Citizen of Staffordshire

  

I don't know why particularly it should amuse me but I could only smile that the symbol for maternity at the North Staffordshire Hospital is a Stafford/Staffordshire Knot.  (The knot is the ancient symbol of the county itself).   By contrast, the other departments have rather arbitrary symbols.
It's as though each incoming baby is automatically granted Citizen of Staffordshire status simply by being born here - which, maybe, I suppose, actually is the case...!

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Falling foul of Henry

 
What drew me to this stained-glass in Brecon Cathedral was the Stafford Knot in it of course - you can see the knot on this man's shoulder.
He is Edward Stafford, the third Duke of Buckingham.
(The first duke had been born at Stafford Castle and was also the Earl of Stafford. He was the one who had first adopted the knot for the family's badge/livery.) 

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Poor Edward was executed in 1521 after annoying Henry VIII for something or other. 

Two close knots

Another for my Stafford Knot collection!  This knot graces the old railway station at Rushton Spencer, though the building (1844) predated the railway line. 

Only 20 yards away from this building is the (Stafford) Knot Inn - which also bears a knot (see its knot) - so, two for one!

Staffordshire in the scales

This set of scales, made by the long-established Staffordshire firm of Salters, is possibly arouund 150 years old. I spotted it in a pub in Leek where it had been retired, and is simply used as decoration.

This close-up reveals the firm's trademark - a Stafford Knot pierced by an arrow.  Why an arrow? Who knows?
As the history of the firm reveals, this design was used on the shirts of a local football team as long ago as the 1880s (- and people think shirt sponsorship is a new thing!!)
 

Knot turns to flames

On the Weston Road roundabout north-east out of Stafford is this splendid steel metal structure.  If you face it straight-on, as in the pic above, the strands of it assemble themselves in your vision - to represent the Stafford Knot, the symbol of the county.


If you stand slightly to one side however, the strands get mixed up, and could be the leaping flames of a fire.
The visual illusion (see pic right) is very clever, and has something to do with the nearby industrial zone. 

Kahlo and the 'knot'

It's #StaffordshireDay today (May 1st), the day in the year when one celebrates all things Staffordshire.
So I thought I'd put up another image of a 'Stafford Knot', the symbol of the county.

I found this painting, by the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, among a number of other pictures, on the walls in a bar in Newcastle. It's called 'Self-Portrait with A Braid' - and the braid resembles a Stafford Knot.
Well, maybe...!

Book-knot in roof

As readers of this blog will know, I 'collect' sightings of the Stafford Knot, the symbol of the county.
This one is depicted inside (or on?) a book, and is among a number of symbols - which can all be found up in the roof-ceiling at Cheddleton Church.
But why is it depicted on/in a book?

Knot no longer

'Match Of The Day' is back tomorrow, as Premier League football returns.
But this screenshot of one of the programme's opening credits (from last season) is now quite redundant, sadly, and will never be seen again.
It features the Stafford Knot and the iconic bottle oven, both signifiers of Stoke City Football Club. Which was relgated to the Championship last season.
Sob.

Knot on the water

Yay... I spotted another Stafford Knot on the weekend, which I can now add to my Knot Collection.

This young lady was rowing for the North Staffs Rowing Club in the annual Shrewsbury Regatta - she and her team-mates reached the final too...

In at The Knot? Or not?

Two more 'Stafford Knot' appearances for my collection!  The Stafford Knot is the symbol of the county, and I like to collect the different interpretations that artists give to the rebus.
In this instance, the knot is the right way up - unlike the example in my last post.

It vaguely amuses me to wonder how the staff at the Knot Inn answer the phone. They surely don't pick it up and say "K/Not in...", do they?

Heart is 'knot' in it

Stafford College is trying to combine two symbols here - a heart and a Stafford knot - in order to make its slogan "The Heart of Staford" work.

The trouble is that the Stafford Knot is not in this shape: its two loose ends in fact should emerge at the top, not the bottom of the design (there is good reason for this - see the legend of the knot).
Has the college deliberately decided to ignore the legend?

(Stafford) Knot Inn

Yet another sighting for my Stafford Knot collection. Hurrah!

This one is at The Knot Inn at Rushton Spencer.

Hotel in a knot

When you hear the words 'railway hotel' you know just what you'll find - something amazingly solid and even elaborate. 
The North Stafford Railway Hotel, which stands opposite the railway station itself, was built in 1848 at the height of the early railway boom.  The North Staffs Railway Company must have insisted on the knots being in the design - the Knot being the symbol of the locality.

Police set out to impress

This grand old entrance is, believe it or not, just the doorway to the old Leek town police station.  However, the huge text and the Latin inscription demonstrates the intention at the time (1891) - to impress (subdue?) the local population.

I also notice the Stafford Knots above the columns...

Toffee knot

Toffee - believe it or not - is a Stoke-on-Trent delicacy.  Edward Walker began making his own version in a backroom sometime in the early 1900s... and suddenly 'Walkers Nonsuch Toffee' was a runaway success.

This keystone sits over the original entrance to the Horlestone confectionery factory in Longton. 
The factory, just yards from Edward's first shop, was taken over by Walkers in the 1940s as the firm expanded exponentially - and it is still there to this day.

Note the proud Stafford Knot.

Knot in a twist

This rather handsome iron girder holds up the roof of the Cheadle Indoor Market - the manufacturer is Silvester & Hopkins, a firm which specialised in iron winding machinery for the area's coal-mines.

As a nod to the locality, S&H placed a Stafford Knot in their maker's mark.
Trouble is: they have the knot upside down.   (Yes, I know: only I would care about this!!)

Truck knot

As people may know, I collect sightings of the ‘Stafford Knot’- it being the symbol of Staffordshire.
This is a nice example, from a shotblasting-company whose owner clearly is proud of his/her Staffordshire roots.

Flying the county

One sees the flag of Staffordshire (actually,,, the flag of Staffordshire County Council) relatively rarely, but I think it has a rather good-looking design, so it'd be nice to see it a little more (IMHO).

The knot and the chevron are both symbols that have represented Staffordshire in one or another way for many centuries.

Joules knot

This reproduction vintage poster for Joules Ales is actually sited in Shropshire, but I took a photo anyway, for my collection of sightings of Stafford Knots (you can see the knot just above the word 'Stone').

The Joules Brewery was originally brewed in mid-Staffordshire, but is now based in Market Drayton in Shropshire.

Unused grit

Poor old Staffs County Council...  After the winter last year, when we were under snow and ice for virtually two months, it laid in loads of grit, and ordered extra grit bins for side-roads, all ready for this winter.
And what did we get this winter?  Rain, rain, rain - and hardly a flake of snow! 
Who'd be a planner?

This grit-bin is at Draycott-in-the-Clay, and has the usual Stafford Knot, symbol of the county.