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Within niches beneath a double gothic-type canopy, (above which the Virgin seated supporting her Child), dext. St.Cuthbert holding the head of St. Oswald; sin. St. Thomas Beckett (name-saint of the bishop), giving a blessing and holding his primatial cross. In base, under a cusped rounded arch, a shield: a chevron between three lions rampant, HATFIELD. (This is the first Durham episcopal great seal to lack any representation of the bishop himself). The legend exhibits the mid-14th Century change from Lombardic Capitals to Black Letter Script and has a series of faint lines as if guide-lines for engraving the lettering.