Thank you both for your efforts it is much appreciated! I am a complete novice to Heraldry and such like although I am now taking much more interest in the subject since my Father passed away last December. He was a big collector of police memorabilia, and heraldry etc is used in so many ways in the forces. You are welcome to take a look at a site I have dedicated to him, found here
http://alan.swain.me.uk/The mention of river police is a good suggestion as there being 'anchors' in the coat of arms although I am not sure of the use of crowns. I did find three crowns relating to the Bishop of Oxford. Was/is there a Bishops Palace like we have here in Peterborough? A Church Wardens tipstaff? Cathedral related??
Universities, yes, colleges, how many of them are there and have any been sold in the past or ceased to exist?
Dating the tipstaff at a very rough guess, I'd put it at say 1850 possibly earlier. Universities did indeed use them surprisingly, as I have one of my fathers for Cambridge, reference number 15 here...
http://alan.swain.me.uk/truncheons.htmHopefully some of the ideas here will get viewers of this thread to chip in. The Tipstaff certainly is a genuine item and someone somewhere would know just what it was used for and where. Thanks again!
Laurence.
Edit: Just a little more info, the coat of arms is on a 'silver' curved disc mounted on the wooden baton, just incase one wonders what the black stains are.