CREWE (Cheshire).

CREWE (Cheshire). Has no armorial bearings. The " picture " in use is another of these " Illustrated Bits," absurdities which pass the wit of man to understand. Whoever was responsible for its concoction and conception has raised up a lasting memorial to his own ignorance, to put it mildly ; and that any Corporation composed of a Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors should contain no one with sufficient heraldic knowledge (and very little would have sufficed), or even artistic taste, which is a much more general commodity, to have objected when such a design was submitted is difficult to believe. The said design consists of an escutcheon cjuarterly of four. As the Town-Clerk, in writing, guilelessly puts it, the design of Crewe " represents the present and past means of locomotion, one panel (!) representing the stage-coach, another the canalboat, another the pack-horse, and the last the pillion ; and a locomotive steamengine at the head." The illustration is a very accurate representation, and to sum it up, I should like to say the shield contains seven horses, ten men, one woman, a stage-coach, and a canal-boat, a canal, a towing-path, a road, two ranges of mountains, four trees, and incidental surroundings. A few of the people are omitted on the notepaper, presumably for the sake of convenience. Above the shield is placed a mural coronet in the position of a coronet of rank (! ! !) [I have taken upon myself to omit the coronet. — Ed.] And above this is placed upon a wreath showing nine twists a locomotive engine and tender ! (Upon the notepaper a line of rails is placed, which causes the absence of a signal-post to be noticed.) The Motto is "never behind." This, as a delightful piece of sarcasm, will doubtless be appreciated by any one constantly using Crewe Railway Station. One eagerly awaits new quarters for the motor-car and aeroplane.

Original Source bookofpublicarms00foxd_djvu.txt near line 7851.