1405, untU the accession of James I in 1603. 1A. ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL (lost shield). I cannot find any example of royal arms before 1405 now remaining in Sandwich, but it is worth whUe calling to notice a few hnes in Arch. Cant., VI, lviii, recording notes made by Bryan Faussett, about 1750, on the now destroyed hall of St. Thomas's Hospital in Sandwich. He describes a shield in a window there as Quarterly (1) and (4) England; (2) and (3) Lozengy az. and gu. Qfleurs de lys or. This sounds suspiciously like a royal shield, possibly reversed in reglazing, though England occasionaUy quarters France. Fleurs de lys in glazing are frequently leaded in separate lozenges, which may explain Faussett's blazon of the field, and there may have been an ornamental red edging to the lilies U he was correct in this tincture. This shield, U royal, must have been either of Richard I I after 1392, or of Henry IV before 1405. Though this glass is unhappily lost, it may be pointed out that a very valuable shield survives in a north window headhght in the north chapel of the lovely church of WestweU in this county, of which no notice seems to have appeared in Arch. Cant. Dating probably between 1382 and 1394, it gives Richard II (St. Edward the Confessor impaling Old France quartering England) impaled with the quarterly coat of Anne of Bohemia. These arms are very rare. 2. " KING'S ARMS " INN, STRAND STREET. (ELIZABETH.) This old hostelry1 is in the west part of the town, facing the west end of St. Mary's church. The house is plastered externaUy and has a continuous overhang, with an oak anglepost at N.E., bearing a fine carved human corbel, of a type fairly plentiful in Canterbury and Sandwich, and dated 1592. 1 It may not be out of place to record that the present proprietor is a cousin of the famous wicketkeeper, Leslie Ames, in whose performances Kentish people have reason to feel so just a pride. 220 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OE SANDWICH. A good pen and ink drawing of this corbel, of the year 1853, is preserved within the inn, whereby it appears that the house then bore the name of the " Queen's Arms." The royal arms which with its brightly renewed tinctures is so handsome an ornament of this house, and so unusual a feature of an inn, is set in the waU over the front door, facing eastwards. The composition is of cast iron and but smaU ; the natural lack of sharpness of detail in ironwork and the strong morning sunlight failing on the bright colours at the time when I photographed this coat, in August, 1933, have combined to make the illustration less clear than was desired. It is difficult to be sure whether these arms, in an unusual material, have graced the front door lintel of this house from Ehzabethan days, or whether the composition is a domestic fireback put to a new use and, equaUy unusuaUy, coloured thereafter. However this may be, it is a very interesting depiction of the arms of Elizabeth, and the second of the Sandwich series which can be safely ascribed to a particular sovereign ; we shaU consider it before the probably earher GuUdhaU coat, as a more important example. It is true that no positive evidence in initials exists to fasten the coat to EUzabeth, as is the case at Westerham, proving the arms to be those of Edward V I ; but no reasonable doubt can be entertained as to its identity. The heraldry and dragon supporter prove the coat to be older than 1603, and the house is certainly of later sixteenth century date. As it is known that the Strand Street houses were furbished up against the coming of EUzabeth to Sandwich in 1572, it is just possible that these arms were then set up in hke sort as were the Uon and dragon at Sandown Gate on the same occasion ; but it seems more probable that, U they be regarded as a structural ornament of the house ab initio, they must date from about 1592, since these figures on the angle-corbel almost certainly refer to the age of the whole house. The panel bearing the arms is shghtly recessed in the waU, the seeming border about it being merely an edging of black paint on the surface of the plaster, rising segmentaUy Photo : V. J. Torr ABMS OF ELIZABETH. King's Arms Inn, Sandwich. THE ROYAL HERALDRY OE SANDWICH. 221 above the crown over the garter. The background of the whole is blue, as also of the garter and motto with their gold lettering in Roman capitals ; and the garter has ornamental scrolls at top and bottom. The shield displays the quarterly coat of Modern France and England, beautUul in its simphcity and balance of grouping and colour, used by aU the Enghsh sovereigns from Henry IV (post c. 1405) to EUzabeth inclusive : (1) and (4) Az. 3 fieurs de lys or; (2) and (3) Ou. 3 leopards or. The garter about the shield reads : HONI • SOIT • QVI • MALE • Y • PENSE. Its pendant end breaks into the middle of the motto in base : DIEV • ET • MO . . . . N • DBOIT. The dexter supporter, a golden and crowned hon, has a red rose above his sinister forepaw, whUe his feUow has a golden portcullis correspondingly over his dexter foreleg ; both are vigorous and weU-designed, with active genitaha. This red dragon is not so exceUent a creature as the wooden one in the Waltham Abbey arms (1558), a masterpiece of design and detaU ; but he is a great deal better than that of the Ehzabethan coat at St. Martin's, Sahsbury. His tail curls back sharply on his back to avoid the edge of the panel, and he is unusual in being shown wingless.1 A fine and typicaUy Tudor crown surmounts the whole, without helm or manthng or crest; it is gold, velveted red, and lined white. These arms are a pleasing composition and a precious rehc, lending great distinction to this ancient inn—which has fortunately not yet become a " hotel." It may be pointed out that the date on the angle-corbel has been picked out in modern white paint, but carelessly, so that by omission to colour the tail of the final figure the whole now reads as 1597 instead of the true version 1592 ; and the uncoloured tail remains visible only at close inspection, an error which should be remedied, to avoid deceit on posterity. 1 Of. the Westerham winged dragon illustrated in Arch. Cant., XLIII, opp. p. 285. 2 2 2 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 3. GUILDHALL. (ELIZABETH.) Among the many objects of interest in this Ehzabethan building (circa 1579) are the hon and dragon on two posts forming the entrance to the weU of the court in the groundfloor Court Room. These are iUustrated on p. 77 of the Homeland Handbook (No. 63) to Sandwich (1907), where is also reprinted the account of Ehzabeth's stay in this ancient town in 1572, which first appeared in Boys' History of Sandwich (1792); and more recently and from a different angle, in the Sandwich Official Handbook, 3rd ed. (1927), p. 27.1 These dehghtful creatures, holding shields and squatting on then posts, the whole of oak, are of peculiar interest as having been made for the Queen's visit, a few years after which they were housed in the new GuUdhaU, where they have ever since kept guard over the historic Court Room, incorporated into a charming httle contemporary balustraded screen. The occasion of their making is as foUows : " Then her maiestie went towards the town, and at Sandowne gate were a lyon and a dragon aU gflf set up uppon ij posts at the bridge ende and her armes was hanged up uppon the gate." The arms upon the gate have long since perished (along with those set on the new house near the " PeUicane," quoted in the same record), and the lion and dragon though happUy preserved are no longer " all gUt " ; the hon is stUl so, but the dragon is now, more correctly, a duU red. The former, a snarling feUow with fine mane, holds a shield bearing the Tudor royal arms ; the latter, a quaint and melancholyfaced creature rather like a baby crocodUe, bears another 1 This attractively produced and well-illustrated booklet is nevertheless marred by certain errors culpable in an official publication. Thus, the screen by the lion and dragon in the Guildhall is, astonishingly, attributed to 1300, and the arms at the further end of the room are wrongly said to be those of William III, though the practically identical example on the floor above is called Charles II. THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 223 charged with the demi-lions and demi-ships of the Cinque Ports, for Sandwich. The hon is on the north side, the dragon on the south, and they face each other. The shields are of archaic form, kite-shaped but concave, and both have been repainted somewhat feebly ; but with this aUowance, the hon's shield is actually the earhest Ehzabethan royal arms in Sandwich. 3A. "OLD HOUSE", STRAND STREET (lost arms). (ELIZABETH.) This house is by tradition that in which Henry VIII twice, and his daughter Ehzabeth once (in 1572) were lodged during visits to Sandwich. That at least the latter story is almost certainly true was corroborated tUl a few years ago by the existence in the present drawing-room of a magnificent Ehzabethan fireplace and overmantel of oak and inlaid woods, reaching to the ceiling. I am indebted to the kindness of the present owner of the house, Mr. M. G. Brisker, both for information upon this—in the nick of time before going to press—and for a photograph of the whole composition. In contrast to the happy measures taken to guard the arms of James I to be mentioned anon, it is melancholy to record that this overmantel, with certain other fittings of the house, were sold and removed in 1927—a deplorable loss to the town of Sandwich. For the purposes of this paper the chief interest of this overmantel lay in a small feature in its centre near the top. On triple clustered shafts with Corinthian capitals squatted a hon on his hind legs, bearing an elongated shield with the Tudor royal arms in inlay work, the whole extremely reminiscent in style and execution (but for the richer feature here of the inlay heraldry) of the hon in the GuUdhaU. I have httle doubt that both hons were the creation of the same craftsman, and that this overmantel was prepared to honour the queen at her visit in 1572 ; on which supposition this departed royal arms was one of the earhest surviving in Sandwich. 224 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. A fire-back also corroborative of the tradition left its home along with the overmantel. It had a Tudor rose in base, two fleurs-de-lys in fess, and a lofty imperial crown in chief, beneath which appeared the royal initials E R, and was a handsome piece of work. I had seen both overmantel and fireback some years before 1927. 3B. BARBICAN (lost arms). (TUDOR.) In the Gentleman's Magazine, July 1856, p. 65, is the interesting record (in the course of a rather popular article) of another and probably Ehzabethan, royal arms, which has unhappUy disappeared since mid-Victorian times. The Barbican gateway guarding the entry to Sandwich from Thanet is there quoted as then having been " ornamented with the arms of the Tudors, painted and gUt." Two further examples in Sandwich deserve a word, as analogous to though not strictly royal arms. 3c. Over the garden wall gate of the " Old House " in Strand Street is a worn stone panel recessed, bearing sculptures in relief. In the centre is a conventional ornament like a boss, flanked by two fleurs-de-lys and with a rose beneath it. Above is the date 1534 in Arabic figures, of which the first has decayed away. This panel, from its use of the flowers of France and England, has probably some reference to one of the visits of Henry VIII, previously mentioned as traditionaUy having taken place in this house. 3D. Boys in his History has a plate opp. p. 788, pubhshed Sept. 2, 1789, showing a house behind the GuUdhaU, to the north, on the waU of which appear, apparently in rehef plasterwork, the capital letters I R surmounted by a crown. These royal symbols, for James I, have now unfortunately disappeared and this engraving is their only record. From the style of the work it seems to have been about contemporary with the Strand Street overmantel. THE ROYAL HERALDRY OE SANDWICH. 225 4. 19 UPPER STRAND STREET. (JAMES I.) At the eastern corner of Upper Strand Street and Quay Lane, leading down to Fisher Gate, originally the northern exit from the town to the ferry over the Haven into Thanet, stands an unpretentious house, now divided into two tenements, and with a red brick frontage seemingly of Georgian date ; only the end waU on Quay Lane showing timber and plaster construction reveals the probably Tudor age of the fabric. No. 19 is the western of the two tenements, and the one abutting on Quay Lane, and contains a good Jacobean oak staircase, two contemporary or earlier oak doors, two fine plaster ceihngs of the same period, and the remarkable feature of a royal arms of James I, wrought in painted plaster over the fireplace of the ground-floor room. Such adornments sometimes occur as variants of the householder's arms in greater houses, for example, a fine wooden coat of James I in the " Tudor House " at Tewkesbury, and another of the same ldng from a demohshed house at Bromley, Essex, now saved in the Victoria and Albert Museum ; but it is singular to find such ceilings and royal arms in a house which is hardly above cottage1 rank. There seems some tradition in Sandwich that this house was formerly occupied by the Port Reeve ; its nearness to the quay may make this probable, and its tenure, on this assumption, by a Crown official may help to explain the royal arms. At all events I cannot hit upon a more likely solution, and local traditions, though sometimes inherently improbable, are not always wholly to be dismissed. Both the ceUings of the upper and lower rooms of this house are fine, though a httle dulled by the appUcation of whitewash. The lower one, in the royal arms room, is the plainer, with rose foUage and geometrical figures ; the upper is not only finer in execution, with rose, hly, and acorn decoration, but is additionaUy important in bearing, as its principal features, many evangeUstic symbols, at so late a 1 Arch. Cant., XVI, liv. (1885 Sandwich Meeting) has a line or two on this " Jacobean cottage " and its features. 21 226 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. date. But the arms must of course engage our chief attention in this paper. The whole composition, of plaster, forms an overmantel (rather dimly hghted) occupying the comparatively smaU space over the fireplace at the west end of the north waU. The mantelpiece and grate are of definitely later date, probably Georgian. Either end is adorned with pleasing stalkwork, with flowers, leaves, and birds, white against a black background, the western decoration the narrower, from encroachment by the end waU of the room. The cornice of the ceiling rests upon the top of the overmantel, of which much the greater part forms a recessed panel enclosed in a modiUioned border of typical Jacobean character. Resting on the lower border is the motto : DIEV • ET MON • DBOIT, in equal gold Roman capitals, the words divided by red rosettes, and the pendant of the garter failing over the middle ; and the garter lettering and the raised details of aU the minor accessories are also gold. This motto is enclosed in an ornamental compartment with the top rising into two finials with volutes, in outline something hke couchant hons or sphinxes, the edges raised from the black body of the compartment. James I sometimes used as his motto : BEATI PACIEIOI, as on a large royal arms on wood preserved in the cathedral church of Ripon ; but the domestic examples previously cited, and the church arms at Hurst, Berkshire, and East Meon, Hants, agree with that now under notice. Charles I and II, and James II also used " Dieu et mon droit." The shield, encircled by the garter, displays the new bearings ensuing upon the union of the Enghsh and Scottish crowns in 1603. The Tudor quarterly royal arms of France and England now occupy the first and fourth quarters, and Scotland and Ireland appear for the first time in the second and third. The Irish harp is of the earher form without the female bust, and in this quarter is the only error in tincture, the field being gules for azure. On the black background of the panel appear in chief the raised gold letters I R (for Iacobus Rex), and between • ' Photo : E. A. Sidery, Sandwich. ARMS OF JAMES I. 10 Upper Strand Street, Sandwich. THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 227 them, resting on the garter, a crown without any heraldic accessories, as also in the Ehzabethan coat at the " King's Arms " in Strand Street. This crown is of Imperial form, gold, and with a circlet of jewels on a blue ground. Since these arms have been wrongly ascribed to James II, comparison should be made between the iUustration and that of the West MaUing coat, also in this volume. Attention is speciaUy caUed to the supporters, as of whoUy different characteristics, the Sandwich beasts being far more naive and retaining much more of the mediaeval leanness. The unicorn of Scotland appears for the first time in the Sandwich series, and both creatures present features worthy of note. The genitaha of both are depicted erect; the hon has an unusuaUy long mane, and his taU omits the middle tuftings commonly found. The damaged parts of the whole are confined to the supporters : the unicorn's head and sinister hindleg, and the hon's dexter fore and hindlegs are mutUated. When I first inspected this very interesting piece of plasterwork, over twenty years since, it was uncovered, and the accompanying photograph was taken previously to the wise precaution taken some ten years ago by the late Mr. Raggett of Manwood Court, who had the work enclosed in a glazed wooden frame. It is pleasant further to record that our member, Lady Pearson, of Manwood Court, Sandwich, has since taken steps to prevent the removal from this house of the overmantel and ceihngs. The date of these arms appears to be early in the reign of James I, perhaps about the time of the Gunpowder Treason of 1605. 5. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL CHAPEL. (CHABLES II, 1660.) We now consider the second series of Sandwich royal arms, subsequent to the Restoration and probably aU, with one exception, of the reign of Charles II. In the beautUul chapel of the ancient Hospital of St. Bartholomew, outside the town on the Dover road, hangs 228 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. one of the dated coats of Charles II, set up in the year of his Restoration, 1660. These arms hang between the two windows of the N. waU of the nave, and are painted on three boards forming a diamond-shaped hatchment, an unusual form for the subject, the frame of which is of modern hght oak. Beyond its form the picture presents several interesting features. The Stuart heraldry (for which see the last example) is correctly blazoned, but the Irish harp in the third quarter is a remarkably early example of the " woman " form : a female head and breasts adorn the front of the instrument, but her face is, unusuaUy, not gardant. The harp on the arms of WiUiam I I I at Upper Deal, some thirty years later, stUl omits the woman. Another uncommon feature is the introduction, in base, of a circular cartouche of the Cinque Ports arms (per pale gu. and az. 3 leopards dimidiated with 3 ships, in this case aU or, and the azure field now so dark as to resemble sable), with a rude cherub's head above and a leopard's below, both gold and joined to the cartouche border. The motto, DIEV ET MON DBOIT, in golden capitals on a straight band, is set between the royal arms and this cartouche, and is clear enough, but the garter legend is now almost Ulegible. The background of the whole is painted black, with the golden date 1660 set in medio, two figures on either side. This is one of the first Sandwich examples of a fuU achievement, the mantling gold and ermine, and the gold letters C R flanking the hon statant crest. The supporters have suffered from wear, but seem to have erect genitaha, as in the last example. The whole coat is much corroded and darkened, but would probably gain greatly in recovery of detail by cleaning, to which the authorities' attention is respectfuUy caUed. These arms are too valuable from their date and interesting features to be aUowed to deteriorate further ; and moreover then survival is fortunate in the extreme when it is remembered that the nave of this chapel was for many years desecrated untU Sir GUbert Scott's restoration, begun about 1876. The Ecclesiologist of Nov., 1842 (pp. 63-4) comments on the nave's conversion into a barn, and the " fearful state THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 229 of desecration " of the whole ; and Arch. Cant., VI, lviU, shows things as no better in 1864. The chapel is now, however, in exceUent order. 6. ST. MARY'S. (CHABLES II, 1660.) This buUding, in spite of many interesting features now the humblest of the three parish churches in Sandwich, since the havoc wrought by the faU of its central tower in 1667, was formerly very fair and rich in ornaments (see the valuable fifteenth century Ust preserved in Boys, 374-7). The arms of Charles I I in St. Mary's are among the very few in the town which have received even casual mention, in 1885: see Arch. Cant., XVI, lv, where Canon Scott Robertson wrote of them as being " spick and span new in 1660." These fine arms show a full achievement, painted on boards set verticaUy and in a white wooden frame with moulded cornice ; the picture hangs high up on the west waU of the nave, over the ruined respond of the Norman S. arcade, where a west gaUery formerly stood ; a dim position which coupled with the need of cleaning makes it none too easy to inspect in detail. Correct Stuart heraldry ; mantling gold and ermine ; supporters have active genitaha, and the new feature of a rose and thistle by their sinister and dexter hindlegs. Garter and motto have usual forms in capitals, harp of Ireland without woman ; and gold letters C R (for Carolus Rex) flanking the hon statant crest. Along the extreme top runs the date 1660. The background of the whole is black. I t is hoped that this coat, being faded, may receive cleaning attention, and U possible may be rehung in a more visible place. 7. ST. PETER'S. (CHABLES II, circa 1660.) This example is the only one in Sandwich painted on canvas, the usual material of the later royal arms. The painting is enclosed in a moulded brown wooden frame, and 230 THE ROAYL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. the background is black. It hangs in an uncommon position, on the north side of the organ, at the east end of the north aisle, in the space enclosed as the vestry. Correct Stuart shield (the harp without female bust) ; garter and motto as usual; supporters again arrectis mentulis ; gold and ermine manthng. The lion statant crest is flanked by the gold letters C R, and in the top corners are painted (an uncommon feature) curtains, looped up to display the achievement below. The whole painting needs cleaning, these curtains being particularly faded, but they seem to have been red. These arms are undated, but the foUowing extracts from the churchwardens' accounts, for which I have to thank the Rev. H. N. Nowell, the rector, settle the question within a little :— " Memorandum. At a vestry houlden the 16th day of May : 1660 It was then agreed and concluded by the Parishoners that the Kinges Armes should be set up in the Church, and as for the charge of it, it was also then agreed and concluded that there should be an Asses made ", foUowed by sixteen signatures. And in another but contemporary hand, added when the work was done : " Kings Arms to be sett up again in the Church which cost £13 : 10 : 9 ". 8, 9. GUILDHALL, COURT ROOM AND COUNCIL CHAMBER. (PROBABLY CHABLES II.) In addition to the Elizabethan Uon and dragon bearing shields, before described, the GuUdhaU is fortunate in possessing two further examples of royal arms, one in the Court Room below, the other in the CouncU Chamber above. Both are set over the mayor's seats, both are of carved and painted wood, full achievements, and very probably the work of the same craftsman. Each coat is Stuart, without further identification, but there can be Uttle doubt that both are of THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 231 the reign of Charles II. Visitors, and even the Kent Archasological Society at its last visit in 1930, have been told that these arms belong to WiUiam III, and the error has been repeated in a booklet on the town issued by Messrs. SoUey & Co., auctioneers, and also in the last edition of the Official Handbook, before mentioned. It is very improbable, however, on this assumption, that the mistake of omitting William's escutcheon of pretence of Nassau would have been twice perpetrated in the chief civic buUding of Sandwich ; and even in the case of the St. Clement's arms, where this error does occur, the identity of their owner is settled by William's motto, absent in both GuUdhaU instances. The style of both carvings is so simUar that they are probably best treated together, any differences being noted. Both have the correct Stuart bearings, but aU the Uons of the shields are very roughly executed. In neither case does the woman appear on the Irish harp, which in both carvings has an uncommon ring at its top sinister corner, and all four supporters are wrought quiescentibus mentulis. Such identical features surely argue the same hand. Garters normal and mottoes " Dieu et mon droit." Both carvings seem to have been repainted, and here a difference is seen—an error in either case. The Court Room arms now give mantling or and sable, the CouncU Chamber depiction being or and gules ; and the latter gives a rose and thistle beneath the hon and unicorn, omitted in the former. The former example has the carving backed on a modern framed wooden panel, the latter without such but resting on a modern black wooden ledge. In the S. window of the upper floor room of the modern S. wing of the buUding is modern heraldic glazing : E. end: The crowned coat of Ehzabeth, with error in motto : " Dieu est mon droit." W. end : The royal arms in present use. The room between the last and the Council Chamber has also heraldic glass in the S. window, of date 1926 : E. end : Stuart. W. end : Present royal arms. 232 THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 10. ST. CLEMENT'S. (WILLIAM III.) In St. Clement's, since the tower coUapses of its two sisters now the finest of the Sandwich churches, formerly took place the elections of the mayors of this town and port, until later Stuart days, when turmoU and even riot in the proceedings having created scandal, a proclamation of Charles I I in 1683 ordered the removal of such business to the GuUdhaU (see Boys, 345). (A paraUel wiU be recalled at the sister Cinque Port of Romney, where the mayors were chosen in the great church of St. Nicholas.) A few years after the issue of this edict were probably made the royal arms of WiUiam III, perhaps at his coronation, now set over the mayor's pew. They hang over the eastern capital of the second free pier from the west of the south arcade of the nave, a fine Perpendicular work which with its clustered columns shows a family likeness to the distant contemporary arcades at Cranbrook and Westerham. It is interesting to note that the St. Clement's arms, the latest of the fine Sandwich series, take us back to the close of the seventeenth century, somewhat recalling the saying that in the streets of Rye, that other dehghtful Cinque Port, nothing more recent seems appropriate than " the Cavaher's hat and cloak." These arms are of carved wood, repainted, and they show a fuU achievement, the whole effect simUar to the beautUul coat, also of WiUiam III, on the N. gaUery, over the mayor's pew in St. Mary's in the town of Dover. WUliam and Mary, as sovereigns of equal right, sometimes used an impalement of the same Stuart arms, with the exception that WiUiam's dexter haU bore his escutcheon of pretence of Nassau ; and in such cases the arms can be dated between 1689 and the death of Mary in 1694. Since however two almost identical quarterly coats impaled gave a dull and cumbersome effect, the commoner representation was an undivided Stuart shield with the aforesaid pretence. At St. Clement's this latter detaU is omitted and the identity is THE ROYAL HERALDRY OF SANDWICH. 233 estabhshed only by the blue scroU at the base of the arms bearing in golden capitals the motto : IE • MEIN . . . . TIEN • (D)EA(Y). The breaks in the text are due to covering by detaUs of the carving above, which also shghtly obscure part of the normal garter. The Irish harp bears the woman, and the mantling is now gules and ermine. The supporting hon and unicorn are chiefly notable for their distinctly humorous expressions, as opposed to the stodgy looks of many of the later heraldic beasts. The horn of the unicorn seems a restoration. To sum up, we have seen that this httle town of Sandwich can boast of a long and fine series of ten existing royal arms, with a fair sprmkling of lost and modern examples also ; a record not easUy to be surpassed, even were Sandwich unable to hold its head high, rich in other kinds of historic treasures.