By Letters Patent dated 23rd July, 1953, the
College of Arms granted a Coat of Arms to the
Bourne Urban District Council in the following
terms:—
"Or, on a fess azure between in chief three
torteaux and in base a Wake Knot gules, a bar
wavy argent, and for the crest, on a wreath of
the colours issuant from the battlements of a
tower gules a demi-lion ermine holding between
the paws an escutcheon azure charged with a
fleur-de-lys argent."
The shield is a modification of the Wake arms
hitherto in use. The three red roundels on gold
remains, and the characteristic Wake knot sur-
mounting the previous design is identified with
them in the base of the shield. The two red
bars from the Wake arms are replaced by a
single broad blue one charged with a wavy
white one; this figure represents the historic
Carr Dike and the Bourne Eau.
Above the shield is the closed helm granted
to civic authorities, and this is furnished with
the twisted crest-wreath and slashed cloak or
mantlings in the main colours of the arms, gold
and blue.
The red battlements represent the Castle; the
ermine lion is from the arms of the Cecils, of
which family was Queen Elizabeth I's famous
Treasurer, Lord Burleigh, and the Marquesses
of Exeter who have owned the market right
since 1564. The lion holds a shield of the arms
of the Digby family of the Red Hall.
The
Coat of Arms was transferred to "The Parish Council of
Bourne" on 21st May 1974 and registered as such at the London
College of Arms on 10th March 1975 and the original Patent of
Armorial Bearings have been endorsed accordingly.
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