Rawdon, earl of Moira, ancestor of the Marquis of Hastings; 'Argent, a fesse between three pheons or arrow-heads sable.' _Crest_, in a mural coronet argent, a pheon sable, with a sprig of laurel issuing therefrom proper. _Supporters_, two huntsmen with bows, quivers, &c. &c. This family were denominated from their estate, Rawdon, near Leeds, co. York, which they originally held under William the Conqueror. A rhyming title-deed, purporting to have been granted by him, but evidently of much later date, was formerly in the possession of the family: "=I William King=, the thurd yere of my reigne, Give to thee, Paulyn Roydon, Hope and Hopetowne, Wyth all the bounds, both up and downe, From Heaven to yerthe, from yerthe to hel; For the and thyn ther to dwell, As truly as this Kyng-right is myn; =For a cross-bowe and an arrow, When I sal come to hunt on Yarrow;= And in token that this thing is sooth, I bit the whyt wax with my tooth." The family of Pitt, earl of Chatham, bore 'Sable, a fesse _chequy_ argent and azure, between three bezants or pieces of _money_,' in allusion to the office the original grantee held in the EXCHEQUER. The Fanshawes also bore chequy, &c., for the same reason. The Woods of Largo, co. Fife, bear ships, in allusion to the office of Admiral of Scotland, antiently hereditary in that family. The antient Earls of Warren and Surrey bore 'chequy, or and azure.' There is a tradition that the heads of this family were invested with the exclusive prerogative of granting licenses for the sale of malt liquors, and that it was enjoined on all alehouse-keepers to paint the Warren arms on their door-posts. Hence the chequers, still seen at the entrances of many taverns, were supposed to have originated, until the discovery of that ornament on an inn-door among the ruins of Pompeii proved the fashion to have existed in classical times. Its origin is involved in obscurity; it may have been placed upon houses of entertainment to show that some game analogous to the modern chess and backgammon might be played within.