41-43 High Street, Fernleigh

  • 41-43 High Street
  • The seal
Archive Notes:

Photo of brick semis built on site of cottages demolished in about 1934. Romanesque seal matrix found in garden now in Ashmolean museum.

The matrix for this impression was found by Allen Ryder when raking in the garden of Fernleigh, High Street, Wheatley (north side towards the western end of the street), in March 1951. The inscription ‘SIGIL AILGNOTI’ surrounds a squirrel eating a nut. Ailnott was a common Christian name, repre­sented by the modern surname Allnutt and the device is a punning allusion to its final syllable. An Aeglnoth was at Oxford mint in the reigns of William I and II and an Ailnoth was at Thetford mint under Henry I.The letter punches used resemble those used for HnryII's first issue of coinage (1158-80).

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