[273b] The ancient family of Praers was of Barthomley, and also of Baddiley, in Cheshire, now extinct. John Honford, of Honford, married Margery, daughter of William Praers, of Baddiley, Sheriff of Cheshire in 23rd Edward III.—Ormerod, vol. iii. pp. 162, 327.
[273c] On again inspecting it (on 28th January, 1850), I ascertained that the crest is charged, on the neck, with a cross crosslet, seemingly (for it is not distinct) within an annulet or a crescent.
[274] In consequence of his death, on the 15th of June, 1852, after this paper was written, the estate now belongs to the author.
[275] Prior to the erection of the bridge, there however was, and had been, as far back as could be recollected, a plank, with a handrail, over the stream, by which foot-passengers could cross.
[279a] Ormerod’s Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 322. He afterwards, in a note (ibid. p. 328), gives the following, as a description (from the original grant) of the crest:—“Crest, on a wreath, an eagle’s head couped or, holding in its beak an eagle’s leg and claws, unguled gules.”
[279b] It is fair to conclude, from the occurrence of those initials and of the rebus, that the date of the erection of the chapel may have been coeval with the building of Handford Hall, in 1562.
[281a] Small round-headed arches, very similar to those on the staircase of Handford Hall, are to be seen, carved on the pulpit of Wilmslow Church, and on the back of the ancient pew (which has the date 1557) in the Booth or Earl of Stamford’s Chapel, in the chancel; but the arches are of course not cut through the wood, in either instance, in Wilmslow Church, as they are on the staircase of Handford Hall.
[283a] The letter upon the office of Keeper of the Menagerie in the Tower of London, in the reign of Edward IV., was read before a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, on the 29th of November, 1849, and the thanks of the meeting were voted for it to the author.
[283b] Richard Duke of Gloucester became King Richard III. on the 18th of June, 1483.—See Chaps. VII. and VIII.
[287a] The paper upon the probable period of the extinction of Wolves in England, was read by the author in person, before a meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool on the 15th of December, 1856, and the thanks of the meeting were voted for it to him.