The Football Club crest used by Chester City since the mid 1980’s was an adaption of the City of Chester crest.

The Wolf’s head dates back to Norman times when the nephew of William the Conqueror, Hugh d’Avranches was appointed Earl of Chester, in 1071.

Hugh earned the nickname ‘Lupus’ which is the Latin name for Wolf, hence the emblem of the Wolf’s head.

During the seasons 1974/75 to 1982/83 the club used the Seals design. This was picked from a competition held by the local newspaper with the winning entry coming from the local school of art in Handbridge.

HEADS AND TALES
The heads in this case are the alternate ones to be seen on the different versions of Chester City’s badge. As can be seen the Chester City emblem consists of a Wolf’s head (though in some cases it looks like a Lion); looking over a crown on a castled rampart surrounded by a circle of leaves (sometimes Oak, or something else).

Quite how this badge became to be adapted as the insignia of the football club, I have no idea, but the elements in the design have long been associated with the City of Chester.

The Wolf’s head, for instance, dates back to Norman times when the nephew of William the Conqueror, Hugh d’Avranches was appointed Earl of Chester in 1071. Those were pretty wild times with much on England still resenting their new Norman Overlords. Chester was the last place in the country to be subdued and forced to ‘knuckle under’ as William took his army on a tour of devastation and rebel-bashing in the north of England. The Earl of Chester therefore needed to be of the tough variety so as to keep the locals in order and protect the King’s property from the Welsh.

Hugh d’Avranches seems to have been particularly ruthless and admirably suited to the job.

According to one commentator (not John Motson!) “this man [Hugh] with the help of many cruel barons, shed much Welsh blood”. Hugh earned the nickname of "Lupus" which is the Latin name for “Wolf”. Hence the emblem of the Wolf’s head. Incidentally, Hugh the Wolf was also known as Hugh the Fat, for he was at times so gluttonous over food and drink that he could hardly move!

Although the Prince of Wales now has the honorary title ‘Earl of Chester’, and the Grosvenor family have adopted the name “Lupus”. There used to be a Wolf Gate in the walls of Chester but it collapsed on the eve of the second world war, it has been replaced by the New Gate.

This brings us to the walls or crown in the football club crest. There appears some confusion over which it should be. The walls are an obvious motif – a sign of Chester’s proud heritage of its City walls. Walls which withstood the cannons of Cromwell (but not the bulldozers of the Dept. of Transport when the ring road was constructed). The crown may indicate loyalty to the sovereign. Chester held out for the Royalist cause during the Civil War. Interestingly, the arms of a Chester family (Cowper of Overleigh) from 1642 combines the two; this has a Wolf’s head rising out of a crown made of red stones as if it were a wall.

The leaves. Again variations in the badge design make it unclear as to whether the leaves should be a laurel – as in a victors crown, or of Oak. Oak has a more local significance to Chester. Not only is it a common tree in the area, the oak leaf has been the symbol of the Cheshire Regiment since they saved the King’s life while standing beneath an oak tree at the battle of Dettingen in 1749.

Colin Mansley