So far four different armorial bearings have been identified for the Docwra family. The earliest, relating to the Westmorland family, was blazoned as Sable three plates each charged with a pallet gules

Right: The arms of the Kendal branch of the Docwra family

The Hertfordshire family used Sable a chevron argent, three plates each charged with a pallet gules whilst Prior Thomas Docwra combined his family arms with the arms of the OSJJ to carry Sable a chevron engrailed argent between three plates each charged with a pallet gules on a chief of the second a cross of the third

Above: (L-R) The arms of Prior Thomas Docwra, of the Order of St John,
and of Lancelot Docwra showing the impaled arms of
his father, Robert Docwra and his mother, Janett, daughter of Sir John Lamplugh,
below the cross of the Order

Above: Arms of Prior Thomas Docwra to the right
with those of Henry VII, Edward VII, Victoria and the Duke of Clarence (l-r)
on the stonework of St John's Gateway, Clerkenwell, London,
now the home of the Museum of the Order of St John

The fourth description is thought to be erroneous, it comes from the notebook of a travelling minister called Thomas Machel, who visited Dockwray Hall in Kendal in the late 1600's, and drew a picture of the arms he said were above a fireplace there. The description included six plates not three, but as other sources differ, it is not known if Machel drew them from memory and forgot the detail, or whether it was artistic licence.

Above: The drawing made by Thomas Machell on his visit to the old Dockwray Hall in Kendal in the late 17th century
[from "Antiquary on Horseback", by the Rev.Tho. Machell, 1692]