ARMS, SEALS, INSIGNIA AND PLATE
ARMS.
BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER
Gules, a jagged cross vert, its arms and foot pierced with three nails, and three golden crowns,the bottom one encircling the foot of the cross [Recorded 1413, regranted 1976]
The earliest known representation of
the borough arms, a red shield with a green
jagged cross, its arms and foot pierced with
three nails, and three golden crowns, the bottom one encircling the foot of the cross, appears
in the initial letter of the charter of 1413. The
cross and nails probably refer to St. Helen's
legendary discovery of the true cross and passion nails; the crowns may refer to her alleged
discovery of the bodies of the three magi. The
same arms appear on the early 15th-century
common seal of the borough. (fn. 58) There appear to
have been several variants in the 16th and 17th
centuries, but in the version recorded at the
heralds' visitation of 1558 and used until the
corporation decided to revert to the medieval
form c. 1915, the cross is silver and there are
no nails. (fn. 59) In 1976 a full armorial achievement
was granted to the new Colchester district. The
medieval borough arms were retained, supported by a Roman soldier and a fisherman,
and surmounted by a crest showing St. Helen
holding the cross, with the motto 'no cross, no
crown'. In 1989 the full achievement had never
been used. (fn. 60)
The first, probably 13th-century,
common seal of the borough, in use by 1317,
was round, 3¾ in. in diameter. On the obverse
was a triple-towered castle, masoned and embattled, its round-headed doorway having
half-opened doors, below it, a stream spanned
by three arches with a fish naiant under each
arch, and round the circumference the legend,
lombardic: [SIGILLUM C]OLCESTRENSIS S . . .
BU[R]G1 C[OMMUNE]. On the reverse was St.
Helen, crowned and seated on a canopied throne,
holding a long cross and the three holy nails,
with the legend, lombardic: QUAM CRUX INSIGNIT
HELENAM C[OLCESTRIA GIG]NIT. The seal continued in use until 1379 or later. (fn. 62) The brass
matrix of the second common seal, in use by
1462, was with the borough plate in 1989. The
seal is round, 3½ in. in diameter. On the obverse
is St. Helen, enthroned under a canopied niche,
with Christ half length in a niche above; on each
side is a smaller, canopied, turreted niche with
an angel holding a shield, that on the left bearing
a cross and that on the right the 15th-century
royal arms; below, under an arch, are the borough arms supported by lions or ravens. The
legend, black letter, is SIGILLUM COMMUNE BALLIVORUM ET COMMUNITATIS VILLE DOMINI REGIS
COLCESTRIE. On the reverse is a castellated town,
in front of it a river crossed by a bridge or steps,
on each side a lion statant surmounted by a
flowering branch, with the legend, black letter:
INTRAVIT IHC IN QUODDAM CASTELLUM ET MULIER
QUEDAM EXCEPIT ILLUM, an adaptation of Luke
10. 38 apparently referring to St. Helen. (fn. 63) The
seal remained in use until 1891 when it was
replaced by an embossing seal of the same design
as its obverse but bearing the modern royal arms
and with the legend THE COMMON SEAL OF THE
MAYOR ALDERMEN AND BURGESSES OF THE BOROUGH
OF COLCHESTER MDCCCXCI. (fn. 64) That seal was replaced in 1976 by a new one bearing the borough
arms and the legend THE COMMON SEAL OF COLCHESTER BOROUGH COUNCIL. (fn. 65) The bailiffs' seal,
the silver matrix of which survives, is round,
2¼ in. in diameter; it depicts a castle or walled
town with St. Helen standing in the doorway of
a central tower. Outside the legend, which is black
letter SIGILLUM OFFICII BALLIVORUM VILLE COLCESTRIE, is a broad border of roses and fleur-de-lis.
The seal appears to be 14th-century although no
impressions survive before 1546. (fn. 66)
Another seal described as a common seal of the
vill survives on a chantry foundation deed of 1348.
It is circular, 2 in. in diameter, with a raven facing
to the right, and the legend SIGILLUM CUSTODIS
PORTUS CO[L]ECEST'. (fn. 67) 'Custos portus' is presumably a translation of port reeve, and the seal may
be an early 13th-century reeves' or bailiffs' seal.
It was still one of the borough seals c. 1450. (fn. 68)
INSIGNIA.
In 1515 two maces, presumably one
for each bailiff, were carried before Catherine of
Aragon when she arrived in the town. (fn. 69) By the
mid 17th century, probably from 1635 when
Charles I's charter substituted a mayor for the
bailiffs, the town possessed a great mace which
was replaced in 1698 by one weighing c. 100 oz.
and surmounted by a globe and cross. (fn. 70) That mace
and most of the borough plate were sold in 1730
to pay for a new silver gilt great mace still in use
in 1989. (fn. 71) The mace is 58 in. long, ending in an
open arched crown surmounted by an orb and
cross; it has the royal arms and the letters GR on
the flat plate at the top. Four caryatides separate
the bowl into compartments which bear the borough arms, a crowned fleur-de-lis, a crowned
thistle, and a crowned harp. The shaft is richly
ornamented, and the hallmarks are for London
1729-30. (fn. 72) Three maces mended before Queen
Mary's visit in 1553 may have been serjeants'
maces. (fn. 73) Serjeants at mace were recorded in 1463-
4, by which time the office was already well
established, and in 1635 each carried a mace
bearing the royal arms. (fn. 74) In 1989 the borough
insignia included four silver gilt serjeants' maces,
each c. 12 in. long and bearing the Stuart royal
arms, which were carried in civic processions by
special constables. Three of the maces probably
date from c. 1633, but the fourth, which has a
maker's mark on the stem, may have been made
to replace the mace missing in 1687. (fn. 75)
The mayor's gold chain, of 506 links in 6
separate chains each of diminishing length, was
presented in 1765 by Leonard Ellington, a London merchant. The mayor's badge, worn separately from the chain, is a silver gilt replica of the
15th-century borough seal in a carved ivory
mount. When it was presented to W. Gurney
Benham in 1935 the then mayor's badge, a golden
jubilee medal of 1887 in a gold border of oak leaves
and figures from the 15th-century seal, was assigned to the deputy mayor. In 1909 the Colchester pageant committee presented the mayoress's
gold chain and badge showing Boudicca in her
war chariot, and in 1922 a St. George's Day medal
was given for the mayoress. (fn. 76) In 1825 and probably earlier the treasurer's badge of office was a
silver key, but the 19th-century one had been lost
by 1905 when a silver gilt key bearing the borough
arms in coloured enamel was presented by C. R.
Gurney Hoare. (fn. 77) The water bailiff's oar was
recorded in 1689; (fn. 78) in 1989 there were two silver
oars, one, 8½ in. long and hallmarked 1804-5, may
have been in use in 1825; the other, 10 in. long,
was hallmarked 1827-8. (fn. 79) By 1689 the water bailiff
was using a gauge to check the size of oysters taken
from the town's fishery. (fn. 80) In 1748 the gauge was
brass, (fn. 81) but in 1825 a silver gauge was being used.
That gauge, lost by 1895, may be the one hallmarked 1804-5 which was given back to the
borough in 1905. In 1950 there were three gauges,
two brass and one silver but by 1966 only one
silver and one brass gauge remained. (fn. 82)
The bailiffs' livery gowns were first recorded in
1372. Aldermen were probably given robes c.
1404 and councillors received hoods from 1411-
12. (fn. 83) By 1578 bailiffs and aldermen had to provide
their own scarlet robes with black velvet tippets
and caps, (fn. 84) and common councillors their own
mulberry coloured gowns and caps. In 1598
councillors' gowns were changed to black cloth
faced with lambskin, with black and scarlet
hoods. (fn. 85) By 1548 salaried officials were provided
with a livery which in 1665 was blue. By 1843 the
councillors' gowns were purple, the town clerk's
and the treasurer's black silk. (fn. 86) In 1895 the
mayor's robe was scarlet with sable trimmings and
black facings (fn. 87) but by 1901 it was black with gold
trimmings. The change was probably made on
Queen Victoria's death. Since local government
re-organization in 1974 chairmen of committees
have worn red robes with fur facings, honorary
aldermen purple with black velvet facings, and
councillors blue with fur facings. (fn. 88)
PLATE.
In the 17th century several items of plate
were given to the borough mostly by men who
held office in the town. (fn. 89) In 1680 the 20 pieces
of town plate included silver beer and wine cups,
salt dishes, and a caudle cup and cover. (fn. 90) In 1730
nineteen pieces were sold to pay for a new mace.
The one remaining piece, a large, two-handled,
silver gilt loving cup given in 1679 by Abraham
Johnson, (fn. 91) was still in the borough's possession in
1989. Plate acquired since 1730 includes the 18thcentury mayor's theatre ticket, a circular silver plaque
2 in. in diameter; four Elizabethan silver spoons and
a Charles II apostle spoon presented by the Essex
Archaeological Society in 1926, 1927, 1928, and 1948;
a tankard, a chocolate pot, and a punch ladle by R.
Hutchinson, a 17th-century Colchester silversmith, acquired in 1955 and 1961; and a silver
replica of the Colchester obelisk, presented in
1962. Three of the most remarkable pieces were
in the mayor's parlour in 1989: a 25½ in. long
silver decanter in the shape of a 16th-century
three-masted warship, given in 1913; an 18thcentury punch bowl given by the United States
army air force in 1945; and a silver casket with a
statuette of St. Helen on the lid and enamelled side
panels depicting the town hall and St. Botolph's
Priory with the borough arms between, which was
given to Dame Catherine Hunt in 1935 and
bequeathed by her to the corporation in 1948.