Sally, I too may have been guilty of not "snipping" my recent posting, so I am sending it again. I hope I can be forgiven. Some little while ago I sought the assistance of the group with regard to the baptismal details of Sir Oswald Brierly (1817-1894), who was Marine Artist to Queen Victoria. I received some very helpful advice. Brierly says, in his writings, that he was entitled to armorial bearings and this was confirmed in Burkes' "General Amory of England ….", which refers to "Brierly of Mopley Hall Co of Chester". The description of the crest in Burke is exactly that used by Brierly in all his correspondence. My problem is that I cannot find any reference to either "Mopley Hall" or indeed a place called Mopley in the County of Chester. There was an ancient church of All Saints in Chester, which was rebuilt in the 19th century and is now the secular Guildhall in Watergate Street, Chester. It has some tenuous connection with the name "Mopley" I was hoping someone with "local knowledge" might be able to give me a pointer in the right direction. Regards Trevor Armstrong Email: trevorarmstrong@iinet.net.au 2/28 Black Street Brighton Vic 3186 Australia Tel: +61 3 9593 2829

Hello Trevor, I've also had my wrist slapped (nicely, I hasten to add) by Lynne, when I've sent replies without snipping out all the extra bits of text that don't need to be forwarded - like the pleasantries added on at the bottom of each email as they are automatically added to each one sent :o) Chester technically falls under Cheshire for a county. It might be worth posting to that rootsweb list to make sure that you're catching everyone that would have knowledge of the local area. Google produced nothing of any use that I could see, although it is mentioned in the General Armoury Book as Mopley Hull. Possibly a spelling mistake, which doesn't bode well for the spelling of Mopley if that is the case. Regards, Sally ---------------------------------------- > From: trevorarmstrong@iinet.net.au > Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:42:16 +1100 > To: eng-manchester@rootsweb.com > Subject: [ENG-MAN] Mopley Hall, County of Chester? > > Sally, > > I too may have been guilty of not "snipping" my recent posting, so I am sending it again. I hope I can be forgiven. > > Some little while ago I sought the assistance of the group with regard to the baptismal details of Sir Oswald Brierly (1817-1894), who was Marine Artist to Queen Victoria. I received some very helpful advice. > > Brierly says, in his writings, that he was entitled to armorial bearings and this was confirmed in Burkes' "General Amory of England ….", which refers to "Brierly of Mopley Hall Co of Chester". The description of the crest in Burke is exactly that used by Brierly in all his correspondence. > > My problem is that I cannot find any reference to either "Mopley Hall" or indeed a place called Mopley in the County of Chester. > > There was an ancient church of All Saints in Chester, which was rebuilt in the 19th century and is now the secular Guildhall in Watergate Street, Chester. It has some tenuous connection with the name "Mopley" > > I was hoping someone with "local knowledge" might be able to give me a pointer in the right direction. > > Regards

Hello Trevor: Have you considered that somewhere along the line someone mis-transcribed Mopley for Mossley? This is very easy when an archaic form of double 'S' is written or even printed. There is a Mossley Hall in Congleton. There may be others as it could be quite a common name. Best wishes, Irene