Lüdinghausen

Heraldry of the World
Civic heraldry of Germany - Deutsche Wappen (Gemeindewappen/Kreiswappen)

LÜDINGHAUSEN

State : Nordrhein-Westfalen
District (Kreis) : Coesfeld (until 1974 Lüdinghausen)
Additions : 1969 Lüdinghausen-Land; 1975 Seppenrade

Official blazon

(1909) In Gold eine rote Glocke.
(1975) In Gold eine rote Glocke, links oben begleitet von einem roten Ammoniten.

Origin/meaning

The present arms were granted in 1982 and combine the bell from th eprevious arms (see below) with the ammonite taken from the arms of Seppenrade.

The bell is a canting symbol, in the North-German dialect lüden is to sound a bell. The name of the city, however, has nothing to do with lüden or bells.
There are a few other stories for the origin of the bell. One is the story that when the corpse of St. Liudgerus in the 10^th century arrived in Lüdinghausen, the local church bells started to sound on their own accord.

Lüdinghausen was founded in the 13^th century and received city rights around 1308. The oldest existing seal dates from the end of the 14^th century and shows already the bell. The bell also appeared on the seal of the 13^th century Knights of Lüdinghausen. All later seals showed the same composition.

In the 18^th century a helmet with a bell between wings was used as a crest. On December 8, 1909 the arms were officially granted, without the helmet but with a mural crown, which was used until the merger with Seppenrade in 1975.