Savile family heraldry rediscovered at Halifax Minster

Mr Bretton, later honorary secretary to the society, would eventually achieve the distinction of Fellow of the Heraldry Society. He also designed the 1948 version of the Halifax Borough Coat of Arms.

The heraldry which ornaments Halifax Minster (formerly the parish church) is extensive. Many will recall shields galore adorn the ceiling, for example, and the depiction of the Lister arms above the chancel has created considerable extra interest lately.

Mr Bretton’s study involved the interior of the building. However, there are also heraldic items outside, carved into the fabric.

The most obvious are the Lacy arms over the Minster’s south porch, often noted, and described heraldically as: Argent, six pellets, three, two and one. Their presence in this location may well indicate that the Lacy family paid for that porch, added at the end of the 15th century, after the main structure was completed.

Having my own Lacy descent, this always appeals to me – my ancestor Christopher Lacy, of Halifax, went from Halifax to London in the late 1400s and died there in 1518.

He once witnessed a charter concerning Shibden Hall. In his will he left an intriguing bequest to his brother Edward Lacy: “My second violet gown furred with black bogye.”

And although he had lived in London for many years, in his will Christopher left Halifax Parish Church a cope of the value of 40 shillings, and “to the altar of our Lady there an altar cloth both above and beneath of Bruges satin”, valued at 20 shillings.

Returning to heraldry and stone, recently I was looking at the two heraldic beasts high up on buttresses on the chancel wall, along the south side of the Minster. These are the heraldic Leopard (or Lion) of England, and the Yale.

These figures have been known about for many years; the yale was a mythical spotted figure with curious revolving horns, and may indicate that the chancel was not completed until later than some historians had earlier suggested.

The connection of the Yale of Beaufort with the British monarchy apparently began with Henry VII in 1485, though many have dated the Minster chancel to the 1430s. They are numbered among “The King’s Beasts”.

Not long ago, studying the crenellations along the wall top near those two beasts, I identified some small shields, not mentioned by any writer before, as far as I know. Had they been overgrown with creeper when earlier studies were made?

Using binoculars I could make out that two of these blazons were repeats of the Lacy arms, with their pellets turned inwards rather than outwards. Yet there are two others, and these appear to be the Savile arms: Argent, three owls of the first on a bend sable.

Of course, the famous owl emblem of the Saviles appears in various places around Calderdale, particularly at St Mary’s Church, Elland; and in that town many will know there is a pub called The Savile Arms.

Both the Lacy and the Savile arms also featured on the Minster ceiling.

Having recently joined The Yorkshire Heraldry Society, I am glad to have something to contribute from Halifax for them.