Homerton.
The arms given by your correspondent C. T. are those of Cavendish
(quartering Clifford), one of that family having been created Earl of
Newcastle in 1610. Becoming shortly after extinct, John Holles, Earl of
Clare (who had married the heiress of Cavendish), was created by King
William III. in 1694 Marquis of Clare and Duke of Newcastle.
Might not the chimney-piece have adorned a mansion of the Cavendish
family, who probably resided in Newcastle during the period above
alluded to?
The motto underneath (which is _not_ the family motto of Cavendish)
certainly at first sight looks puzzling enough; will the following
solution suffice, which I merely throw out as a first thought that may
lead to a better elucidation?
"Vita: tran: ovula: est: olim."
Presuming "ovula" to be the diminutive of _ovum_ (I am not sure if I am
correct), and "tran" (if correctly transcribed) to be a component part
of one of the numerous compounds of _trans_ (say _transitorius_), may
not the passage be _freely_ translated: "(Our) transitory life (was)
once (as mysterious, or hidden, or minute as) is (the germ of vitality)
in an egg?"
If C. T. could give a description of the second coat, some connecting
link may possibly be supplied toward unravelling the motto.