PROOFS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHERY.
There is little at the present day in England to afford any adequate idea of the high importance, the great skill, and the distinguished renown of the English archers. By names of places.Some few places still retain names which tell where the bowmen used to assemble for practice, as “Shooter’s Hill,” in Kent; “Newington Butts,” near London; and “St. Augustine’s Butts,” near Bristol. The Butts will be found applied to spots of land in the vicinity of schools, as for instance, the College School of Warwick.
The fields situated to the east of the playing-fields at Eton, and known by the name of “The Upper and Lower Shooting-fields,” were probably so named from the ancient exercise of archery on these grounds.
Armorial Bearings.
Many of the noble and county families of Great Britain and Ireland have the symbols of archery charged on their escutcheons; as, for instance, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Grey de Wilton, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Besborough, the Earl of Portarlington, the Baronetal family of Hales, Sir Martin Bowes, and also on the arms of Sydney Sussex College, in Cambridge, and the seal of the Sheffield Grammar School.
Government brand.
The mark or brand used by the Government of the present day, to identify public property, is an arrow-head, commonly called “The King’s broad arrow.”
Surnames of families.
There are also existing families which have derived their surnames from the names of the different crafts formerly engaged in the manufacture of the bow and its accompaniments; as, for instance, the names of Bowyer, Fletcher, Stringer, Arrowsmith, Arrow, Bowman, Bowwater, &c.