Thanks, Paul, for drawing my attention to this thread. I hope no one will think me patronising if I try to explain everything from the beginning, but I shall have to post it in two parts as it is more than these allowed number of characters!
Part 1
Before I deal with Bland, may I establish a few facts? A shield is always blazoned [described] in a certain order. First the background colour, called the field followed by any charges [pictorial representations]. Then the ‘ordinaries’, which are some basic shapes placed on the field. In our case we have a ‘bend’, which is a wide diagonal stripe from the top right corner of the shield [from the point of view of the man holding the shield], to the bottom left. If the bend slopes from the top left [latin: sinister] corner it is called a bend sinister and may [but not always] indicate bastardy. Any charges placed on the ‘ordinary’ are next described. There are five main colours [tinctures], sable , gules , vert , azure and, rarely used because of its royal connections, purpure [purple], and two metals, argent [silver but often shown as white] and or [gold but often shown as yellow]. There are other colours, as we shall find on our crest. For clarity, tinctures should not be placed on or adjacent to tinctures or metals on or adjacent to metals. The blazoning is given as a type of shorthand, to take up as little room as possible.
So, the ancient arms of Bland are blazoned thus: Argent, on a bend, three pheons, or. Short and to the point! The field [background colour], is silver [or white], the bend is black and on it are three gold broad arrowheads. These arms are given in the College of Arms. C.24. Volume 1. Page 148 b Grants of Arms page 31. I have no idea how to access this but no doubt some member of RootsChat will!
So, those are the ancient arms of Bland of Sedburgh. Dave the Tyke is correct in stating that this family originated in a wild and windswept place called Blandsgill below the Howgills. If you go there you will see a lovely cottage called Bland’s Cottage at the foot of Chapel Beck and a little church nearby filled with entries from Blands in the visitors’ book! I have photos of these buildings somewhere. Needless to say, neither building is as old as the family origins.
This ancient line died out quickly and a younger branch, which moved to Leeming inherited. Their arms had to be ‘differenced’ to avoid confusion with those of the elder [now extinct] branch. So the arms of Bland of Leeming and, later, Kippax Park, are blazoned thus: Argent, on a bend, sable, three pheons, of the field. You will note that the only difference is that the arrowheads are now ‘of the field’, in other words silver [NOT gold]. Bland of Leeming also has a crest blazoned: Out of a Ducal coronet, or, a lions’ head, tanné. So, poking out above a golden Ducal coronet there is a tawny [tanné] lions head facing to the left as we look at it. This description is in the College of Arms, C.40. And is confirmed in the Visitation of Yorkshire in 1666 [the year my house was built!], The Visitation of Yorkshire in 1584 & 85 by Robert Glover and in Warburton’s Arms of Yorkshire Families in 1638. So these arms date back at least to the reign of Elizabeth 1st [1585].
There are other Bland coats of arms. For example Bland of Halifax: Quarterly, argent and or, on a bend sable, three pheons of the second. Crest - On a wreath of the colours, out of a crown vallary, or, a lion’s head, proper, charged with a bend sable, thereon three pheons as in the arms. Motto - Potior Origine Virtus. Note the unusual quartering of two metals. Bland of Halifax was not entitled to a Ducal coronet. ‘Proper’ means coloured with its proper colour, which won’t be very different from tanné [tawny] will it!
