Hylton Castle (Sunderland)

 castle, interesting place

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Sir William Hylton built Hylton Castle sometime between 1390 and 1410. His ancestors had lived in the locality back to 1157, slightly earlier than their neighbours, the Washington’s, who lived three and a half miles away. Above the main door on the west front of the castle are carved stone coats of arms of various local families put in place at the time of the building of the castle. The Washington coat of arms is amongst these and could be the earliest example to be found on a building.

It is often assumed that George Washington used his family’s coat of arms as a basis for the American ‘Stars and Stripes’ flag, but there is no direct proof of this. The state flag of Washington D.C. was adopted in 1938 and is based on the shield from the Washington coat of arms.Plus if you look at the Purple hart its in it also.
nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart
www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.13441
www.washington.co.uk/