Chesterfield

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CHESTERFIELD

Additions : 1974 Chesterfield RDC (partly), Staveley UDC

Official blazon

Arms : Gules a Device representing a Pomegranate Tree as depicted on the ancient Common Seal of the Borough the tree leaved and eradicated proper flowered and fructed Or.
Crest : On a Wreath of the Colours issuant from a Mural Crown Gules masoned Or a Mount Vert thereon a Derby Ram passant guardant proper.
Supporters : On the dexter side a Cock and on the sinister side a Pynot or Magpie proper each ducally crowned Or.
Motto: 'ASPIRE'

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on November 10, 1955.

The arms are derived from the design of the Borough's Common Seal, which bears a pomegranate tree decoratively treated. This emblem was in use by Chesterfield in the reign of Elizabeth I, and may have been derived from the pomegranate of Granada which Henry VIII had adopted as a badge on his marriage with Katherine of Aragon. It has however been claimed that the pomegranate was in use by Chesterfield long before Tudor times. For some unknown reason in the 17^th century the pomegranate was discarded in favour of arms - Gules on a gold fess a lozenge azure - but the pomegranate was restored to the Seal in 1893.

The mural crown is a common symbol of civic government and the ram links the arms with the County.

The supporters each with a ducal crown commemorate the Revolution plot of 1688 at the Cock and Pynot Inn (now the Revolution House) at Old Whittington and the association of the Earl of Devonshire and other with that plot. The supporters are depicted on a base representing the rocks and moorland around the Town. The motto is both encouraging and refers to the famous "crooked spire" of the Parish Church.