I looked up the Hawley family crest — this isn't it. Still, it's a lovely coat of arms. I wish I knew what it symbolized. It looks right at home on Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, overlooking the sea.
I'm not at all certain of the identification of the charges on the bend as "escallops". In heraldry, the hinge of the shell would normally be towards the top of the shield. If these are escallops, then they are "reversed" (or inverted), which would be most unusual.
Checking Burke's "General Armory" under Hawley, I found nothing like this coat of arms.
Looking at Papworth's "Ordinary of British Armorials", there is a coat of arms for the name Rigston which seems to match the coat on the Hawley gravestone: "Argent on a bend between two fleurs-de-lis sable three standing cups (with covers ?) of the first." In other words, on a white shield, a black diagonal stripe from the upper left to the lower right between two black fleurs-de-lis, on the stripe three white cups, or covered cups (rather like chalices or wine glasses, with a dome lid).
I'm not sure why Hawley would be associated with a Rigston coat of arms, there have been instances in colonial America where an individual was using his mother's family's coat of arms.
An illustration of two different heraldic "covered cups", the second one (for Cluer) demonstrating at least a passing resemblance to the charges on the bend in this coat of arms, may be found at: http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossc.htm#Cup
3 comments:
I recall a symbolic connection between seashells and medieval pilgrims to Santiago de Campostela.
I'm not at all certain of the identification of the charges on the bend as "escallops". In heraldry, the hinge of the shell would normally be towards the top of the shield. If these are escallops, then they are "reversed" (or inverted), which would be most unusual.
Checking Burke's "General Armory" under Hawley, I found nothing like this coat of arms.
Looking at Papworth's "Ordinary of British Armorials", there is a coat of arms for the name Rigston which seems to match the coat on the Hawley gravestone: "Argent on a bend between two fleurs-de-lis sable three standing cups (with covers ?) of the first." In other words, on a white shield, a black diagonal stripe from the upper left to the lower right between two black fleurs-de-lis, on the stripe three white cups, or covered cups (rather like chalices or wine glasses, with a dome lid).
I'm not sure why Hawley would be associated with a Rigston coat of arms, there have been instances in colonial America where an individual was using his mother's family's coat of arms.
An illustration of two different heraldic "covered cups", the second one (for Cluer) demonstrating at least a passing resemblance to the charges on the bend in this coat of arms, may be found at: http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossc.htm#Cup
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