Coat of Arms
The borough was granted a coat of arms on 16 October 1886 by the College of Arms. The style was typical of grants to boroughs by Albert Woods, Garter Principal King of Arms, with its quartered shield and complicated design.
Most of the emblems on the shield were related to the Archbishops of Canterbury, who had a palace in Croydon. The three choughs are associated with Thomas a Becket, and appear in the arms of the city of Canterbury; the cross crosslets came from the arms of the Diocese of Canterbury; and the flory cross bearing three gold disc was taken from the arms of archbishop John Whitgift. In the fourth quarter was an emabattled fesse, to represent a town wall and thus municipal government.
The crest on top of the helm featured a grassy mound and heraldic fountain, for the Croydon Bourne. On either side was a sprig of rye-grass, for the irrigation meadows of Beddington Sewage Farm. The crest also contained a gold crozier, another reference to the archbishops, and a crossed sword and tilting spear for the East India Company Military Seminary, which had formerly stood at Addiscombe.
The Latin motto was Sanitate Crescimus or May we grow in health.
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