Nuneaton

	NUNEATON Country : United Kingdom England Incorporated into: 1974 Nuneaton and Bedworth Status: Borough Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"250px","height":"250px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":7,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":52.523899999999997589839040301740169525146484375,"lon":-1.4680999999999999605648781653144396841526031494140625,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Official blazon

Arms : Per chevron Argent and barry wavy of six Azure and of the first in chief two Lozenges Sable on a Chief Gules a Cinquefoil Ermine between two Fleurs-de-Lys Or.
Crest : On a Wreath of the Colours between two Lozenges a Bear's Gamb reased Sable enfiled by a Mural Crown Or and holding a Cinquefoil slipped Ermine.
Motto: 'PRÊT D'ACCOMPLIR' - Ready to achieve

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on April 21, 1932.

The blue and white waves, refer to the ancient name of the town 'Etone', farmstead by the stream, in allusion to its position on the banks of the River Anker. In the Domesday Book the place figures as Etone, and the prefix "Nun-" was acquired after the establishment there about 1155 of a priory of Benedictine nuns (see below).

The black lozenges refer to the coal-mining industry. Coal-mining was the most important industry in the Nuneaton area and it is known to have been carried on within the boundaries of the present borough since the thirteenth century.

The ermine cinqufoil is from the arms of Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, who in the reign of King Stephen endowed the Priory of Nuns whence the town derived the first part of its name. The priory was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to whom the fleurs-de-lys allude.

The bear's arm links to the arms of the Warwickshire County Council and the mural crown is a common civic symbol. On either side of it, perched somewhat precariously upon the crest wreath, is a lozenge sable, as in the arms, for the coal industry.

The motto is appropriate to a progressive town, but is historically that of the Aston family, former landowners of much of the Borough.

The seal of the Borough from 1907-1930 was circular and about one inch in diameter. It showed a view of Nuneaton Priory taken from an old print published about 1730 by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, within a border containing the inscription: THE SEAL OF THE BOROUGH OF NUNEATON.

Literature: Image from here; Smith; 1964