Courtenay Arms West Molland

Armorials of Courtenay of Molland, sculpture on north facade of West Molland Barton, Devon. Arms of Courtenay of Molland on an escutcheon couchée. Inscription: "This is the armes of Hugh Courtny sometimes Earle of Devon who was grandfather unto Sr. Phillip Courtny of Mol.nd., knight". The inscription is inaccurate as Sir Philip Courtenay of Molland (born 1445) (2nd son of Sir Philip Courtenay (1404–1463) of Powderham by Elizabeth Hungerford) was in fact the great-great-grandson of Sir Hugh Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (1303–1377). Perhaps "grandfather" is here used as a general term. Showing as supporters the Courtenay boar, the Bohun swan, and below the shield the Courtenay dolphin. On the helm out of a ducal crown is the Courtenay crest of a plume of ostrich feathers. Apparently copied from the 1435-6 Seal of Sir Philip II Courtenay (d.1463) of Powderham, of which the Courtenays of Molland are likely to have had an example amongst their deeds. See The presence in the motto of Roman capital letters (as opposed to Gothic letters) suggests a post-Renaissance date, thus possibly late 16th/early 17th century.