40 BRADSHAW HALL AND THE BRADSHAWES. 



lifetime. Over the old gateway at Bradshaw, which is in good 

 preservation, his own name and the date (1620) have been 

 car\'ed on the side facing the Hall over a shield, on which is 

 a curious device which has jjuzzled every modern student of 

 heraldry who has seen it. Lord Hawkesbur)', who has recently 

 been kind enough to search into the question, is of opinion 

 that it is a badge or cognizance, and Mr. P. Carlyon-Britton, 

 of London, adds that he should describe it as " a thorn between 

 six nails." With this assistance, a possible solution suggests 

 itself, which, if correct, is at least amusing. That the device 

 is a rebus on the name Bradshawe, viz., six nails for the 

 plural " Brads,' a species of nail, and the thorn for the old 

 EngHsh " Haw,"' hence Brads-haw. This suggests a further 

 possibility, viz., whether the scroll of foliage surrounding the 

 shield may not be a spray of barberry, the whole being in 

 honour of Barbara Bradshawe, whose name would thus appro- 

 priately follow that of her husband, as her initials did upon 

 the stone of the previous year. This would account for the 

 otherwise curious absence on the main gateway of any reference 

 to her. We must not forget in this relation the acrostic of 

 Anthony Bradshawe at Duffield. On the outer side of the gate- 

 way is a shield, bearing a coat-of-arms, as follows : — 



Argent, two bendlets between two martlets sable (Bradshawe). 

 Impaling, or, a chevron, gules, between three martlets, sable 

 (Stafford), with crest above, a stag at gaze proper under a vine 

 tree, fruited, proper (Bradshawe). 



The tricking of the arms bears the impress of the work of an 

 amateur. The Stafford arms, borne by his mother as an heiress, 

 ought to have been quartered by Francis Bradshawe, with the 

 Bradshawe arms on the dexter shield ; while the Davenport arms, 

 as borne by his wife, should have been impaled. 



This error has misled genealogists into a supposition that the 

 hall and arch were built by his father. This, however, would 

 not help matters, for apart from the initials and date on the 

 stone found in the cellar, which proves that the Francis who 

 married Barbara built the hall, his father's coat ought to have 



