Mr Harvie-Broivn on the Squirrel in G-reat Britain. 



35 



use of the squirrel on their coat of arms probably originated 

 in Scotland ; but as the use of supporters in heraldry does 

 not probably date back beyond the fourteenth century, this 

 does not point to any very old actual use of the squirrel in 

 Scottish heraldry ; but the origin of its use may possibly be 

 traced directly to the Runic scroll at Euthwell, or to the 

 similar ideas formed of the meaning of these Runic scrolls at 

 that time on either side of the Borders, or to the meanings of 

 similar representations on the stained glass of Bowness and 

 elsewhere.* 



At Selby, in Yorkshire, two of the lights in the east win- 

 dow have borders of brown squirrels cracking nuts on sprays 

 of yellow hazel. Also at Dewsbury Church, in Yorkshire ; 

 also at Malmesbury Abbey, on encaustic tiles {Yorksh. 

 Archm. and Topog. Journal, Part 19, pp. 333, 346). 



With regard to the appearance of squirrels on sign-boards, 

 Mr W. H. Bidwell of JSTorwich writes me, as follows : " The 

 Three Squirrels " was the sign of an inn at Lambeth, men- 

 tioned by Taylor — the water poet — in 1636 ; and from a 



* In the north of England, it also occurs in heraldry, as follows : Whar- 

 ton (Beverley, Yorkshire), or, on a chev. az., a martlet between two pheons 

 of the field ; crest, on the stump of a tree, erased ppr, a squirrel ; sejant, 

 of the last collared — or, cracking a nut of the last {vide Berry's "Encyc. 

 Heraldica "). 



The squirrel also occurs on the arms of the following families : Adott, 

 Creswell-Cresswell, Grensted or Greenford, Hartford, Holt, Henfing, Lovell, 

 Nutshall, Orton, Pace, Samuell or Samwell, Scobington, Squire, Stockwood, 

 Stokes, Warren, Wood {op. cit.). 



In Norfolk, the family of the Cresswells bear squirrels in heraldry, where 

 it occurs both as a charge and crest. But this is originally a Northumber- 

 land family. 



In Cumberland, the family of Hasell of Dalemain bears three hazel slips ; 

 crest, a squirrel feeding on a hazel nut ; but that family came to Cumberland 

 from Cambridgeshire about 1660 (?). 



The family of Mounsey of Castleton, near Carlisle, bears a squirrel. But 

 they may have assumed it, because the Roll of Caerlaverock says, that " one 

 Mounci " bore a squirrel {vide *' The Roll "). 



Lovell — A chevron between three squirrels. 



Samwell — Two squirrels sejant, addorsed (sitting back to back). 



I repeat : — It is curious to find such a massing together of fainilies who use 

 the squirrel on their arms in the north of England. It would, at least, appear 

 that the earliest use of the squirrel in heraldry was thus made by some leading 

 family in the north of England. 



