GALWAY'S HERITAGE OIDHREACHT NA GAILLIMHE GALWAY'S ...

oken in the Mid-17th century and sculpture in stone did
not begin to revive until the late 18th century. The stone
carving at the King’s Head is an example of this revival and
sculpted heraldic plaques such as this are still relatively rare
however. The best parallel for the style of carving is to be
found in the heraldic panel bearing the arms of Lynch and
Blake (the latter on an inescutcheon or escutcheon of
pretence) from Barna House which is now in Galway city
Museum. This bears the Lynch arms, crest and a mottoscroll
while the arms of Blake is superimposed on its
honour point in the middle of the shield. This form of
representing two arms together was often used in cases
where the male (Mr Lynch in this instance) married a rich
heiress – Miss Blake who became Mrs Lynch in this
instance. The Barna House panel is almost contemporary
with the King’s Head / Guilfoyle’s Halls stone and is dated
1779. The Barna House Stone has been published in detail
elsewhere (Higgins (2002), 3 and Higgins (2004), 13-14,
Cat.No.7, Plate 14). The achievement of arms (consisting of
arms, crest and motto) are carved in low false relief. The
inscriptions at the top and bottom of the stone read Martin
Lynch FitzJohn 1784 and Mary French respectively.
Ornamental scroll work across between the first and
second name of the lower-most inscription. The
inscriptions are excised and are cut in Roman capitals and
so is the motto. The arms as shown on the stone are as
follows: The arms of Lynch are as follows:
Arms: Azure, a chevron between three trefoils slipped,
or
Crest: A lynx passant
Motto: Semper Fidelis
The arms of French are as follows
Arms: Ermine, a chevron sable.
The French crest and motto are not shown in this instance.
In plain English trefoils are the ‘shamrocks’ found on the
Lynch arms. Ermine and ermines are furs with black or
white spots (black spots on white and white spots on a
black harned pelt respectively). Chevrons are inverted “V”
shapes.
The use of the impaled or conjoined arms in a single shield
indicate allegiance, alliance and marriage and Martin Lynch
FitzJohn and Mary French were undoubtedly a married
couple. The date on the stone is not necessarily the date of
their marriage however; it could also refer to the year the
house was erected.
In impaled arms (where the two coats of arms are
conjoined in a single shield) the arms of the man were
displayed on the viewer’s left and those of his wife were
shown on the viewer’s right (the Sinister and Dexter sides
of the shield respectively) where a couples arms were
impaled the crest and motto of the man were usually
shown above and below the shield respectively. Medieval
heraldry was invariably chauvinistic. The term “Marriage
Stone” has often been used in Galway to describe such
achievements of arms which, in Galway City, are found
most often on heraldically decorated chimney pieces
rather than on heraldic panels such as these are. In some
houses (including that of Sir Peter French and Mary Browne
in Market Street) there were more than one chimney piece
with the exact same sets of impaled arms but with different
dates (1599 and 1602 in the same complex of buildings). In
such instances the dates are indicators of the period of
construction of a building or building phase rather than the
date of marriage of the couple. In two instances Galwegian
chimney piece bears a line from the marriage ceremony
however. This stone is in Jury’s Hotel and bears the arms of
Lynch and Browne. It is unfortunate that it was covered
over along with other stones a few years ago.
James Hardiman, the great historian of Galway, quotes
various folklore and traditions about the Lynch family and
Fig.6 Photograph of
the Lynch-Blake
heraldic panel dated
1779 from Barna
House where it was
once incorporated
into the parapet of a
small bridge. It
bears the arms of
Nicholas Lynch with
those of his wife a
Blake heiress
superimposed in an
inescutcheon in the
middle of the Lynch
achievement of
arms. Photograph: J.
Higgins.
their heraldry. Some of it is far fetched but some of it
reflects the interest that there was in Medieval times in
Bestiaries and in the legendary (and historic) explanations
attached to the origins of various coats of arms of notable
families. In his History of Galway (1820), 17, footnote w,
Hardiman has this to say:
Tradition and some documents in possession of the
family…state that they were originally from the City of
Lintz, the capital of Upper Austria, from which they
suppose the name to have been derived…
…They also state that the Lynches obtained their armorial
bearings from the following circumstances, one of their
name and family, being governor of Lintz (long before the
invasion of England by the Conqueror) defended that city
with unexampled fortitude, against a powerful enemy; and
though from the uncommon length of the siege, all their
provisions were consumed, and the garrison reduced to
the miserable extremity of subsisting on the common
heritage of the fields, he was finally victorious. His prince,
amongst other rewards of his valor, presented him with the
trefoil on a field azure, for his arms, and the Lynx the
O I D H R E A C H T N A G A I L L I M H E 5