Sligo

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SLIGO

County : Sligo

Official blazon

Per pale vert and azure, on the dexter a ruined antique square tower , on the sinister an oak tree eradicated proper, on a point Or a hare courant, attached to the hind foot a escallop all of the third, at the centre chief point an escallop argent.

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on March 16, 1953.

The earliest extant seal (dating from 1709 and used until September 1774) does not show a hare, but rather a species of deer , with its forefoot raised and the other resting on a piece of rock.

A ’comparatively new device’, first appeared on the 25th of January 1775 and was used until the 5th of September 1783. This design transformed the animal into a hare by virtue of its minute scale next to a Tower House/Castle and over-arching tree.

This seal was used until 1881 when the old Tower House was changed to Drumcliffe Round Tower by way of resolution of Sligo Corporation.

The current arms kept the symbols form the old seal, the tower, hare and a tree. The hare has a shell on its foot to indicate the Shelly River.