|
David Bewes explains: (many thanks) There are several versions.
Notes: "Azure" (ie the shield colour is blue, tending towards cyan), "a fesse raguly"
(a fesse is a horizontal band across the width of the shield at the
mid-point, raguly means that the edges of the fesse are like italicised
battlements) between three
unicorns' heads "erased or", ("erased" means that the head is torn at the
neck in a jagged way, as opposed to "couped" which means cut with a clean
line. "Or" means that the heads are of a golden colour).
"as many flaunches of the last" is puzzling as no flaunch is
shown on the arms. A flaunch is a
semi-circular area normally on either side of the shield.
Motto: "Le Lierrelie longs liens" is obviously a play on words. "Lier" (a variation of the name "Leir") is a French verb meaning to bind, tie, or unite. "relier" is a closely related French verb meaning to link, join up, connect etc. "lierre" is French for Ivy. "longs" means long. "lien" means bonds, links, connections, attach etc. "Lierrelie" should probably be broken as "Lierre lie". So the motto might mean "The ivy binds long bonds" or "the Leirs bind together long-standing connections". |
||||
Here are excerpts from Fox-Davies "Armorial Families", 1930 version. They vary quite considerably from the ones shown above. |