Souvenir of the incorporation of Dartford as a municipal borough, September 13, 1933.

  • Dartford (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1933
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Souvenir of the incorporation of Dartford as a municipal borough, September 13, 1933. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/60 page 5
    NOTES DESCRIPTIVE OF THE BOROUGH ARMS. The Arms and Supporters which have been granted to the Borough by the College of Arms under Royal Letters Patent are blazoned in terms of Heraldry as follows :— Gules on a fesse argent between in chief a jester’s head habited in a fool’s cap couped at the neck or, between two bezants each charged with an ear of wheat proper and in base an anvil of the third, a barrulet wavy azure. Supporters, to the dexter a Hermit holding in the exterior hand a staff, and to the sinister a Prioress holding in the exterior a pastoral staff proper. The waters of the Darent appropriately form the central feature of the design. These are aptly rendered in Heraldic convention by means of the stretch of silver traversed by a winding band of blue which reaches across the shield. Other charges mark some of the great industries for which the Borough is famous. Paper-making is represented in the playful spirit which is traditional in Heraldry by the Fool’s Cap. It is of interest in this connection to note that the emblem is found as a water-mark in paper as early as the reign of King Charles I]. On either side are golden roundels, which are as near as Heraldry permits to get to the familiar tabloids of our chemical factories. These are charged with ears of wheat, symbolizing another of the staple industries of the Borough. The golden anvil at the base of the shield is emblematical of the great engineering and metal working interests. In the Supporters, who are the upholders and guardians of the shield, we are catried back to the ancient history and traditions of Dartford. On the one side stands the hermit, who serves to typify those recluses who, by their holy lives and untiring devotion to the cause of humanity, set a noble example for all time. It may, moreover, be recalled that it was through their exertions that funds were obtained for erecting the first bridge over the Darent. The earliest hermit of whom there is any record, John Sodeman by name, under the title of “ Hermit of the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin and Martyr, St. Katherine of Dertford, for the reformation of the poor,” obtained Letters of Indulgence from the Bishop of the Diocese on the Ist of June, 1438. The Prioress, who shares with the Hermit the office of supporting and maintaining the shield, takes us back to an even earlier date, since it was in 1355 that the Augustinian Nunnery was established by King Edward III. The English translation of the motto. ‘“‘ Tenax et Fidelis” is Steadfast and Faithful. OL
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