Shotley Bridge swordmakers

[urbanspaceman]

[QUOTE=The ceiling stencil is very interesting..not that it is running or flying...Neither is it a bushey tail variant. Could this simply be a dog? Unrelated by pure accident ??[/QUOTE]

I agree Ibrahiim, writers have given much pertinence to this image on the ceiling, but I also feel it is not representative of the fox or the wolf. It is more likely a builder's mark.

Has anyone ever explained how a mark of quality bestowed by an Archduke in 1349 to a Passau guild ended up more commonly representing Solingen who were both competition and also on the opposite side of the country. It seems to me that the Shotley Bridge story has nearly as much historical beginnings in Germany as it does in England.

The business of the competition: I wondered if this was a known historical event that endured into more recent times, rather than the actual occasion when Oley won the crown.