The Belchamp Walter Sign

The village sign that is seen at the crossroads in Belchamp Walter was designed and commissioned for the year 2000 celebrations.

The main motif is of a mythical beast that is known locally as a Griffin. It cannot be a griffin as it does not have a beak. A griffin has the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. It has wings, but the head depicted on the sign would not show these.

This was based on the fact that the local farm was formerly run by Griffin Farming (Clark's and The Munt Farm) and the motif can also be seen on the facade and gates of Belchamp Hall.

The logo for Griffin Farming is a griffin.

The Raymond crest is described in The Visitations of Essex, 1634" as "A dragon's head erased Or, ducally gorged gules"

On further investigation if the motif is related to the Raymond family, of Belchamp Hall, then it is more likely to be of the Welsh dragon that appears on the Coat of Arms of the Protectorate (1653–1659).

The theory on why the Griffin/Dragon motif was chosen

I speculated that the village sign was actually the dragon that you see on the Confederate flag.