Extraordinary discovery

A coat of arms, found in a secret vault by mid-night workers at 123 Gloucester Road.  It is believed to be Victorian but so far its origins have not been determined.

While moving stock at 4 o’clock on a Sunday morning, four Gloucester Road Partners made an unusual discovery.  They came across a painted cast iron coat of arms hidden away under the building.

Contractors were expected in the branch and Mrs Pam Roche, Branch Manager, Mr Alan Cladinboel, Warehouse Section Manager, Mr Bob Austin, Butcher and Mr Stuart McGuigan, Warehouseman, were working early and late to move stock in order to be ready for work to be done in the warehouse.  To help with the clearing of the stock they had, they went down to the basement in the small hours to retrieve some old pallets which they knew to be stored there, and came upon a vault, which was sealed up.  Curiosity overcame them, and they broke into the vault which extended under the road.  In it they found a cast iron coat of arms, and some old bottles of antique interest, partly buried in rubbish.  The coat of arms weighs half a hundred weight and attempts are being made to trace its origin.  It is probably Victorian, dating from somewhere between 1850 and 1897, and may have belonged to a fruitshop.

Do you know if its origin was ever found?

Taken from Chronicle:  Volume 41,  10 May 1980