Kirkham

Heraldry of the World Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom

KIRKHAM

Incorporated into : 1974 : Fylde

Official blazon

Arms : Azure a Dove volant the dexter wing inverted holding in the beak a Branch of Olive Or on a Chief of the last a Rose Gules barbed and seeded proper between two Choughs also proper.
Crest :Issuant from a Circlet thereon four Mullets Gules a demi-Lion Or supporting a Pastoral Staff Gules headed Sable.
Motto : 'FIRMA ET STABILIS' - Safe and sure

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on September 9, 1950.

The dove and olive branch is from the old Borough seal, and the rose and choughs are from the arms of Christ Church, Oxford, which received the Manor and Rectory of Kirkham from Henry VIII at the dissolution of the monasteries. The rose is also the County emblem for Lancashire.

The mullets are from the arms of the local family of Clifton, seated at Kirkham since the 16^th century. The lion is from the arms of Shrewsbury Abbey, to which the Lordship of St. Michael, including Kirkham, was given by Count Roger of Poitou about 1093. The pastoral staff is from the arms of the Abbey of Vale Royal, to which Edward I granted the rectional manor in 1280.

The motto is from the Charter given to Kirkham, at Vale Royal in 1296, enfranchising it as a seignorial borough.

Literature : Scott-Giles, 1953 and from here