Chiltern

Heraldry of the World Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom

CHILTERN

Additions : 1974 Amersham RDC, Chesham UDC

Official blazon

Arms : on a Mount in base with Chalk Outcrops two Beech Trees in fess their interior leaves merging proper a Chief chequy Argent and Sable.
Crest : On a Wreath Or and Gules out of a Circlet per pale Gules and Sable charged with six Plates three being manifest a Mount Vert thereon a Wyvern wings expanded Gules and gorged with a Ducal Coronet Or.
Motto : 'FREELY WE SERVE'

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on June 10, 1975.

The two beech trees in the centre of the shield come from the Chesham arms, as does the chessboard in canting reference to the River Chess. The roundels on the crest and the Red Wyvern come from the arms of Amersham R.D.C.

The trees are Beeches - the tree for which the Chilterns are famous and their branches and leaves are intertwined, to show that the two pre-1974 authorities are now one. The hill with chalk outcrops refers to the chalky Chiltern Hills from which the District takes its name. The mantling is red and gold - the colours of Buckinghamshire County Council to whom the District is geographically related. The coronet on which the crest is based, is part red and part black and derives from the Arms of the Dukes of Buckingham, via the County Council's Coat of Arms.

The six round discs on the coronet, of which three are visible, represent Penn Village and derive ultimately from the Arms of William Penn, the local boy who founded Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

he Red Wyvern is part of the Drakes' coat of arms, for many centuries the squires of Amersham. The duke's gold coronet round the Wyvern's neck, is a reference to the Dukes of Bedford. Although usually associated with Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, the Dukes of Bedford have long had close links with Chenies and Chesham Bois. In particular, Chenies Manor House was one of their residences for several hundred years and the family burial place is in the North Chapel of the Parish Church. The Duke of Bedford is still Lord of the Manors of Chenies and Chesham Bois.

The motto - FREELY WE SERVE - comes from Book V of Milton's Paradise Lost, written at Chalfont St. Giles in 1665/6.

Literature : Image and information provided by Laurence Jones