This carved oak panel was thought to be the shield of Sir John Lethbridge of Westaway, Pilton, Barnstaple, dating from when his baronetcy was assigned in 1804. It was bought by The Pilton Story in 2021 and, after considerable research, was presented to Stuart Brocklehurst, of Westaway, in December 2025. The research raised concerns about the details on the shield, in particular the three-arched bridge at the bottom, which do not quite match the established Lethbridge family coat of arms which has a five-arched bridge. That latter probably dates from the time of Christopher Lethbridge, Mayor of Exeter in 1660, and is described as ‘argent over water proper, a bridge of five arches embattled gules, and over the centre arch a turret, in chief an eagle displayed sable’. The relevance of the two flanking figures on the shield is unclear. They bear remarkable similarity to illustrations in a manuscript known as the Book of Spoure. This was compiled, and largely drawn and written, by Edmund Spoure, a gentleman of North Hill in Cornwall, in about 1694, and pre-dates Sir John’s baronetcy by over 100 years. Edmund Spoure’s figures are labelled ‘A Dane’ and ‘A Norman’, and beneath the Dane picture is a raven, which tallies with the raven at the top of the oak panel (with the cherub). The Lethbridge family claims descent from Ragnar Lodbrok (a mythical Viking hero also known as Lethbroke), who was a Norse king and saga-character of dubious historicity, possibly an amalgam of several historical 9th century figures.
The left-hand figure on the panel and that in the Book are both carrying a long-handled battle-axe. The remarkably similar details of the plumed head-dress/helmet, the sword in his left hand, which appears to be a falchion – a one-handed, single-edged sword of European origin – and the costume, suggest that Edmund Spoure might have made his drawings having seen the oak panel, thus dating it as pre-1694. The question remains, did Edmund Spoure draw his figures having seen the Lethbridge carved panel and was the panel actually carved for much earlier members of the Lethbridge family than 1st Baronet Sir John Lethbridge in 1804. Nevertheless, Westaway is definitely the right home for the oak panel.