[269a] Archæologia, vol. xxxiii. p. 55.
[269b] Archæologia, vol. xxxiii. p. 73. It is enclosed by a screen of carved oak, round the upper part of which is inscribed, “Pray, good people, for the prosperous estate of Sir Randulph Brereton of this work edificatour wyth his wyfe Dame Helenor,” &c.
[269c] Archæologia, vol. xxxiii. p. 73.
[270a] Archæologia, vol. xxxiii. pp. 74, 75, 76.
[271a] Ormerod’s Cheshire, vol. iii. pp. 326, 327; and Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Batonetage. But in Lyons’ Cheshire, p. 555, the dates are given as, creation 1626, extinction 1678.
[271b] Extracted from the one in Ormerod’s Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 327.
[271c] Archæologia, vol. xxxiii. p. 65.
[272a] Ormerod’s Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 327.
[272b] Since writing the above, I have again (on the 28th January, 1850) visited the old hall at Handford, and examined the escutcheon there, under circumstances more favourable for examination; and I ascertained that it contains on the dexter side, 1st and 4th the arms, as above described, of Brereton proper; 2nd and 3rd, a cheveron between three crescents; and on the sinister side the wife’s arms, as above described.
[273a] Edmondson’s Heraldry, vol. ii., where the crescent is (as to some, at least, of the Cheshire Breretons) stated to be “charged with a mullet, or.” Edmondson also states that the muzzle of the crest (Bear’s head and neck) is “studded or.” Ormerod also mentions an additional crest of this branch of the family, “a Griphon with wings elevated gules, standing on a chapeau gules, turned up or;” but if so, it is not introduced at the old hall.