The symbol of Shrewsbury and and eventually Shropshire.

This is an image of (now lost) of Loggerheads in St Chads (old) Church dated to the 17th Century.

This is the first image of The Loggerheads dated 1425 on a bronze artifact on display in the Civic Treasures case in Shrewsbury Museum

No one knows where the Loggerheads originate, i however suggest that they are associated with King Arthur and Wroxeter. Arthur would have been a Celtic chieftain and there is evidence that Wroxeter was a tribal capital in the time of Arthur and there is evidence that all the places associated with him can be placed in Shropshire.

The Welsh name for Bear is Arth and there is an association with a Celtic chieftain and the Bear. The bear head then could be a symbol for Arthur and three is a Celtic sacred number so the obvious symbol for Arthur would be three bears or bear heads and there is also the association of the name Arth to Arthur.

From this we can see that Wroxeter would have had the symbol of three bears heads to signify it as Arthurs fortress. The colours are Celtic as well with Gold on a Blue background (Owain Glyndwr had a Gold Dragon on a white background as a battle flag).

Therefore when the main town of Shropshire moved from from Wroxeter to Shrewsbury between Arthurs time (circa 500 AD) to 1100 AD the symbol would have moved as well so the seal in 1245 would have just been a continuation

The excellent book by Mark Stewart which is well worth a read.

Look out for the leaflet in Salop which is a trail around Shrewsbury showing where you can see the Loggerheads

Arthur and Shropshire