Inverkeithing

Heraldry of the World

British heraldry portal
Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom

Overseas possessions
Total pages in the British section : 15,933
Total images in the British section : 9,634

INVERKEITHING

Burgh

Incorporated into : 1975 Dunfermline District Council (1996 Fife Area Council)

Official blazon

Parted per pale Gules and Azure: in the dexter on a base undy Argent and of the Second, a ship with crenellated prow and stern Or, sail furled Argent, the mast surmounted with a cross Gold; and in the sinister the figure of Saint Peter vested and crowned standing in front of a bench, and holding in his dexter hand a church, and in his sinister two keys all Proper.

(Above the Shield is placed a Burghal coronet)

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on December 29, 1930.

Inverkeithing seems to have been created a Royal Burgh by King Malcolm IV between 1153 and 1162.

The arms are taken from the obverse and reverse of the oldest known Burgh seal of which impressions dated 1296 and 1357 are on record.

The dexter side in the red and gold colours of Fife shows a ship, with crenellated prow and a cross at its masthead, thus recalling "the passage and ship of lnverkeithing" granted by King David I to the monks of Dunfermline in 1129; the red, gold and silver colours also allude to Scrymgeour, Lord Inverkeithing and Earl of Dundee.

The sinister side shows St. Peter, patron saint of the Burgh, holding his keys and a model of the parish church. The blue field and the gold of the Saint's halo could refer to the special connection the town had, through its ferry, with the shrine of St. Margaret at Dunfermline.

Seal of the burgh as used in the 1890s

Community Council

Official blazon

Parted per pale Gules and Azure, in the dexter on a base undy Argent and of the Second a ship with crenellated prow and stem Or, sail furled Argent, the mast surmounted with a cross Gold, and in the sinister the figure of Saint Peter vested and crowned standing in front of a bench and holding in his dexter hand a church and in his sinister two keys, all Proper. Above the Shield is placed a Coronet appropriate to a statutory Community Council, videlicet:- a circlet richly chased from which are issuant four thistle leaves (one and two halves visible) and four pine cones (two visible) Or.