Banff
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 Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom |
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BANFF
Incorporated into : 1975 Banff and Buchan District Council (1996 Aberdeenshire Area Council)
Official blazon
Gules, the Virgin Mary with her Babe in her arms Or.
[And in an Escrol above the Shield] this Motto "Omne Bonum Dei Donum".
Origin/meaning
The arms were granted on November 24, 1673 and the motto on June 21, 1897.
Banff was probably created a Royal Burgh by King William the Lion between 1189 and 1198; there is a charter of confirmation from King Robert 11 in 1372.
The arms have been in use for many centuries, the Virgin Mary being the patron saint of the Burgh. A sixteenth-century impression of the Burgh seal bearing St. Mary is known. However, there is also on record a 1408 impression of an older seal which bears a boar passant.
The colours may have been chosen for Edmondstone of that Ilk whose heiress married an Ogilvy of Findlater from whom the Lords Banff were descended.
The Latin motto "Every good is the gift of God" was added in 1897.
 Seal of the burgh as used in the 1890s |
 The arms in the Coffee Hag albums +/- 1925 |
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© since 1995, Heraldry of the World, Ralf Hartemink 
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Literature : Porteous, 1906; Urquhart, 1974