Chichester'sCoatofArms

By local historian Andrew Berriman

In my recently published book, ‘In Search of Chichester’**, I have written about some of the mysteries which surround aspects of the city’s past. One of these concerns the city’s Coat of Arms. It first appears on a 1570 charter, granted during the reign of Elizabeth I. This was one of the many such charters which gave various rights, powers and privileges to the city, in particular the regulation of trade by the merchant’s guild. The very first charter was in 1135. A later charter in 1226 led to the appointment of a Mayor. On first appearance the coat of arms attached to the 1570 charter looks straightforward. It is in the form of a shield, which is divided into two parts by a horizontal line. Above the line is a rather elongated, emaciated lion with a splendid tail. This explains why today, on top of the Council House in North Street, also sits a friendly, sleepy, stone lion. Maybe it was there because the 2nd Duke of Richmond had subscribed most of the funds, the lion’s share in fact, for the new Council House in 1731, and he wanted to commemorate his favourite lioness, who had recently died. She had been one of the many wild animals kept in the Duke’s menagerie in underground vaulted tunnels, still extant, behind Goodwood House. Below the line on the shield are fourteen ‘gutes de sang’, which is Old French for drops of blood. Actually, they more resemble pears. Just what these are supposed to signify remains a complete mystery. It has been suggested that they possibly reference the two Protestant martyrs, Thomas Iveson and Richard Hook, who were burnt to death in 1555 during the Marian Persecution, in the precincts of Chichester Cathedral, probably in the Vicars’ Close. Although this is at least a theory, and not necessarily implausible, there is no verification for it. The original charter had 14 drops of blood, but has become a variable feast. If you look at the representation of the coat of arms above the Market House (1808) you will see 15 of them. On the very heavy cast-iron shields or crests which were fixed to the Cattle Market gates (1871) there were only 12. As for the mug presented by the city’s Mayor, Adolphus Ballard, to all local children to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (1897), there are 15 of them. Take your pick. None have the ‘correct’ number. Woops. We then come to another source of much controversy, that straight line on the original coat of arms. On both Victorian versions it was replaced by an indented, serrated line, possibly to reference Chichester’s nearness to the coast. This really infuriated Francis Steer, the formidable County Archivist. He was also the Maltravers Herald Extraordinary, a very big fish in the arcane world of heraldry, though I’ve no idea what he did. He was apoplectic about the altered crest. He demanded that the straight line be reinstated. So the Chichester City Council did its best. It revised its letterheads, the badges on its dustcarts, on the Priory Park gates, and at the Cemetery. But what about the Market House coats of arms? Until then this had been plain, unadorned, stone, no paint at all. But no longer. Look at the shield closely. Despite the use of red paint, the indented line is still all too visible. Oh dear. Many thanks, by the way, to Alan Green of The Grumpium Museum for use of these images. ** ‘In Search of Chichester’, 192 pages, 204 illustrations, from Kim’s Bookshop, direct from andrew.berriman@gmail.com, £15, plus £3.50 p/p or call 01243 778477.