Introduction on Mayoral Badge
The badge depicts The North Warwickshire Coat of Arms which was designed by H Ellis Tomlinson and consists of a shield that indicates the union of two Warwickshire authorities and their main industries; a crest which commemorates historical associations; a badge (shown on our lapel pins) which is a symbol of the name; and a motto.
The Shield is based on the ragged staff and red background of the Warwickshire arms. Two white ragged staves are joined to suggest the union of two authorities and at the side are two golden wheat sheaves taken from the Atherstone seal and indicating the two rural districts from which the Borough is formed and the importance of the agricultural industry.
In the base of the shield is a golden sun charged with a cogwheel symbolising the energy producing (the sun also features in the National Coal Board's arms) and engineering industries. At the top of the shield is a kestrel in its characteristic hovering attitude. The kestrel has gained a reputation as the "bird of the motorways" and is an apt reminder of North Warwickshire's position in the motorway complex.
Above the shield is the closed helmet, proper to civic arms, with its crest-wreath and decorative mantling in the Warwickshire colours. The Crest is composed of emblems for the arms of prominent North Warwickshire families and the two historic abbeys. At its base is the white Fleur-de-Lys of the Digbys of Coleshill, set between the two gold mullets (five pointed stars) with red centres, taken from the shield of the Clintons as borne by Maxstoke Priory. Behind these rises the white and gold lion of the Dilkes whose seat Maxstoke Castle has been for the last three centuries. The lion wears a distinguishing collar of a gold and red shield pattern from the arms of the Ferrers family whose tombs are in Merevale church and whose arms were born by their abbey. In the lion's paws is the red "cross moline" of the Dugdales of Merevale and Blythe Hall from which family came Sir William Dugdale the great herald and antiquary.
The Motto is "Govern Yet Obey" which is adapted from the line "as all did govern, yet all did obey" in the "Barron's Wars" by the poet laureate Michael Drayton, a native of Hartshill and a friend of Shakespeare.
