Martin Goldstraw is the author and illustrator of the Cheshire Heraldry web site and the fully illustrated book CHESHIRE HERALDRY - THE VISITATIONS OF 1533 TO 1580; he has also privately published a number of facsimiles of the Heraldic Visitations. Born at a very early age in Leek, a town in rural North Staffordshire known as the Queen of the Moorlands, his interest in the heraldry of the County of Cheshire began when it became apparent that the origins of the surname Goldstraw lie in the surname of Goostrey. The village of Goostrey is within the bounds of the County Palatine of Cheshire. Heraldry is something of an addiction as far as Martin is concerned and he was pleased to be granted armorial bearings of his own from the College of Arms at the commencement of the new Millennium.