Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10165
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Swan marks of Lincolnshire
Date
1570s
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 330mm
width (drawing): 280mm
width (drawing): 280mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Eighteen swan marks issued by the Crown to landowners in the county of Lincolnshire, England, including to John Whitgift (c.1530-1577), Dean of Lincoln and later Archbishop of Canterbury. 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.
Pages 6-7 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 John Whitgift’s tenure as Dean of Lincoln (office held 1571-1577) provides information to date the book, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Pages 6-7 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 John Whitgift’s tenure as Dean of Lincoln (office held 1571-1577) provides information to date the book, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Associated place