Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10164
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Swan marks of Lincolnshire
Date
1570s
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 330mm
width (drawing): 135mm
width (drawing): 135mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Nine swan marks issued by the Crown to landowners in the county of Lincolnshire, England, including to “Sir John Hossye Knyght” [eg Sir John Hussey]. The marks illustrated here were incised in the beaks of the birds by a swan-herd. The names of those with grants of swans are noted in the margin by each painted mark.
Page 4 from Royal Society manuscript MS/106, a register of swan marks, kept by the Queen’s swan-herd, possibly a member of the Towneley family. The name 'John Towneley' is written on the flyleaf of this book, suggesting that the manuscript may have been donated to the Royal Society by the book collector John Towneley FRS (1731-1813).
Internal evidence provided by the name of John Whitgift (c.1530-1577), Dean of Lincoln (1571-1577) and later Archbishop of Canterbury provides information to date the book as being from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Page 4 from Royal Society manuscript MS/106, a register of swan marks, kept by the Queen’s swan-herd, possibly a member of the Towneley family. The name 'John Towneley' is written on the flyleaf of this book, suggesting that the manuscript may have been donated to the Royal Society by the book collector John Towneley FRS (1731-1813).
Internal evidence provided by the name of John Whitgift (c.1530-1577), Dean of Lincoln (1571-1577) and later Archbishop of Canterbury provides information to date the book as being from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Associated place