Picture ~ A fearsome scarlet gryphon beast, hand painted on a funky looking pot trinket was produced by the William Henry Goss porcelain factory at Stoke on Trent in the first quarter of the 20th century.
As Wroxham and neighbouring Hoveton blossomed as an inshore resort and boating centre, the new 'yachting village' needed an identity. From 1811, the main landowner of Wroxham was a branch of the gentry Trafford family, who purchased a mixed arable estate of just over five thousand acres; with at its heart a splendid mansion, served by its own watercourse, until its sad demise in 1964.
The Trafford clan are said to have sailed over from Scandinavia with the adventurous King Canute the Great (c 990 ~ 1035). Coincendently, Canute endowed St Benet's Abbey in 1020, located at Cow Holme on desolate esturine marshes, a few miles down the River Bure.
In the 14th century, the Traffords linked with the Royal Plantagenet dynasty. Being further enobled, they assumed an "argent" silver shield bearing a "griffin segreant gules" ~ a mythical creature of Persian origin with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. A few centuries later, a distinctly rural crest was added showing a man attired in matching livery colours threshing bundles of corn or wheat with a flail, accompanied with a practical motto "Now Thus".
Today, Trafford city in Lancashire proudly use the same imagery as their borough brand.
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