Designing a New Coat of Arms

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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11 December 2014 03:03
 

John - it’s's been a couple of months since last activity on this thread - any news?

You might Google "Wigan Metropolitan Council arms" - the Wikipedia site that popped up shows the crest of the council’s arms as including a Mountain Ash tree, and the accompanying blazon notes that the mountain ash is locally known as the "wiggin tree"!

 

So you might consider adding or substituting one or more mountain ash trees in one of the possible designs discussed earlier.  Maybe three piles, two in chief and one in base each charged with a mountain ash tree?  Or since you seemed to like the notion of rooks (ravens), how about three piles, two issuing from the chief each charged with a raven, and one issuing from the base charged with an ash tree? Your choice of colors…

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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11 December 2014 13:17
 

Yes it’s been a while. Life has me sidetracked off of my sidetrack, but I’ve been checking in and lurking about as I look for inspiration. Thanks for your suggestions. I’ll explore the Wiggin tree.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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28 April 2015 21:26
 

Just checking to see if you’ve had any more thoughts, either re: any of the earlier ideas, or anything new.

(Kinda like the repeat calls I get from the carpet store, who can’t seem to get it that we have, and prefer, hardwood floors… )

 

Not trying to rush the process, slooow is good!

 
QuiQuog
 
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05 May 2015 14:37
 

Thanks for checking Michael,

After reading a lot of arguments and points of view, my feelings have changed about what I want it to contain. Some of my comments in other threads now seem like the arguments of my 6 year old telling me how the world works after working it all out with her friend.

I now want to keep it as simple as possible. Given the number of arms already in existence, simple is relative. I think if I can give a sideways rebus/pun/allusion to my surname, and maybe a reference to the geography where it came from, I’ll be happy. Doing this makes it more of a family rather than a personal identifier.

 

I’m really leaning towards the crows. Every now and then I’ll whip up a sketch and sit on it for a while before rejecting it for some reason or another.

 

I would really like the idea of the Wiggin tree if it were a more common nickname, rather than just in a tiny borough in another country. If I could trace my family to the town it would give it more consideration, but I don’t completely discount it yet.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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06 May 2015 00:59
 

Glad you’re still in the game for the long haul.  In the long run, you’ll have a better result and no cause (or excuse!) for regrets down stream.  If & when you’re ready to share a draft or two or more, we’d enjoy the opportunity to join in.

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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06 May 2015 12:37
 

I’m curious to know how a raven and a chess piece are distinguished in a blazon if they’re both called rook. If I had ravens in my arms, but wanted them called rooks for the purpose of a cant, how would they be blazoned so that they weren’t illustrated as a chess rook?

 
mghofer
 
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mghofer
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06 May 2015 15:54
 

QuiQuog;104249 wrote:

I’m curious to know how a raven and a chess piece are distinguished in a blazon if they’re both called rook. If I had ravens in my arms, but wanted them called rooks for the purpose of a cant, how would they be blazoned so that they weren’t illustrated as a chess rook?


You’ll see "chess-rook".

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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06 May 2015 16:12
 

My best guess would be to specify "chessrook" for the architectural Upsilon and for the bird, specify something fowl e.g "beaked and legged Proper" or some such.  If the birds are doing something more than just standing there - flying or wings elevated or holding something in beak or claw etc. - that would also be sufficiently fowlish to avoid confusion.  Hmmm…maybe holding a branch of wiggan berries?

Or the ever-popular "as is more plainly depicted in the margin" smile

 

Someone else may have a better way.

 

By the way, if you have a few spare moments, Google "rowan wiggin" - you should get links for a whole bunch of sites, some more or less scientific or horticultural, some Druidic, even one for Harry Potter.  Seems that rowan, mountain ash and wiggin are just three of a dozen or so common names for the same tree, which among other things had ritual or magical significance in various parts of northern Europe.  So wiggin tree ( or various variant spellings) may not be just a local term in the Wigan area - quite possibly the town just adopted a more widespread term for canting purposes.

 
QuiQuog
 
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11 May 2015 12:01
 

Okay, things just got weird. This could be a watershed moment. I just looked at the Rowan/Wiggin/mountain ash tree. I actually planted that tree in my back yard when we built our house. I guess I forgot it was a mountain ash over the years, and to know it’s also called a wiggin tree might very well play in my arms.

When we have a pet die we plant a tree over the burial spot and call it the pet’s name, so a lot of our trees are named; the "Charlie tree", the "Pippy tree", and such. I think we now have a name for the Mountain Ash.

 

Time to play with ideas. A pair of rooks mounted on a Wiggin tree branch? A pair of rooks, one with a Wiggin branch in it’s mouth. But maybe that’s redundant. How about simply, a Wiggin tree. Or better, two of them because plural is Wiggins. I wish I didn’t dislike trees on arms, because this one works really well. I like the idea of the obvious metaphor for a family tree on a coat of arms, it works on multiple levels in this instance. Maybe as I look at more examples, a style of depiction will grow on me.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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11 May 2015 15:22
 

Sometimes the Universe speaks to us ... wink

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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18 May 2015 11:56
 

I mentioned to my son this weekend that our tree was called a wiggin tree, not in the context of heraldry, but just as a point of conversation. He seemed to be intrigued by the new info and his gears started turning. He suggested that we plant another so that we have Wiggins. HA! He came up with the same idea I had, albeit in a different contex. I guess the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree!

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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18 May 2015 14:15
 

Oh, I thought the nut was ... never mind ...

I was surfing the Court of the Lord Lyon’s Facebook page last night.  One posting gave links to four of their heraldic artists & calligraphers.  Great fun seeing all their eye candy!  Anyway one of them (don’t recall offhand which, but it was one of the ladies) had several postings of initials (capital letters) decorated with various flowers, one of which is a branch of rowan - your wiggan - showing the distinctive form and arrangement of leaves and berries.  Of course you can just go out into your yard, but thought you might enjoy the artwork (and all the other artwork on that FB site).

For a motto, you might consider "Serendipity" or maybe the Latin for "God works in mysterious ways" smile

 
QuiQuog
 
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QuiQuog
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18 May 2015 16:44
 

Found it. Clare McCrory. Thanks for the info Michael!

I’ve been playing with stick figure drawings of different layouts including trees in various placements on varying fields. While they may look okay, they all look as if the arrangement has already been used, or a bit tired. I read in another thread about the use of intermediate cadency, using existing arms of a surname with no blood relation, and changing elements to try and come up with something unique, but the attempts I made all strike me as a little akin to bucket shop heraldry. In a nutshell, nothing seemed to be very pleasing to look at, all rather uninspired and frankly, not very cool.

 

I’ll play with ideas, and welcome any suggestions.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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23 May 2015 02:59
 

We all get the occasional bout of armorial writer’s block; not to worry.  A little time is usually therapeutic.

You’ve already got a few useful canting possibilities - two rooks, a wedge (heraldic pile), and the serendipitous wiggin tree in your back yard.  You could likely find more if you want (e.g. check out the etymology of "wiggle" or "wiggly" in a good dictionary, though it’s maybe a bit of a stretch).

 

But you’re not limited to canting arms, or from including non-canting elements in canting arms.

 

You hopefully have (or will) considered how broadly you want the new arms to pertain - you & immediate family? Your parents, siblings, etc.? Your more extended family (Wiggins cousins)?  All descendants of e.g. your immigrant ancestor?

 

One common (but optional) way to make the arms relevant to your intended armorial family is to include some reference to the wife or mother of the earliest shared Wiggins ancestor, or his old or new world residence, or to his occupation, public or military service, or other distinctive accomplishment or character.  It can be especially relevant if it’s something the family already shares pride or identifies with.

 

One challenge will be to select, adapt or create visual images to express all this; and one paradox is that the more possible design elements you have to work with, the harder it may be to prune it all down to a clean, simple design wink

 

We might be able to help with all that, if you’re comfortable sharing the relevant pieces of your family history.

 

And of course this approach is optional, and the end result will be yours, not ours; but we’d enjoy and appreciate the opportunity to participate.

 
mghofer
 
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mghofer
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24 May 2015 00:02
 

mghofer;104251 wrote:

You’ll see "chess-rook".


Found this while looking at arms granted/registered in Canada.  It is the example of a "chess-rook."