It derives from the coat of arms used by the city of Perth, which shows the two-headed bird to represent its Roman history. The maps were put together by country house hotel chain De Vere hotels.
Poppy Logo. FB house promo. Sign Up for News Updates. Sign up. Not convinced? The arms are those attributed to the ancient Kingdom of the East Saxons. These were regarded as the county arms long before the official grant. They were also used by Middlesex until they added a saxon crown to the design. The swords are distinctive notched seaxes, and thus an allusion to the word Saxon.
Literature : Image and information from here. From Heraldry of the World. Three Saxon crowns are also included, possibly indicating a connection with East Anglia? Originally constructed in as a corn exchange, a third storey was added in the early twentieth century when the building was assigned its new purpose.
The additional storey included the Essex emblem. Ernest Hill. The emblem was effectively used as a coat of arms, albeit without legal sanction, by the council established for Essex in ; one example is this sign. The council was subsequently awarded a formal grant of the arms. In the twenty-first century therefore the Flag Institute accepted that the armorial banner of the shield bearing the three seaxes, was the county flag.
Interestingly, the Essex council arms feature no supporters, crest, motto or other adornments typical of a heraldic award, the plain decorated shield, of ancient renown, being used alone.
Such plain arms are a rarity in heraldry and usually typify arms of antiquity before the development of such additional features. The old Kingdom of Essex stretched further inland towards the Midlands and covered territory now in Middlesex and Hertfordshire.
Accordingly, the same arrangements of three seaxes on red was used in Middlesex for centuries until its county council sought a distinctive arrangement of its own, and was awarded amended arms, distinguished by the addition of a Saxon crown in chief, at the top of the shield over the seaxes, in The depiction of the blades themselves seems to have evolved over the years.
Whilst some assert that the notches seen on the blades in the Essex flags were used to prise open oysters, a common food on the Essex coast, they are not present on existing seaxes, such as this one. Gouging chunks out of a weapon like this would seemingly weaken its solidity and usefulness.
Existing examples of seaxes. These characteristics seem to be the products of 19th century heraldic fashion! Diana Willment, considering the form of the seaxes appearing on the Middlesex emblem but with an equal bearing on those used in Essex, writes on the Brentford history blog ,. Why do the blades each have a huge notch in the back? What blacksmith would damage the strength and flexibility of his fine forgework in such a way?
What could be more impractical in use? A quick trip to London Museums found 5 genuine seaxes, although the perishable hilts do not survive. A trawl through the internet confirmed my findings. The seaxe was not a curved scimitar missing a disfiguring bite but a strong and practical weapon and tool. The blades varied in length from 3 to 30 inches and were straight, unnotched and very sharp. They were solidly triangular in cross-section with a long and lethal point; the larger ones were quite heavy.
So when did the notches appear? Next a visit to the College of Arms. Here it was clear that seaxes in early heraldry were straight and unnotched.
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