Uxbridge (Ontario)

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UXBRIDGE

Province : Ontario

Official blazon

Arms : Or issuant from two flaunches Vert, each charged with a garb of rye Or, a fess enarched raguly counter raguly Vert charged with a maple leaf Or, in chief an ox's head caboshed Gules armed Or and in base barry wavy Azure and Argent.
Crest: Out of a mural crown Or, a demi lion Gules holding in the paws a cogwheel proper.
Motto: ON'T UXBRIDGE

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on February 15, 2001.

The field of the shield refers to the old name of the town, Gould-ville. It was called Gouldville after the first settler Joseph Gould, it ultimately was referred to as "the place of the Ox Bridge" because of the following incident. A merchant with a heavy load of goods, being halted by the swollen waters of Beaver Creek, which flows through this place and which normally could be forded, felled some stout trees and with the aid of his oxen manoeuvred them into position across the stream, making a bridge over which he was able to cross in safety.

The green fesse arched and raguly represents the green timbers that formed the bridge. This is charged with a gold maple leaf derived from the arms of Ontario. The Ox's head which the original story suggests, is, with the garbs, a symbol of the fine mixed-farming area of which Uxbridge is a centre.

The crest, a demi-lion, is derived from that of its Middlesex namesake, and is displayed here as a token of the respect the townspeople have for British traditions and their ancestry. It is shown holding between its paws a gear-wheel in reference to the Town's chief industry, the manufacture of oil refinery equipment. The gear-wheel is also an expression of hope that more industry may be attracted.

The motto " On't Uxbridge " is an unusual abbreviation for "On To It Uxbridge!" and also infers in an indirect way that this Uxbridge is in Ontario.

Literature : Image from http://www.gg.ca