GILLING CASTLE | Where I learned to love coats of arms

Gilling Castle, Great Hall. Photo by Damian
Bramley, Courtesy Ampleforth College.

November 28, 2020.  The Great Hall at Gilling Castle was reconfigured for primary school pupils with specially sized furniture created by Robert Thompson, the "Mouseman" of Kilburn, Yorkshire.

Thompson was so called because all of his furniture at Ampleforth College since the time of the great Headmaster Paul Nevill has the distinctive carved mouse hiding somewhere on it.

When I ate my three meals a day in this dining room it was initially at the table at lower right, then the table at the rear, in the paneled alcove. The teacher at that time was at the head of the table.. I remember being immediately to the left of the teacher in both cases.

The coat of arms over the fireplace is that of the Fairfax family, cousins of the General Fairfax who tracked down Charles I in Oxford and turned him over to Cromwell's government for a trial. King Charles went to his death claiming the divine right to rule without Parliament. Subsequent monarchs have been less less vocal about their beliefs in their divine right to rule independently of Parliament.

On the other hand, the British people did not care for the idea of Oliver Cromwell's children replacing the royal princes. The Restoration under Charles II was welcomed.

More about all of this is on pp. 11-12 of Oxford College Arms.

OXFORD NORTH AMERICA | May Author of the Month—The Oxbridge Pursuivant

Oxford College Arms, 4th ed.

As a celebration of Oxford's alumni authors, each month the Oxford University North American website features a new book written by one of the University's North American-based alumni. The May 2020 book is "Oxford College Arms: Intriguing Stories Behind Oxford's Shields" by the Oxbridge Pursuivant, John Tepper Marlin (Trinity 1962), who has been on the Committee organizing the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner in New York City for 50 years. Go to the website, or read the text here:

John Tepper Marlin graduated from Harvard in 1962, having been the first editor of the Let’s Go Guide to Europe. He went on to read PPE at Trinity College. English education was no mystery to him because he spent three years at Ampleforth College, which then had its junior forms at Gilling Castle and the Junior House. At Gilling Castle he says he ate his meals in the dining room with stained-glass windows featuring the arms of the Yorkshire cousins of Oliver Cromwell’s General, Sir Thomas Fairfax. He dates his interest in coats of arms to that period.

John Tepper Marlin with Hachikō.

The fourth edition of his book Oxford College Arms recently came out. Kirkus Reviews praised the book as offering “unfailingly clear language, … as rationally organized as it is informative. This idiosyncratic slice of history actually opens an intriguing portal into the whole of British history since the heraldic symbols signify what should be praised as well as what should be condemned. … "[F]or those in search of a confident guide to these meaningful hieroglyphics, it would be difficult to find one superior to Marlin’s effort. An astute exploration of Oxford’s coats of arms.”

Dr. Marlin features a different college every month on his website, The Oxbridge Pursuivant. This month the college is Lady Margaret Hall, and he offers a contest. The first person to answer correctly ten questions related to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, gets a free copy of Oxford College Arms. He has given talks on his book in London, Oxford, New York City and Washington, D.C.

You can purchase Oxford College Arms: Intriguing Stories Behind Oxford's Shields here.