Rawtenstall

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RAWTENSTALL

Incorporated into : 1974 Rossendale

Official blazon

Arms : Or on a Fesse Gules between two Stags trippant at gaze in chief proper and a Mound in base Vert thereon two Cows grazing and respecting each other Sable a Wolf courant of the first between two Bales of Wool of the third in the chief point a sinister Hand couped at the wrist of the second.
Crest : On a Wreath of the Colours upon a Mount a Squirrel sejant cracking a Nut between two Sprigs of the Cotton Tree slipped leaved and fructed all proper.
Motto : 'FLORET QUI LABORAT' - He prospers who labours

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on July 16, 1871.

The squirrel, stags, and wolf are emblems of the Forest of Rossendale which once surrounded Rawtenstall. There is a tradition that before the deforestation, in the reign of Henry VII, the squirrel could leap from tree to tree. Wolves haunted the forest, and one part of the Borough formerly bore the name 'Wolfenden Booth'. The red hand, cut off at the wrist, recalls the penalty for killing the King's deer.

The cows represent agriculture; the Borough includes a former hamlet called Cowpe, anciently Cowup, said to have been a place in the uplands where cows used to graze. The cotton and woolpacks stand for modern industries.