jennyann
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Not my history to be sure but I was poking about in heraldry sites and came across this\\\\\;
The Red Hand of the Holt Baronets
The severed hand appears many times in heraldry and tradition, most notably in Ulster and in the Western Isles of Scotland. The legend that accompanies each tale is usually of a boat race towards an island which is to become the property of the first chief to touch it, and of the chief in the losing boat cutting off his hand and throwing it onto the beach just as his rival is about to jump ashore. Here is another story, this time featuring the early years of the Holt baronetcy, which must have enlivened a few breakfasts as it was read aloud from the morning newspaper.
Two hundred years ago Sir Thomas Holt murdered his cook in a cellar, and for generations his descendants were compelled to represent a murderer's hand in their armorial coat. The red hand is said to be still seen clearly in a painted window in Aston Church, near Birmingham, but it disappeared from the coat of the Holts before the title became extinct. One by one the Holt baronets secured leave to take away a finger from the hand, and slowly, in this way, the mark of murder passed.
Fascinating... Has .anyone ever spotted the red hand in the stained glass windows of Aston Church?
The Red Hand of the Holt Baronets
The severed hand appears many times in heraldry and tradition, most notably in Ulster and in the Western Isles of Scotland. The legend that accompanies each tale is usually of a boat race towards an island which is to become the property of the first chief to touch it, and of the chief in the losing boat cutting off his hand and throwing it onto the beach just as his rival is about to jump ashore. Here is another story, this time featuring the early years of the Holt baronetcy, which must have enlivened a few breakfasts as it was read aloud from the morning newspaper.
Two hundred years ago Sir Thomas Holt murdered his cook in a cellar, and for generations his descendants were compelled to represent a murderer's hand in their armorial coat. The red hand is said to be still seen clearly in a painted window in Aston Church, near Birmingham, but it disappeared from the coat of the Holts before the title became extinct. One by one the Holt baronets secured leave to take away a finger from the hand, and slowly, in this way, the mark of murder passed.
Fascinating... Has .anyone ever spotted the red hand in the stained glass windows of Aston Church?