Its spectacular display of heraldic sculpture celebrated his dynastic prowess.  Symbolic of the Percy family is the great lion over the door.  Above this helm with a ‘cap of estate’ and crest, respectively expressing the rank and identity of the wearer.  Around the helms are representations of mantling, or decorative swathes of cloth.  One of the badges at the top of the tower has tentatively been identified as the padlock of fetterlock of the house of York.  If so, this would date the porch to before the Tudor victory at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

The third picture shows the Percy Lion whose collar displays the family war-cry.  ‘Espurance’, meaning ‘ hope’.  Above the lion to the left is depicted, the arms of Percy ‘ancient’, abandoned by the family in 1343, when the seal bearing these arms was smashed at Warkworth.  Above the lion to the right are the three ‘luces’, or fishes, of the arms of the Lucy family which are a play on their name.  The Percys inherited substantial estates from the Lucys in the 1380s.*

*Information taken from the English Heritage guidebook.