Description
A carved angel with dark hair spreading to either side of its face has long, outstretched feathered wings. Its brown robe has a blue collar, and both hands hold the lower sides of a pointed shield. On a pale background, the shield displays three dark birds with reddish beaks and legs, two above and one below a broad dark horizontal band. A pale crescent occupies the centre of the band. The face retains clearly painted eyes, eyebrows and lips.
Heraldry
Tentative blazon: Argent, a fess Sable between three birds close Sable, on the fess an annulet Argent.
In plain English: A white or silver field bearing a black horizontal band between three black standing birds, two above and one below. A white or silver ring is set upon the black band. The principal arrangement is clear, the birds are probably choughs. The central charge appears to be an amulet, although local wear makes its outline imperfect.
Alternative blazon: Argent, three choughs sable, beaked and legged gules, a fess sable (or a variant displaying a crescent moon on the central horizontal bar) Probably Thomas Becket’s shield with choughs.
Identification: RCHME: Argent, on a fess between three moorhens(?) sable, a crescent argent; Buckeridge: Argent a fess between three Cornish choughs proper a crescent for difference.
Condition
The shield’s design remains readily recognisable, although a vertical strip of paint loss and cracking runs through its centre, crossing the band and crescent. Further losses affect the lower bird and shield point. The face, hair, robe and hands show scattered wear and exposed wood, with a conspicuous crack across the upper chest on the viewer’s right. Both wings have splits, chipped feather edges and substantial damage near their inner ends. Small holes and visible fixings occur towards the outer wing tips.