St. Monance

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SAINT MONANCE (St. Monans)

Incorporated into : 1975 North East Fife District Council (1996 Fife Area Council)

Official blazon

Per chevron Azure and Or: a buckle of the Second between a talbot's head couped Argent and a griffin's head of the Last, both langued Gules and respectant, all in chief; and in base an open boat contournee, manned of four fishermen Sable, and issuant therefrom a cross crosslet fitchee of the Fourth, and on a base undy of the First and Third a fish naiant of the Second, surmounted of a pile of two points reversed issuant from the base mascule-pierced fretwise Gules.

Below the Shield which is ensigned of the proper mural coronet of a Burgh of Barony (videlicet: Gules masoned Argent) is placed in an Escrol this Motto, "Mare Vivimus".

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on November 7, 1962.

St. Monance, formerly called Abercrombie, was created a Burgh of Barony in 1596 in favour of Sir William Sandilands of St. Monance.

The arms show the silver dog from the crest of Sandilands, Lord Abercrombie, the gold buckle of Leslie and also the griffin's head from the crest of the Bairds of Elie who became the Superiors of the Burgh in modern times. The griffin's head also recalls the Leslies, as they have a demi-griffin as their crest.

The two features of the Leslie arms implement the desire of the Town Council that General David Leslie's special connection should be clearly shown in the arms.

The cross represents the famous Church of St. Monance, built by King David II between 1363 and 1367, and a great landmark above the sea; the fishing scene comes from the seventeenth-century seal of the Burgh and the fish could refer to the fish "reddendo" payable annually by the Burgh to its Sandilands superior.

The Latin motto "From the sea we have life" comes from the old seal.

Literature: Urquhart, 1974

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