ON HORSE-SHOES. 
659 
rank of an esquire to enter the lists as a combatant at the 
jousts and tournaments.* In a manuscript in the Bodleian 
Library, No. 264, dated 1344, there are delineations of both 
the fixed and moveable quintain, upon each of which a large 
horse-shoe is painted, but of a form varying very much from 
that of the shoes found with Roman remains, or in the tomb 
of Childeric, or on the seal of the Earl of Pembroke. The 
shoes depicted in the manuscript are remarkable for their 
length, their equal breadth, their ends turned out and some¬ 
what upwards, and from being pierced with nail-holes 
throughout their entire length. It is this formed horse-shoe 
which is generally met with in heraldry, and which, according 
to Guillim, is borne by the families of Borlace, Cripps, 
Crispe, Ferrers, Randall, and Shoyswell, and is also seen in 
the arms of the Company of Farriers/f* 
But Guillim figures the horse-shoe in the arms of Okeham 
of a different shape, being almost a circle, with eight 
square nail-holes placed at nearly equal distances. He 
says of Okeham, that it is “ the chief town of Rutlandshire, 
seated in a rich valley, and indifferent good and well-inhabited 
town. Here is an ancient privilege or custom which the 
inhabitants claim, that is, if any nobleman enter precinct or 
lordship, as an homage, he is to forfeit one of his horse’s 
shoes, unless he redeem it with money; and the truth of 
this is apparent by the many horse-shoes nailed upon the 
shire hall door; and their badge is a horse-shoe.” 
This custom appears to have reference to the original pos¬ 
sessors of the estate, and De Ferrers, who bore six horse-shoes 
in their escutcheon. There were formerly to be seen some 
very curious horse-shoes nailed to the hall door, some of 
which were gilt, and a few had the name of the donor 
stamped on them. One of the old Okeham shoes was pre¬ 
served in the Leverian Museum, but it was wrongly de¬ 
scribed as being “ taken from the old castle of Okingham, 
Berks, where it is the custom of every nobleman who passes 
that way the first time after succeeding to his title to pre¬ 
sent one to the lord of the manor.”{ 
We may here mention a curious septennial custom regarding 
a horse-shoe still observed in the city of Lancaster. It was 
stated, in a number of the Preston Pilot , in 1834, “that a 
* Strutt’s ( Sports and Pastimes/ p. 117, ed 1838. 
f This company bear for their arms, argent, three horse-shoes, sable. 
We may here note that St. Eloy, Eligius, or Euloge, Bishop of Noyou, is 
the patron saint of farriers. 
| The Leverian collection contains a curious series of horse-shoes, which 
are enumerated in the ‘ Companion to the Museum.’ pp. 2, 3. 
