File:Shereford arms.svg

Arms of "Shereford": Azure, three stirrups or (Papworth, John Woody, Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, Vol.II, London, 1874, p.1099). No such arms for the family of Shereford/Shirford/Sherford/Shyrford are listed in Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884. Probably "de Shirford of Shirford, Warwickshire", now w:Shelford, Warwickshire. These arms were adopted by the Purefoy family, either as their "modern" arms and shown in the first quarter, or quartered by their "ancient" canting arms: Sable, six armed hands in pairs embracing two and one argent (French: pure foi, good faith).

See: William Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, London, 1656, pp.36-7, re Manor of Shirford[1] (Shirford, Knighton hundred, Warwickshire, now "Shelford", 2 miles SE of Burton Hastings and 8 miles NE of Coventry): Dugdale, p.36: "From Burton Hastings towards the south lyeth Shirford". Text per VCH Warwickshire. 1951: "Shelford, now (1951) a hamlet of six farms, but formerly a separate manor and as late as 1625 contributing a third part of the payments and levies on Burton parish. Depopulation probably set in after the inclosures of the early 16th century, Henry Smyth in 1509–10 imparking 30 acres of arable and 100 of woodland and pasture in Shyrford, now Shelford" ('Parishes: Burton Hastings', in A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 6, Knightlow Hundred, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1951), pp. 57-61 [2])

Philip Purefoy (fl.1337) of Misterton, Leicestershire, married Margaret de Shirford, daughter and heiress of John de Shirford of Shirford, Warwickshire, and his son Thomas Purefoy married Katherine Whellesborough, a daughter of John Whellesborough of Wellsborough, Leicestershire (See Purefoy pedigree in "FENNY DRAYTON AND THE PUREFEY MONUMENTS", BY GEORGE F(RANCIS) FARNHAM, AND ALBERT HERBERT, published in Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol.14, 1925, pp.84-112[3][4]). As well as quartering Azure, three stirrups or, the Purefoy family of Fenny Drayton (junior branch) also quartered Whellesborough (Or, three piles (in point) gules on a canton argent a mullet sable (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.1099 "Whellesborough of Whellesborough, Leicestershire") - identical to the arms of Onley (see below). The marriage to the heiress of Shirford was an important one for the Purefoy family and would certainly have been displayed heraldically. Text per Farnham & Herbert (1925): "The (Purefoy) family was settled at Misterton at the beginning of the 14th century and probably earlier. By a fortunate marriage with Margaret, daughter and heir of John de Shireford, in the middle of the 14th century, Philip Purefey of Misterton added the manor of Shireford to his paternal inheritance at Misterton. He served on the Commission of the Peace for co. Leicester from 1354 to 1361 and for co. Warwick from 1364 to 1375. Dugdale tells us that Philip was steward to Ralph, Earl Stafford, for holding his courts, so probably he was a lawyer by profession. Philip Purefey had two sons, William Purefey, the elder son, who continued the line at Shireford and Misterton, and Thomas Purefey, the younger son, who, in 1397, acquired a moiety of the manor of Fenny Drayton (Leicestershire) from the family of Wellesburgh".

According to Dugdale, Antiquities of Warwickshire, Nicholas Purefoy (d.1547) (of the junior Fenny Drayton branch) sold Shirford to Henry Smith, "Henry Smith of Shirford, Warwickshire" (son of "John Smith, a wealthy citizen of Coventry") whose daughter Jane Smith (d.1529) married John Onley (c.1498-1537) of Catesby, MP (per Heraldic Visitations of Northamptonshire, 1618[5]) (Biog. of ONLEY, John (by 1498-1537), of London and Catesby, Northants., Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982[6]). Sir Walter Smith, son of Henry Smith, was murdered at Shirford by his own wife, according to Dugdale.

The senior branch of Purefoy of Misterton and the junior branch of Purefoy of Fenny Drayton combined on the marriage of Edward Purefoy (1555-1595) of Shalston, Buckinghamshire (senior branch) to his "distant connection" Joyce Purefoy (1560-1596), only child and sole heiress of George Purefoy (1535-1593) of Fenny Drayton, by his wife Elizabeth Whethill, a daughter of Thomas Whethill of w:Sheepy, Leicestershire. Both were descended from Philip Purefoy (fl.1337) and his wife Margaret de Shirford, daughter and heiress of John de Shirford of Shirford, Warwickshire. The surviving monument of this couple (Edward Purefoy (1555-1595) and Joyce Purefoy (1560-1596)) in the Church of St Michael & All Angels, Fenny Drayton, shows identical arms impaled, namely Purefoy (modern) (Azure, three stirrups or) quartering Purefoy (ancient) Sable, six armed hands in pairs embracing two and one argent impaling Purefoy (modern) quartering Purefoy (ancient). Thus it can be deduced that the stirrup arms descended from Philip Purefoy and his wife Margaret de Shirford, the connecting ancestors, and as no more important Purefoy heiress is known from this early period, the stirrup arms would appear to be the arms of de Shirford. The only heraldic source indicating this identification is Papworth, John Woody, Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, Vol.II, London, 1874, p.1099, who refers to these arms as "Purefoy" and "Shereford".