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Heraldry in Historic Houses of Great Britain

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Over the centuries the gentry and nobility of England and Wales have displayed their wealth and power through the magnificence of their dwellings. Heraldry is a visual form of identity, used to display ownership. In this well-researched and illustrated book two officers of the English College of Arms write with authority about the heraldry to be discovered in many different forms in some historic homes under the management of the National Trust of England. This book is a joy to read and browse, for the serious student of heraldry, and those seeking a deeper understanding of the uses of heraldry as seen in historic homes of Britain.

Visit the ancestral home of an ancient titled family in Britain (many of them now in the care of the National Trust), and you're likely to be confronted by carved lions, painted greyhounds, and basilisks figured in the table linen. There's not a baronial manor that doesn't feature heraldic symbols everywhere they can be portrayed, a sort of billboard advertising the dignity of the resident family. More than fifty sumptuous homes are featured in this coffee table volume, including Tattershall Castle, property of the Cromwells, Blickling Hall, which belonged to the earls of Buckinghamshire, and Baddesley Clinton, seat of the Ferrers family, of medieval origins. There are more than a hundred full color plates and illustrations, plus another hundred heraldric line drawings. In explaining the symbolism depicted and the uses made of it, the authors include a great deal of anecdotal history of the great aristocratic families. A treasure trove for art and architecture historians as well as heraldicists.