Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The county council was granted armorial bearings by the College of Arms on 1 September 1965. The coat of arms was a combination of those of the two merged county councils. The blazon of the arms was as follows:

Or a double tressure flory counter flory gules, overall on a bend wavy azure three crowns or; the shield ensigned by a mural crown or. Supporters: on either side a great bustard proper, the exterior leg resting on a closed book gules, garnished or. Badge: Within an annulet issuant therefrom four fleurs-de-lys in cross an open crown or.

The gold field and red tressure flory counter flory were taken from the royal arms of Scotland. This was in reference to the fact that the Earldom of Cambridge was held by David I of Scotland in the twelfth century. The blue wave represented the River Cam on which were three crowns from the arms of the Diocese of Ely. The supporters were great bustards, a bird extinct in England, whose last habitat was said to have been in the county. The birds were differenced from those supporting the previous Cambridgeshire arms by the placing of a red book beneath their feet. The book came from the arms of the University of Cambridge. The Latin motto adopted also referred to the university, and was Sapientes Simus or "Let us be men of understanding".