Port Glasgow Coat Of Arms

The Port Glasgow Coat of Arms. Granted by the Lyon King of Arms in 1929.

Up until 1791 Port Glasgow (Newark) was without a Coat of Arms or a common seal. This put the town at a disadvantage when it came to authenticating documents.
So in November of that year a common seal was made, which read "The Common Seal of the towns of Port Glasgow and Newark".
In 1833 Port Glasgow became a Parliamentary Burgh and the "Newark" was dropped. This seal was used until 1862.

In 1862 another change was made and it now read "The common Seal of the Police Commissioners of Port Glasgow". This was used up until 1892 when yet another change was made changing the text to read "The Common Seal of the Town Council of the Burgh of Port Glasgow"

In 1929 The Lyon King of Arms pointed out that the admiral bearings on the coat of arms had not been registered and that the main sail actually depicted Glasgow as was registered in 1866 and not as granted 1791.
A new Coat of Arms was granted. The main sail of the ship the City of Glasgow's armorial bearings, to the extent to which they were given in 1791 and over the shield a castle like structure to indicate the towns connection with Newark Castle.
This was granted in 1929 and is the one which is pictured here.

This representation of the arms the ship having its main sail blazoned with the Arms of Glasgow, a saltire for Scotland, and the union flag of Great Britain

The motto reads
" Ter et Quarter anno Revisens Aequor Atlanticum Impune"

Which translated reads

"Three and four times a year revisiting the Atlantic with impunity"

The motto is in reference to the Atlantic crossings made from Quebec to Port Glasgow  importing the North American timber.  In 1825 this amounted to 19000 tons and had risen to nearly 28000 tons by 1834.  The timber was unloaded at the mid harbour and they were then  chained together with rafters and floated to one of the suitable timber ponds.  These ponds stretched for Finlaystone down river to the east end of Greenock and also the Gareloch.
The hyphenated form of Port-Glasgow  was not used in the Sasines but generally by the local newspapers and disappeared by 1940

This page last modified on Sunday, May 01, 2005

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