Argyll and Bute

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ARGYLL AND BUTE

Area council

Additions : 1996 Argyll and Bute District Council, Dumbarton (District Council, partly)

Official blazon

Parted per fess and in chief per pale: 1st, gyronny of eight Or and Sable; 2nd, quarterly: 1st, Argent, a saltire engrailed Sable; 2nd, Or, a wing displayed Gules, claw membered Sable, grasping a sword in pale Azure, hilted and pommelled Argent, and environed of an antique crown also Gules; 3rd, Gules, three mullets Or; 4th, Argent, a cross-crosslet fitchee Gules issuing from a crag Proper; and in base Or, a lymphad, oars in action, sails furled Sable, with a beacon enflamed Gules at the masthead; over all a bar chequy Azure and Argent.

Above the Shield is placed a Coronet appropriate to a statutory Area Council, videlicet:- issuant from a circlet eight paling piles (three and two halves visible) Or and eight garbs (four visible) of the Last, banded Sable, and in an Escrol below the same this Motto "Seas Ar Coir".

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on February 20, 1996.

The arms are largely based on that of the former District Council, with the only changes in the second quarter. The second quarter is again quartered with in the first quarter a black saltire is taken from the Clan Colquhoun, the second quarter is taken from the old district arms, the three mullets in the third quarter are taken from the arms of Helensburgh and the fourth quarter, the cross on the rocks, is taken from the arms of the Burgh of Cove & Kilcreggan.

District council

Additions : 1976 Campbeltown, Dunoon, Inveraray, Lochgilphead, Oban, Rothesay, Tobermory; Districts of Bute, Cowal, Islay, Jura & Colonsay, Kintyre, Mid Argyll, Mull, North Lorn, South Lorn, Tiree & Coll
Incorporated into : 1996 Argyll and Bute Area Council

Official blazon

Parted per fess and in chief per pale: 1st, gyronny of eight Or and Sable; 2nd, Or, a wing displayed Gules, claw membered Sable, grasping a sword in pale Azure, hilted and pommelled Argent and environed of an antique crown also Gules; in base Or, a lymphad, oars in action, sails furled Sable, at the masthead a beacon enflamed Gules; over all a bar chequy Azure and Argent.

Above the Shield is placed a coronet appropriate to a statutory District, videlicet:- a circlet richly chased, from which are issuant eight thistle-heads (three and two halves visible) Or; and in an Escrol under the same this Motto "Seas Ar Coir".

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on May 20, 1976.

The arms combine elements of the arms of the Argyllshire County Council with the checquered bar of the Bute County Council.

The first quarter shows the arms of the Campbell Clan, Dukes of Argyll, and a wing with claw, for the Clan Macdonald. The sword and crown symbolise the southern part of the Lordship of the Isles. The bar is taken from the arms of the Clan Stewart. The ship is the galley of the Lordship of Lorn.