Elephant and Castle Brooch

The elephant of the bestiaries is a very remarkable animal. First, it has no knees, and if it falls down it cannot get up. It is afraid of mice, and of pigs, and there is eternal enmity between elephants and dragons. They are naturally chaste and have sex only to procreate. Indians and Persians fight from wooden turrets placed on the backs of elephants, and shoot arrows from there. And there is much else to be learned about this animal.

In spite of all this, William Beaumont, 2nd Viscount Beaumont, used the heraldic device of an elephant with a tower on its back. William supported the Lancastrian cause and was twice stripped of his land and titles by Yorkist rulers who were not amused. In the end, he fought for Henry Tudor at Bosworth, and within a handful of months was restored to his former position.

Our badge is copied from a pair of brooches, apparently from the same mold, in Salisbury and at the British Museum. Whether you are a staunch Lancastrian, a devotee of Fiore dei Liberi, or an enthusiastic customer of the restaurant chain, this superior brooch may be for you!