Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/450

 appears to have been carried on in it for a long time prior to the Norman conquest; and local tradition has it that the royal farrier, a rather important personage in his way, resided in that city. However this may be, it is certain that horse-shoes and nails must have been looked upon as important articles in the reign of King Edward III., and have held a prominent place in the crafts of the town, as the corporation seal of that epoch—for an impression of which I am indebted to Mr Fryer, town-clerk of Gloucester—exhibits the royal effigy reared upon a lion couchant, and surrounded by a number of these emblems of farriery. The annexed drawing (fig. 153) represents this curious memento of days passed away. It is the exact size of the