THE HISTORY OF EAST GRINSTEAD - Online Book
The rise and progress of the town and the history of its institutions & people.
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 17 |
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sayde Thomas Cure bare unto the sayd Burrowe towne and inhabytants thereof. Dated the day and yeare before written.
Per me Humfridum Eoydon
1572
fnnis A Paterae of a Seale for the Borroughe Towne of Estgrinsteed in Sussex.
Graunted by Garter Principall
Kinge of Amies
by me Gilbert Dethick,
als garter principall
King of armes.
The five Prince of Wales feathers are in blue, with gold touches to the tips, the ground yellow, the rim gilt and the letters brown. The silver seal referred to has long since disappeared.
According to some authorities the town had another coat of arms—a rose surmounted by a crown. Cox's " Magna Britannia" gives a ducal crown, with rose below and "Sus" "sex" on either side, as the arms of the town, but there is no record of this at the College of Arms. Some local bodies have adopted this rose and crown as their seal, but they do not agree either as to the shape of the rose or the formation of the crown. The Gilbert Dethick who signs the grant was first Norroy and then Garter King of Arms, being raised to the latter office on April 29th, 1550. He was succeeded by William Dethick (possibly his son) on April 21st, 1586, and in connection with the grant to East Grinstead it is interesting to note that about this time gross irregularities with regard to the granting and confirmations of arms obtained in the Heralds College. " Some of the Heralds," we are told, " had taken to visiting and giving grants of arms on their own initiative, which they had no right to do except as deputies to one of the Kings of Arms." Their action brought about a positive scandal, so on July 18th,
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