Feast of St Mungo

 Today is the Feast of Glasgow's Patron Saint, St Mungo or Kentigern. The City's arms, which use elements from stories of the saint's life, have spawned dozens of coats of arms for institutions and people associated with the city. 

Glasgow Arms 1866:

Argent, on a mount in base Vert an oak tree Proper, the stem at the base thereof surmounted by a salmon on its back also Proper, with a signet ring in its mouth Or; on the top of the tree a red­breast, and in the sinister fess point an ancient handbell, both also Proper. Above the Shield is placed a suitable Helmet, with a Mantling Gules doubled Argent, and, issuing out of a Wreath of the proper Liveries, is set for Crest the half-length figure of Saint Kentigern affrontee vested and mitred, his right hand raised in the act of benediction, and having in his left hand a crosier, all Proper; in a Compartment below the Shield are placed for Supporters two salmon Proper, each holding in its mouth a signet ring Or; and in an Escrol entwined with the Compartment this Motto "Let Glasgow Flourish".

The glorious Fishmonger's Company arms of 1919 quote the whole of the City's arms.

The Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow arms of 1919 use the whole of the City's arms for a crest:

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The 1900 arms of the University of Glasgow recycle the elements of the City's arms with the addition of symbols of learning - the University mace and an open book.

Finally, manty of the City Centre streetlamps feature the City's heraldic charges again to very beautiful effect:

 

Bothwell Flag launched

 The Lord Lyon, accompanied by Bute Pursuivant and March Pursuivant Extraordinary, attended the launch of the winning community flag for Bothwell, designed by Ava, aged ten, at Bothwell Parish Church. Michael Shanks MP attended the event.

10-year-old Ava who designed the winning flag can be seen at the centre beside Lyon.

 

Lyon at Clydeview Academy

 The Lord Lyon was privileged to be asked to open the new Hub for Support at Clydeview Academy Gourock.

He was welcomed to the school by the Head Teacher Mr Craig Gibson, the Head Boy and Girl and the excellent school piper.

l to r: Provost, Lord Lieutenant, Lyon, Martin McCluskey MP

One hundred years ago this month

In January 1925, arms were granted to Sallie Hume or Douglas, of East Las Vegas:

Quarterly first and fourth Vert a lion rampant Argent. Armed and langued Gules (or Hume); second Argent three papingoes Vert beaked and membered Gules (for Pepdie); third Argent a cross engrailed Azure (for Sinclair of Polwarth), all within a bordered indented Or charged with three mullets Gules.

200 years ago this month

 In January 1825, arms were granted to Peter Arkley of Dunninauld. 

Or on a Chevron Azure a garb of the First, in chief two stars Gules.

The previous year, the armiger had commissioned from the architect James Gillespie Graham, the building of Dunninald Castle near Montrose, the site of a much older building. Sadly, Mr Arkley died in December of 1825 and is buried in near Montrose.

Wedding at Notre Dame 1558

 As Notre Dame reopens, we remember the marriage in 1558 in that glorious place of Mary Queen of Scots and the Dauphin, later François II. Image from the Forman Armorial at the National Library of Scotland.

Reopening of Notre Dame

 The reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today on this the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, reminds us of the great use of the Blessed Virgin in Scottish heraldry, notably the arms of the former royal burghs of Lauder, Melrose, Selkirk, Banff, Cullen and Rutherglen.

 Lauder (1938) has: Or the Blessed Virgin standing holding the holy Child all Proper.

While Melrose (1931) had: Azure issuant from a representation of the wall of the Abbey of Melrose in base Proper door Gules between two pinnacles a gothic canopy Or, therein seated the Virgin Mary and Holy Child also Proper; in Dexter chief a mell and in sinister chief a rose Argent.

and Selkirk (1927): Or on a mount before a grove of oak trees the Blessed Virgin seated on a bench with the Holy Child in her arms, all Proper, against her feet an escutcheon of the Royal Arms of Scotland.

and Banff (1893) : Gules the Virgin Mary with her babe in arms Or.

and now Cullen 1956, with the peculiar compartment sometimes granted to royal burghs following Elgin in 1672: Per fess Sable and Argent: in chief, on a sedilla Or, cushioned Gules, diapered Or, the Blessed Virgin enthroned Proper, habited Gules, mantled Azure, crowned Or, and holding in her dexter hand a sceptre surmounted of a fleur-de-lys Or, and in her sinister arm the Holy Child enhaloed, also Proper; in base a talbot passant of the First.

and finally Rutherglen, matriculated 1889, which used an image of the Madonna and Child as its crest - many mediaeval seals being double-sided, one side being religious, the other describing the shipbuilding of the lower Clyde: 

Argent, in a sea Proper, an ancient galley Sable, flagged Gules, therein two men Proper, one rowing, the other furling the sail.

 

Feast of St Nicholas

 Today is the feastday of St Nicholas. It should occasion no surprise for such an anciently sea-faring nation that Santa Claus, patron of sailors, should appear in effigy in Scottish arms more than any other saint, with mediaeval foundations in Glasgow and Aberdeen dedicated to him.

Arms of the Burgh of Prestwick taken from an ancient seal and registered in 1921. 

A motto was added to the arms of the Burgh of Prestwick in 1955.

In 1982, Prestwick Community Council was permitted to matriculate the former burgh arms.

St Nicholas also appears in the arms of the former Prestwick Public School in 1949.

Its successor, Prestwick High School, later Academy, matriculated arms in 1961. The Three Pickled Boys in the Brine Tub refers to one of the saints stranger miracles and acts as a reminder to the jeunesse dorée of Ayrshire to sharpen up its act or become a laughing stock....

Aberdeen Old People's Welfare Association marked its connection with St Nicholas's Kirk by including a representation of the saint in its arms of 1968.

We remember the mediaeval hospital in Glasgow dedicated to the saint and founded by Bishop Muirhead or de Durrisdeer, Only the chaplain's house, Provand's Lordship remains.
The acorns ought to be Or - perhaps lightened by the Scottish weather.

One Hundred Years ago

  From the Public Register 100 years ago today, the arms of James Cook. Or a cock Proper on a chief Azure a martin volant between two cross crosslets of the First.

Happy St Andrew's Day

  Happy St Andrew's Day! This year we are repeating by popular demand the arms recorded in 1962 by the Scottish National Committee of Ophthalmic Opticians. Usually nowadays the saltire is only allowed, as here, for a national organization. Quite a spectacle...

Major Alan Edmonstoune Greenshields Leadbetter

The Lyon Office tweeted today the matriculation of arms for Major Alan Edmonstoune Greenshields Leadbetter, younger son of the architect Thomas Greenshields Leadbetter. Alan was decorated for gallantry at Gallipoli but was then killed near Ypres in August 1917, aged 20.

His grieving father petitioned for differenced arms for Alan the following year as well as having a memorial window installed in Bedrule Parish Church, Roxburgh.

Athelstaneford

 The roundel donated by the Lord Lyon and Officers of Arms to the Saltire Timeline at Athelstaneford has now been completed.  

2025 will mark the 60th anniversary of the unveiling of the Saltire Memorial at Athelstaneford. A timeline of stone roundels set into the path will tell the story of the adoption and use of the saltire as a symbol of Scotland from the Battle of Athelstaneford in 832 through to the crowned saltire emblem of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Lyon Court Blog

 The Blog of the Lyon Court can be found here: Court of the Lord Lyon