Bexhill-on-Sea

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BEXHILL-ON-SEA

Incorporated into: 1974 Rother

Official blazon

Arms : Ermine a Cross double parted and fretted Gules between in the first quarter a Mitre and in the second a demi Lion passant guardant conjoined to the demi Hulk of a Ship both Or in the third an Estoile Sable and in the fourth a Mallard proper on a Chief Argent above Waves of the Sea a demi Sun in Splendour issuing from the upper part of the centre of the chief also proper all within a Bordure Azure charged with eight Martlets of the third.
Crest : On a Wreath of the Colours on a Mound of Sand a Martello Tower proper.
Motto: 'SOL ET SALUBRITAS' - Sun and health

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on January 21, 1907.

The martlets are taken from the arms of the East Sussex CC and the mitre denotes the See of Chichester, which held the Manor of Bexhill from the time of the Conquest until the reign of Henry VIII, when it passed to Lord Buckhurst, ancestor of the present holder, Earl De La Warr, from whose crest the black star is taken.
The gold lion joined to the stern of a silver ship, from the arms of the Cinque Ports, refers to the Liberty of the Sluice, a hamlet of Bexhill and a minor limb of Hastings. The mallard is from the arms of the first Earl Brassey, Mayor of Bexhill 1907-8, Warden of the Cinque Ports 1908-13, and who presented to the Corporation a mayoral chain of office.
The sun and sea stand for Bexhill's character as a health resort.

The crest shows one of the many towers built along this coast in preparation for Napoleon's expected invasion.