Frome

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FROME (UDC and town council)

Incorporated into: 1974 Mendip

Official blazon

Arms: Sable on a Chevron between in chief two Sallow Trees and in base a Teazle slipped Or a Chevron Ermine.
Crest: Out of a Saxon Crown Or a demi Dragon wings elevated and addorsed Gules supporting a Crozier Gold.
Motto: 'TIME TRIETH TROTH'.

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted August 14, 1953 and transferred to the town council on May 21, 1974.

The black background is common to the arms of both the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers and the Leversedge family. From the arms of the former the ermine chevron and the teazle are taken, while the gold chevron comes from the Leversedge arms. The ermine also refers to the field of the arms of Bishop Ken. The Clothworkers' shield has on occasion been used to represent Frome on account of the great cloth industry which has characterized the town so long. The Leversedge family held the manor in Tudor times, Henry VII granting to Edmund Leversedge rights to fairs. The two sallow trees refer to Selwood "Sallow-wood" in allusion to the great forest whose name was formerly joined to Frome.

The gold Saxon crown recalls the importance of Frome as early as 934, due largely to the foundation of Bishop Aldhelm's monastery two hundred years earlier. The Saxon associations are further typified by the Wessex Dragon from the County arms and supports a gold crozier in allusion to the Abbey of Cirencester, to which the Church of St. John the Baptist was granted in 1133.