September 2005 - The King George 3rd coat of arms was found during a clean out of the Old Rectory garage in November 2002 and has apparently been left there undisturbed since 1875 when it was taken out of the Church for safe keeping and never replaced after the Church was extended and modernised.

The Coat of Arms stands seven feet tall and is six feet wide and is constructed from five oak panels held together by three wooden battens on the reverse. The top of the Royal Arms is coped and a decorative molded frame was probably fitted when it was repainted in 1819 with the coat of arms of King George 3rd
.
More interesting though is the writing on the back of the panel which says "MADE AND PAINTED 1661 REPAINTED ROBT. SMITH KIRKBY LONSDALE APRIL 24th 1819"

The date 1661 is very interesting, four years before the Great Plague and five years before the Fire of London and the year King Charles the 2nd was crowned, after the Restoration of the Monarchy, apparently Oliver Cromwell had Previously ordered that all items with a royal connection must be removed from the Church and be destroyed. It would appear then that this is a replacement plaque, and would originally have had King Charles's coat of arms painted on it but this was over  painted in 1819.

The paintwork and ground layers are, at present, completely obscured by a thick layer of surface dirt, but the Lancashire County Museum Service who have inspected it report that "Once it is made structurally sound the task of removing the accumulated layers of dirt and grime will completely transform the Arms"

Heritage Society members are arranging to visit the Lancashire Museum Conservation Studios at Blackburn on Wednesday the 26th of April (2006) to see what progress has been made on the Royal Coat of Arms. We are told that all the woodwork has been repaired and stabilised and that the cleaning of the paintwork is proceeding nicely, if you would like to come with us and watch the conservators working on their varied projects please let us know.

May 2006 - The Heritage Society's visit to the Conservation Studios at Blackburn last month was a great success, we were met and shown round by Phillip and Janice who are busy cleaning and restoring the Royal Coat of Arms.The timber work is now complete and the task of cleaning the paint work is underway, what a contrast between the newly cleaned and the old dirty surfaces and how lucky we are that it survived. One thing that amused me was the expression on the lions faces, there are eight of them altogether each one of them different, varying from grinning to grimacing I'm sure the artist has used his friends and relatives as models.The studios are moving to new premises in Preston shortly and we have been invited to visit them and watch the restorers at work, if you would like to come with us you are more than welcome please let us know.

A week after our visit Radio Lancashire visited the Blackburn Studio's and in a radio interview Phillip and Janice told the presenter all about The Coat of Arms how it was found, how it had been lost for 130 years and how well it will look back in the Church.

February 2007 - The restoration of the Georgian Coat of Arms is now complete and is on display at the Lancaster City Museum, the restorers have done a wonderful job and the finished work is really impressive.

The Museum is well worth a visit if you have an hour to spare next time you are in Lancaster or you can simply wait and view the plaque when it is replaced in the Church later on this year..

Gerald Hodgson
Chairman