Ludlow Castle’s Heraldic Roll is a fantastically preserved record of coats of arms. A stunning replica of this roll has been acquired by the Castle to put on display. Hugh Wood, a member of the Mortimer History Society, has been pivotal in bringing this historically significant document back to light. Hugh tells us more about the story behind this discovery…
Tell us more about The Heraldic Roll…
The Heraldic Roll is a pictorial record (on parchment) of 42 heraldic shields, which was originally placed in the chapel of St Mary Magdalene in the inner bailey of the castle on 23rd January 1574, with accompanying text. The roll itself is about 10cm wide and 4.5m long and is made from seven pieces of animal skin, sewn together.
The roll is in three sections:
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11 (supposed) owners of Ludlow castle; from Walter de Lacy to Queen Elizabeth I
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23 Members of the Council in the Marches of Wales, including the Lord President at the time, Sir Henry Sidney.
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8 former Lord Presidents
Who created it?
It is presumed that the roll was created by order of Sir Henry Sidney KG, who Lord President of the Council in the Marches of Wales from 1560 to 1588. Sir Henry was very fond indeed of heraldry and pageantry.
Shield of Sir Henry Sidney
How did you get involved with the Roll and what has your role been?
An art dealer called Miles Wynn Cato attended a tour of St Laurence’s church that I ran in October 2015. I had introduced the group to much of the heraldry in the church, and Miles spoke to me afterwards. He had some experience of pedigree rolls and had seen the roll for sale some years previously. All he knew was that it contained coats of arms relating to Ludlow. With his help I contacted the dealer who, mercifully, still had the roll, and arranged to view it in a toyshop in Portobello Road, London. The dealer had had the roll assessed by a herald who vouched for its authenticity. It had been partly eaten by rodents and had been expertly repaired. It was immediately clear to me from the original inscription at the top that it was a very exciting find indeed.
I returned to Ludlow and gathered a group of interested local people together including John Cherry, formerly Keeper of Medieval and Modern Europe at the British Museum, and Rosalind Caird, formerly Archivist at Hereford Cathedral. Together we organised an appeal and raised enough money to buy the roll, analyse and conserve it, and have several paper copies made. We wrote a book about the roll, my contribution being the discussion of the heraldry itself. As well as arranging showings of the roll, we wanted it to be used for educational purposes. I produced a booklet about it for primary children and visit several local schools each year teaching them something about heraldry, showing them a copy of the roll and giving each pupil a booklet about it to take home.
Why has it only recently come to light?
The records of the Council have not survived, so we have no knowledge of where the roll has been since it was created, though in recent years it has certainly been in the hands of several dealers. There is a market for family pedigree rolls from the same period, but this was different and its significance was not recognised until now.
Why is it so important to Ludlow?
This original small collection of shields in the chapel was subsequently added to, right up until the abolition of the Council in 1689, with many being placed in the council chamber. For a while, these shields remained largely in place and the antiquarian William Mytton recorded them around 1735. They subsequently disappeared and, until recently, we just had Mytton’s descriptions of them. As far as we can tell, no one was aware that a copy had been made of the original shields shortly after they were put up, so the discovery of the roll was of major historical importance.
What does it tell us about the history of the castle?
From Mytton’s records, we already knew that these coats of arms existed, and more or less what they were, so perhaps nothing significant has been added to our knowledge of the castle’s history as such. I suppose the main value has come from all the work done to produce the book. This included finding the commonplace book of Robert Commander, chaplain to Sir Henry Sidney, who recorded the exact date the shields were put up. The biographies of the current members of the Council, and of the previous owners, highlight the disruption caused by the to-and-fro religious machinations of the time.
The Heraldic Roll replica is now on display here at Ludlow Castle in our Gallery area which can be found above the gift shop, where you can also buy a copy of Hugh’s book; ‘The Ludlow Castle Heraldic Roll’.
You can find out more about the roll from Mortimer Historical Society here.
