English: Arms of Lippingcott of Wibbery in the parish of Alverdiscott, Devon:
Per fess embattled gules and sable, three leopards passant argent (Source:
Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the
Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.531, pedigree of "Lippingcott of Wibbery"). The charges are given as "catts" by Pole (
Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon,
Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.491, who also gives the base partie as
argent not
sable and gives the "catts" as
counterchanged, not
argent). Most published images of these arms seem to show cats not heraldic leopards (i.e. lions), some showing the "catts" guardant not passant. Similar arms were borne by the Lippincott Baronets of Bristol, created 1778, extinct 1829, with charges of
talbots statant guardant argent in place of "catts". The arms of the Lippincott Baronets quartered Wibbery/Wybbery (originally "de Wibbery", of Wibbery):
Sable, a chevron argent between three mermaids proper crined and combed or. (Source: An alphabetical dictionary of coats of arms belonging to families in Great ...
edited by Alfred William W. Morant , p.158[1]). "Wibbery" (Domesday Book WIBERIE, the first listed of 12 Devonshire manors held by "Nicholas the Bowman" from King William the Conqueror (Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Chapter 48:1)) is an estate in the parish of Alverdiscott, North Devon, which survives today with a Regency manor house and 8 cottages, and known as "Webbery". (See: [2]). Further reading: The Lippincotts in England and America, Edited from the Genealogical Papers of the Late James S. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1909[3]. The Lippingcott family originated at the manor of "Lovacott" (of which their name, originally "de Lovacott", is a corruption) in the parish of Shebbear in the hundred of Shebbear (Domesday Book LOVECOTE, the 17th of the 31 Devonshire manors of Roald Dubbed held in chief from King William the Conqueror (Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Chapter 35:17)) (Source: Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1909, p.8)
Other sources state the origin of the family to have been the manor and the present parish of "Luffincott", not mentioned in DB, which has its own church of St James. This is situated in the Hundred of Black Torrington, and is not identical to the DB
LOVECOTE. Thorn & Thorn assume today's "Luffincott" to have been part of the DB manor of "Tamerlande" (Thorn & Thorn, 35:5). See:
Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon,
Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.351, "Luffencot" in the Hundred of Black Torrington. See also: Lysons & Lysons,
Magna Britannia, Vol.6,
Devon, London, 1822, p.323,
Luffincott/Luffingcott