In heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

, an ordinary (or honourable ordinary) is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges

Charge (heraldry)

In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...

 known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge (as in the coat of arms of Austria

Coat of arms of Austria

The current coat of arms of Austria, albeit without the broken chains, has been in use by the Republic of Austria since 1919. Between 1934 and the German annexation in 1938 Austria used a different coat of arms, which consisted of a double-headed eagle...

).

The terms ordinary and subordinary are somewhat controversial, as they have been applied arbitrarily and inconsistently among authors, and the use of these terms has been disparaged by some leading heraldic authorities. In his Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909), Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies was a British author on heraldry. By profession, he was a barrister but he also worked as a journalist and novelist.Born in Bristol, he was the second son of T...

 asserted that the terms are likely inventions of heraldic writers and not of heralds, arguing the "utter absurdity of the necessity for any [such] classification at all," and stating that the ordinaries and sub-ordinaries are, in his mind, "no more than first charges."

Ordinaries

Ordinaries (sometimes called "honourable ordinaries") resemble partitions of the field, but are formally considered objects on the field. Though there is some debate as to exactly which geometrical charges—with straight edges and running from edge to edge of the shield—constitute ordinaries, certain ones are agreed on by everyone. Except for the chief

Chief (heraldry)

In heraldic blazon, a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top edge of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by the chief, ranging from one-fourth to one-third. The former is more likely if the...

 they are central to the shield.

• Cross: vertical/horizontal cross +, as in the arms of the City of London
  City of London
  The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
  
  .

• Pale
  Pale (heraldry)
  A pale is a term used in heraldic blazon and vexillology to describe a charge on a coat of arms , that takes the form of a band running vertically down the center of the shield. Writers broadly agree that the width of the pale ranges from about one-fifth to about one-third of the width of the...
  
  : a vertical stripe right down the middle of the shield.
  • A variant is the Canadian pale
    Canadian pale
    In vexillology a Canadian pale is a centre band of a vertical triband flag that covers half the length of a flag, rather than a third in most triband designs. This allows more space to display a central image . The name was suggested by Dr. George Stanley, and first used by Elizabeth II of Canada...
    
    , invented in 1964 for the new Canadian national flag
    Flag of Canada
    The national flag of Canada, also known as the Maple Leaf, and , is a red flag with a white square in its centre, featuring a stylized 11-pointed red maple leaf. Its adoption in 1965 marked the first time a national flag had been officially adopted in Canada to replace the Union Flag...
    
    : it takes up half the width of the field.

• Fess
  Fess
  In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...
  
  : a horizontal stripe, as in the coat of arms of Austria
  Coat of arms of Austria
  The current coat of arms of Austria, albeit without the broken chains, has been in use by the Republic of Austria since 1919. Between 1934 and the German annexation in 1938 Austria used a different coat of arms, which consisted of a double-headed eagle...
  
  .
  • Bar
    Bar (heraldry)
    In heraldry, a bar is an ordinary consisting of a horizontal band across the shield.-Common ordinaries:A single bar placed across the top of the field is called a chief. A single bar placed over the center of the field is a fess. A division of the field by many bars — often six or eight — is a...
    
    : a narrower fess (said in theory to occupy one-fifth of the field), sometimes reckoned as an ordinary in its own right. It is rarely borne singly.
  • In vexillology
    Vexillology
    Vexillology is the scholarly study of flags. The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum, meaning 'flag', and the Greek suffix -logy, meaning 'study'. The vexillum was a particular type of flag used by Roman legions during the classical era; its name is a diminutive form of the word velum...
    
    , a fess significantly wider than one-third of the height of the field is called a Spanish fess
    Spanish fess
    In vexillology, a Spanish fess is a term occasionally used to describe the central horizontal stripe of a tricolour or triband flag that is twice the width of the stripes on either side of it....
    
    , after its use in the flag of Spain
    Flag of Spain
    The flag of Spain , as it is defined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the size of each red stripe...
    
    . The coat of the City of Burnaby, British Columbia
    Burnaby, British Columbia
    Burnaby is a city in British Columbia, Canada, located immediately to the east of Vancouver. It is the third-largest city in British Columbia by population, surpassed only by nearby Surrey and Vancouver....
    
    , contains a Canadian fess, which is exactly the same as the Spanish one.
• Bend
  Bend (heraldry)
  In heraldry, a bend is a coloured band running from the upper right corner of the shield to the lower left . Writers differ in how much of the field they say it covers, ranging from one-fifth up to one-third...
  
  : an oblique band from the dexter chief (the bearer's upper right, viewer's upper left) to the opposite corner, as in the arms
  Coat of arms of Baden
  The coat of arms of Baden comes from the personal arms of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden, the traditional rulers of the region. Following the revolution and abolition of the Grand Duchy in 1918, the arms and griffin supporters were usurped from the Grand Dukes by the new republic to...
  
   of the former grand duchy of Baden
  Baden
  Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
  
  .

• Chevron: like the beams of a gable
  Gable
  A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
  
  ; as in the arms of Trans, Switzerland
  Trans, Switzerland
  Trans is a village in the municipality of Tomils in the district of Hinterrhein in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. In 2009 Trans merged with Feldis/Veulden, Scheid and Tumegl/Tomils to form the municipality of Tomils.-Geography:...
  
  

• Saltire
  Saltire
  A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....
  
   or St Andrew's cross: diagonal cross × as in the Scots national banner
  Flag of Scotland
  The Flag of Scotland, , also known as Saint Andrew's Cross or the Saltire, is the national flag of Scotland. As the national flag it is the Saltire, rather than the Royal Standard of Scotland, which is the correct flag for all individuals and corporate bodies to fly in order to demonstrate both...
  
   (often referred to simply as 'the Saltire').

• Chief
  Chief (heraldry)
  In heraldic blazon, a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top edge of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by the chief, ranging from one-fourth to one-third. The former is more likely if the...
  
  : horizontal band right across the top of the shield, as in the arms of the district of Lausanne
  Lausanne (district)
  Lausanne District is a district in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The seat of the district is the city of Lausanne.-Geography:Lausanne has an area, , of . Of this area, or 27.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 30.9% is forested...
  
   (Vaud, Switzerland).

The following are sometimes classed as ordinaries, sometimes as subordinaries (see below):

• Bordure
  Bordure
  In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself...
  
  : the boundary of the shield; often used for cadency
  Cadency
  In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way of distinguishing similar coats of arms belonging to members of the same family. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in which a given design may be owned by only one person at once...
  
  .

• Pile
  Pile (heraldry)
  In heraldry, a pile is a charge usually counted as one of the ordinaries ....
  
  : downward pointing triangle, issuing from the top of the shield .

• Pall
  Pall (heraldry)
  A pall is a Y-shaped heraldic charge. An example of a pall placed horizontally is the green portion of the Flag of South Africa....
  
   or Pairle: a Y-shape.
  • A variant is the shakefork: a pall cut short of the margins, with pointed ends. It is frequent in Scotland, owing to its prominence in the armory of Clan Cunningham
    Clan Cunningham
    Clan Cunningham is a Scottish clan. The clan does not currently have a chief, therefore it is considered an Armigerous clan by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, though recently two contenders for the chiefship have emerged...
    
    .

Lines of variation

Ordinaries need not be bounded by straight lines.

Subordinaries

Some geometric figures are not considered to be "honourable ordinaries" and are called "subordinaries". Very loosely, they are geometric or conventional charges that, unlike ordinaries, do not stretch from edge to edge of the shield. There is no definitive list or definition, but they generally include:

Fixed subordinaries

Fixed subordinaries are those that have a particular place to go on a shield—or at least a very limited range of places.

• Quarter: the dexter chief quadrant of the shield

• • Canton
    Canton (heraldry)
    Canton is a square charge placed in the upper dexter corner. It is classed by some heraldic writers as one of the honorable ordinaries; but, strictly speaking, it is a diminutive of the Quarter, being two-thirds the area of that ordinary. However, in the roll of Henry III the quarter appears in...
    
    : smaller than the quarter, formally said to occupy one-ninth of the shield, though sometimes drawn smaller. The canton is often said to be the quarter's diminutive, but perhaps it should be treated as a subordinary in its own right as it fulfils heraldic functions not fulfilled by the quarter, and behaves according to its own special rules—as for example in the case of the canton on which baronets in the UK may display the badges of their 'rank', which is very rarely shown occupying such a large area as the upper left third of the field, and is usually much less and very often shown not as square but as a rectangle with its longer side vertical. Very occasionally a 'sinister canton' is found, on the shield's other side.

• Flaunch
  Flaunch
  In heraldry, flaunches or flanches or flanks are among the ordinaries or subordinaries, consisting of two arcs of circles protruding into the field from the sides of the shield. The flaunch is never borne singly....
  
  es, always borne in pairs: a circular arc emerging out of each flank of the shield.

• Fret: interlacing bendlet, bendlet sinister and mascle.

• Gyron: the half of a quarter cut diagonally, said to be an old charge but rare although there are modern examples

• Orle
  Orle (heraldry)
  In heraldry, an orle is a subordinary consisting of a narrow band occupying the inward half of where a bordure would be, following the exact outline of the shield but within it, showing the field between the outer edge of the orle and the edge of the shield....
  
  : A bordure separated from the outside of the shield. Like the bordure the orle takes on the shape of the shield or flag it is on. Although the orle's diminutive is the tressure, there are examples of "fillet orles" (orles narrower than usual). It is often said that an orle may not have other charges charged on it, but the Scots Public Register. When a number of charges are arranged as if on a bordure, they are said to be in orle or to form an orle of such charges.
  • Tressure: a thinner version and hence diminutive of the orle. The most famous tressure is probably the double tressure flory counter flory in the royal coat of arms of Scotland
    Royal coat of arms of Scotland
    The royal coat of arms of Scotland was the official coat of arms of the monarchs of Scotland, and was used as the official coat of arms of the Kingdom of Scotland until the Acts of Union of 1707...
    
    . Tressures with other ornamentation exist, such as with maple leaves, crescents, thistles and roses.

Mobile subordinaries

Other subordinaries can be placed anywhere on the field.

• Escutcheon: a shield used as a charge.

• • escutcheon of pretence or en surtout—When one escutcheon is borne in the centre of the coat, it is sometimes called an inescutcheon or an escutcheon of pretence or an escutcheon en surtout. Such centrally placed escutcheons usually have some particular significance. For example, in arms of dominion an inescutcheon typically shows the dynastic arms of the prince, whose possessions are shown in the quarters of the main shield; current examples include the arms of the Danish Royal Family
    Danish Royal Family
    The Danish Royal Family includes the Queen of Denmark and her family. All members except the Queen hold the title of Prince/Princess of Denmark with the style of His/Her Royal Highness or His/Her Highness. The Queen is styled Her Majesty. The Queen and her siblings belong to the House of...
    
    , with an inescutcheon of the house of Oldenburg
    House of Oldenburg
    The House of Oldenburg is a North German dynasty and one of Europe's most influential Royal Houses with branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Russia, Greece, Norway, Schleswig, Holstein, Oldenburg and Sweden...
    
    , and the coat of arms of Spain
    Coat of arms of Spain
    The current coat of arms of Spain, although it has its roots centuries ago, was approved by law in 1981, when the present established replaced the interim version which, in turn, replaced the official arms of Francoist Spain...
    
    , with an inescutcheon of the house of Bourbon
    House of Bourbon
    The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
    
    -Anjou. In Scots heraldry the escutcheon en surtout serves several different purposes. This all comes under the heading of marshalling.

• Lozenge
  Lozenge (heraldry)
  The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped charge , usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today...
  
  : a rhombus with its long axis upright, resembling the diamond of playing-cards.
  • Fusil: a lozenge very much thinner than it is long.
  • Mascle: a voided lozenge (i.e. with a largish lozenge shaped hole)
  • Rustre (very rare): a lozenge pierced (i.e. with a smallish round hole)

• Roundel
  Roundel
  A roundel in heraldry is a disc; the term is also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of different colours.-Heraldry:...
  
  : a disc or ball, as in the arms of the Duchy of Cornwall
  Duchy of Cornwall
  The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the...
  
   or of the Medici
  Medici
  The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
  
  . In the Anglophone heraldries differently coloured roundels have different names, e.g. a roundel or is called a bezant and a roundel azure is called a hurt. French heraldry does not do this and the Canadian Francophone versions of blazons follow suit—Anglophone hurt is Francophone torteau d'azur, and Anglophone bezant is a besant d'or

Diminutives

When a coat of arms contains two or more of an ordinary, they are nearly always blazoned (in English) as diminutives of the ordinary, as follows.

Diminutives of the pale

• pallet: theoretically "half" a pale.
• endorse: "half" a pallet; also found in pairs on either side of a pale when the term "endorsed" is used

Diminutives of the bend

• bendlet, "half" a bend.
• ribbon or riband, "half" a bendlet, occasionally called a cost
• baton: a bendlet couped which doesn't reach the edges of the shield, often said to be only a bendlet sinister couped, but has certainly been used as a couped bendlet 'dexter' since the 17th century at the latest

Diminutive of the bend sinister

• bendlet sinister, "half" a bend sinister, also very occasionally called a scarpe;
• baton sinister, a bendlet sinister couped

Diminutives of the chevron

• chevronel: "half" a chevron.
• couple close: "half" a chevronnel, but only to be found in pairs with a chevron between them; the phrase 'a chevron between two couple closes' has the alternative 'a chevron couple closed'; in essence the same as cottising
  Variations of ordinaries
  Ordinaries in heraldry are sometimes embellished with stripes of colour alongside them, have lumps added to them, shown with their edges arciform instead of straight, have their peaks and tops chopped off, pushed up and down out of the usual positions, or even broken apart.-Cottices:Cottices, also...
  
   a chevron; couple close is not found much in modern blazons

Diminutives of the chief

• comble, "half" a chief; rare in the Anglophone heraldries, but does appear in the civic heraldry of France—there even being at least one chief charged with a comble
• chief enhanced, again "half" a chief, sometimes said not to be a diminutive, but is indistinguishable from the comble which is.
• fillet: said, by those who do not believe in the comble or chief enhanced, to be the nearest that the chief comes to having a diminutive, which is effectively a barrulet conjoined to a chief at its bottom edge—blazoned either as 'a chief supported by a fillet' or as 'a chief filleted' (or things similar); occasionally appears in its own right—though it is then very little other than a barrulet enhanced.

Diminutive of the cross

• cross fillet (or fillet cross), somewhat less than "half" a cross.

Diminutive of the saltire

• fillet saltire, something less than "half" a saltire
• saltorel, is sometimes said to be a diminutive saltire, but is best thought of simply as a saltire couped, the word being sometimes used when there are three or more (rather like lioncel and eaglet were used at times when there were three or more lions or eagles in a coat)—a 19th century armorial uses 'saltorels' only once for every ten or eleven 'saltires'.

Cottise and cottising

The cottise (the spelling varies—sometimes only one t and sometimes c instead of the s) originated as an alternative name to cost (see above) and so as a diminutive of the bend, most commonly found in pairs on either side of a bend, with the bend being blazoned either as between two cottises or as cottised.

Nowadays cottising is used not just for bends but for practically all the ordinaries (and occasionally collections of charges), and consists in placing the ordinary between two diminutive versions of itself (and occasionally other things). A pale so treated is usually blazoned endorsed and a chevron very occasionally couple closed or between two couple closes.

The ordinary and its cottices need not have the same tincture

Tincture (heraldry)

In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...

 or the same line

Line (heraldry)

The lines of partition used to divide and vary fields and charges in heraldry are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must sometimes be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the extremely unusual and non-traditional use of lines as charges, and to distinguish...

ornamentation.

Ordinaries very occasionally get cottised by things shaped quite differently from their diminutives—like demi maple leaves.

Occasionally a collection of charges aligned as if on an ordinary—in bend, etc.—is accompanied by cotticing.

Voiding, Surmounting with another and Fimbriation

Any type of charge, but probably most often the ordinaries and subordinaries, can be "voided"; without further description, this means that a hole in the shape of the charge reveals the field behind it. Occasionally the hole is of a different tincture or shape (which must then be specified), so that the charge appears to be surcharged with a smaller charge.

Canadian Heraldic Authority

• pall—College of New Caledonia (Prince George, British Columbia): Azure on a pall Or five cross crosslets fitchée Gules in chief an open book Argent binding and fore-edges Or.
• Blair Keith Churchill: Purpure a lion rampant within a double tressure erablé-counter-erablé Or.
• tressure—Odile Gravereaux Calder: Azure a rose Argent seeded Or barbed Vert within a tressure flory inward Argent.
• pallets—Niagara Herald Extraordinary, badge: On a compass rose of sixteen points Gules, a plate fimbriated Gules charged with three pallets wavy Azure.
• Municipality of Sainte-Apolline-de-Patton, Quebec: Azure on a bend between in chief a sun in splendour and in base a circular saw blade Or, a bendlet wavy Azure.
• voided—Town of Lacombe: Or a cross Gules voided throughout of the field between in the first quarter a Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) volant bendwise Azure, in the second an open book Argent bound Azure, in the third a cross flory Azure voided of the field and charged with a cross couped Gules, and in the fourth two bendlets and two bendlets sinister interlaced Azure.
• City of Abbotsford: Vert a cross and saltire merged Or voided Azure and overall in centre point a bezant charged with a strawberry flower proper.
• cottised—Fr. Marc Edward Smith: Azure on a fess cottised Or an open book Argent edged Or bound Azure clasped Argent in chief a Loyalist civil coronet and in base a cross formy Or.
• cotised—Regional Municipality of Niagara: Vert on a fess Argent coticed Or fracted per pale lowered dexter raised sinister twelve chevrons couched dexter Azure in dexter chief a representation of the Royal Crown Or.
• cotised—St George's Society of Toronto: Argent a cross cotised by eight demi maple leaves Gules.
• cotised—Commemorative Distinction Gulf of St Lawrence (flag): Gules on a Canadian Pale wavy Argent cotised to the interior Azure, a maple leaf composed of flames proper charged with a gridiron Azure.
• cotised—John Stewart Archibald LeForte: Argent on a bend bretessed Azure cotised Sable between in chief and in base a Latin cross fleury Gules a key ward upwards between two fleurs-de-lys all bendwise Or — illustrating that both the tinctures and the lines of an ordinary and its cotises are independent of each other.

U. S. Army Institute of Heraldry

• sinister canton—11th Field Artillery Regiment, USA: an example of a sinister canton, bearing the badge of the 'parent' regiment.
• fusils—US Army 72nd Signal Battalion: Per pale Sable and Gules, a fleur-de-lis throughout Or between in chief two fusils pilewise and in fess two mullets Argent.
• bendlets sinister—7th Infantry Regiment, USA: Per fess Argent and Azure, a fess embattled to chief Or masoned Sable between in chief a field gun Gules on a mount Vert and in base three bendlets sinister of the first.
• chief enhanced—244th Quartermaster Battalion: Buff, a wheel Argent between dexter and sinister flanks Vert and Gules, on a chief enhanced Azure a chain of three links fesswise of the second. Here the flanks are straight rather than being their cousins the curved flaunches.
• chief with a fillet—U.S.Army 121st Support Battalion: Per bend Buff and Gules a bend Or, a cross and ball peen hammer saltirewise superimposed in base by a stylized mechanized track Sable; on a chief per fess dancetty of three Azure (light Blue) and of the third with the dexter and sinister peaks diminutive, a mullet on the dexter peak Argent, on the lower part of chief a fillet of the fourth.

Heraldry Society of Scotland

• Royal Burgh of Annan Community Council: Or; a saltire and chief gules, on the latter five barrulets wavy conjoined, alternately argent and azure.
• Kilsyth Community Council, Scotland: Quarterly, azure and gules: first, an open bible proper; second, two swords in saltire argent, hilts uppermost, or; third, two shuttles in saltire or, garnished with thread argent; fourth, a miner's lamp argent, enflamed proper; over all a fillet cross, nowy lozengy, argent.

Royal Heraldry Society of Canada

• Suan-Seh Foo MD: Argent semé bottony Sable a pall reversed Gules cotised Azure, over all a rod of Aesculapius surmounting a mahlstick and a paint brush in saltire Or.
• William Neil Fraser: Azure between three cinquefoils a chevron Argent masoned Sable voided of the field and charged thereon with a trillium flower between two dogwood flowers proper.
• Michael Greenwood: Sable, a chevron Erminois cotised between three saltires couped and within a bordure Or.
• Comm. Daniel Leonard Norris: Azure a pall and pale merged wavy Or voided wavy of the field cotised wavy Or.

Civic Heraldry of England and Wales

• Newquay Town Council: Or on a Saltire Azure four Herrings respectant Argent.
• Blaenavon Town Council: Quarterly wavy Sable and Or in the first and fourth quarters a Key wards upwards and to the dexter and in the second and third quarters a Lozenge all counterchanged.
• Harlow District Council: Vert between three Lozenges Argent a Pair of Dividers Or enfiled by a Mural Crown also Argent two Flaunches of the last each charged with a Mascle Gules.
• Barnard Castle Town Council: Gules in chief a Castle and in base a Cross formy the uppermost limb between a Crescent and an Estoile of seven rays all within an Orle Argent.
• Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council: Per pale indented Argent and Gules on a Chief Or three Torteaux that in the centre charged with a Pierced Cinquefoil Ermine the others each charged with a Mascle Or.
• Darlington Borough Council: Per pale Azure and Gules on a Chevron Argent between in chief a representation of St. Cuthbert's Cross proper and a Shorthorn Bull's Head caboshed and in base a Garb Or enfiled by a Circlet of Steel proper a Chevronel wavy Azure on a Chief Argent a representation of the Steam Engine "Locomotion" and a Tender proper.
• Former Hawarden Rural District Council, a rare example of a single bar.
• Former Gower Rural District Council: Barry wavy of eight Argent and Azure on a Pile Azure a Lion rampant between three Cross Crosslets Or.
• Former Ashby de la Zouch Rural District Council: the crest includes a Banner paly of six Gold and Azure a Quarter Ermine.
• Former Billingham Urban District Council, showing a canton filling one-ninth of the shield.
• Former Merton and Morden Urban District Council: Sable a Fret Or on a Chief of the last two Lions passant respectant of the field.
• Former Ampthill Rural District Council: Or a Stag's Head Gules between the attires an Escutcheon Azure charged with three Bars wavy of the first encircled by a Chaplet of Oak fructed proper on a Chief Sable a Lion passant guardant Gold.
• Former Blackwell Rural District Council: Argent a Pickaxe surmounted by a Spade the hafts upwards in saltire proper within an Orle of Pellets on a Chief Sable three Stag's Heads caboshed of the Field.
• Former Beddington and Wallington Borough Council: Argent a Fess embattled between three roses Gules each surmounted by a Rose Argent barbed and seeded proper the Fess surmounted by an Escutcheon Azure charged with a representation of an Hannibal Aircraft volant Argent and in base a rising Sun Or all within a Bordure compony Or and Azure.
• Former Chelsea Metropolitan Borough Council: Gules within a Cross voided Or a Crozier in pale of the last in the first quarter a winged Bull statant in the second a Lion rampant reguardant both Argent in the third a Sword point downwards proper pomel and hilt Gold between two Boars' Heads couped at the neck of the third and in the fourth a Stag's Head caboshed of the second..

Other sites

• Braemar Royal Highland Society, Scotland: Per fess enhanced wavy or and argent; in chief issuant out of a fillet wavy azure four demi lions combatant, two and two gules, and in base a Scots fir tree in pale, seeded, proper, growing out of a mound purpure, between on the dexter an eagle displayed azure, armed beaked and membered gules, on its breast an antique covered cup or and charged with a three point label also gules, and on the sinister an eagle displayed sable armed beaked and membered gules.
• Newton Technical High School, South Africa: Quarterly gules and sable; a lozenge or voided of a quatrefoil; at its centre a cog wheel argent; the whole within a bordure or.