James Tucker in Cov

The Elephant and Castle is the symbol of Coventry, though I've never really found a convincing explanation as to why. Apparently they represent, apart and together, strength and patience; for a symbol so ubiquitous (it's on lamp-posts, bollards, and anything run by the Council), it's a little non-specific. The motto camera principis - Prince's Chamber- refers to the Black Prince's history with the city, so that makes sense, but the elephant just seems to be something they picked because they liked it.

This one just looks so jolly. This guy and the one in brass at the top of the page kind of demonstrate that people didn't have a great idea of what elephants looked like in the 1500s.


These two are much more recent efforts, and thus 'better' in that they look like elephants, if I may be snobbish about 16th century anatomy.


And we also have the elephant in chair and carpet format all over the medieval guildhall, though it now has a cat sitting on top of its crest as well, to symbolise 'watchfulness'- another noted inaccuracy?