Lowther/Whitehaven Crests - our identity




We had learned from our visits to the Beacon Museum and Lowther Castle that Whitehaven had come into the hands of the Lowther family around 1630 - Christopher Lowther had developed the mining industry, then his son John Lowther transformed the town and expanded the harbour.

It is not surprising to see the Crests of the Lowther Family and Whitehaven have similarities.

Whitehaven Crest

Whitehaven adopted the Lowther crest in 1894 - taking the white dragon and yellow shield from the Lowther Coat of Arms.

So what is a Coat of Arms?   It is a design painted on a shield containing symbols which are unique and important to a person, a family even a country, company or organisation.

A good example to look at briefly is Copeland Coat of Arms.

Just focusing on the shield - at the top this shows picks from the coal and iron mining industries, an anchor for the ports, blue flashes of lightning refer to electrical industry served by Sellafield and Calder plants.  Below are the three well known mountains of Great Gable, Scafell and Scafell Pike set above blue waves for lakes, rivers and sea.

 Other symbols for important families of the time are shown but we shall only focus on the white dragon for the Lowther family to the left of the shield. 

Our activity - to be completed over a few weeks - is to think about our identity, who we are, what we like, what is important to us and design our own shield or coat of arms.

What would this say about us?

The following pictures show our work in progress ...............







Fabulous designs taking shape......

by Sienna

by Aneasha


by Lexie

by Hubert




Well done everyone!  More amazing work to follow.......................

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Banner - the West Cumbrian Connection - Carlisle Library Exhibition 24th September, 2019 until 6th January, 2020

Image
Our banner suspended in Carlisle Library Our personal coats of arms displayed in Carlisle Library We all signed our names to go on the reverse of our banner As from the 24th September, our banner and our work forms part of an exhibition in Carlisle Library, celebrating the end of a year long project involving our school, Studio Arts and Creative Conversations groups from Prism Arts and Upperby Primary School. The exhibition continues until 6th January, 2020 and represents our creative response to our journey in learning about our local textile industry. The project was made possible by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Jacqui Ridley Artist & Creative Practitioner jacquiridleyart.co.uk 07928444814
Read more

David Ramshaw - Carlisle Canal

Image
Today  26th February,  David Ramshaw, writer, publisher and local historian joined us at Prism Arts, Carlisle where we met up again with participants from the Creative Conversations group. David told us about transport in the early part of the 19th Century as part of our research in uncovering the history of Carlisle's Textile Industry. We learned that factories in Carlisle were powered by water initially - there was a large furnace for example under Dixon's Chimney turning water into steam and energy to power the factory.  This  was the biggest in Europe at the time.  Although as we know from our research into Whitehaven and the Lowther family there was plenty coal in West Cumbria, there was no way then of bringing this to Carlisle's factories - roads were poor and pack horses were used to carry goods relevant to local trade. This problem had been resolved in other parts of Britain by the use of canals.  A plan in 1795 looked at building a canal from Count
Read more

Busy! Busy time! - 25th June, 2019

Image
 School is very busy as only a few weeks until the end of term.  We are working on all the pieces that will come together to form our banner.  Even time to print!...... We have our design and we have identified what we need to include that is unique to where we live and the history of  the textile industry 200 years ago.    Aneasha finished her textile drawing of Carlisle Basin, showing the Castle and chimneys in the distance - well done everyone.
Read more