Falkirk Crests
Part Two - The Burgh
The following two crests are Falkirk Burgh Coat of Arms.
The first, on the left, was used by Falkirk on their strips in the late 1930s. It came into being in the 1880s and depicts a phoenix atop a quartered shield which is supported by two schoolboys weilding clubs. The phoenix was a crest used by the world famous Carron Iron Company. The shield bears a Scottish Lion Rampant, a Highlander of the Battle of Falkirk in 1746, an independence fighter from the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 and Three Scottish Claymores. The coat of arms also bears two scrolls. The top scroll reads "Tangite Unum Tangite Omnes" which translated from Latin means Touch One, Touch All (or Touch Ane, Touch A'). The bottom scroll uses an 18th century proverb "Better Meddle wi' the de'il than the bairns o' Fa'kirk". This coat of arms was never officially approved and had no official sanction. You'll see it on the Burgh Buildings on the corner of Glebe Street and Newmarket Street.
The second coat of arms, on the right, came into being in 1906 and was found on the Falkirk shirt shortly afterwards. The shield fetaures six gold billets of the Callendar family with a serrated diagonal band across the centre which represents the battlements of the Antonine Wall. On the band is a representation of the parish church - "the Faw'kirk" - which means "the speckled church" and gave the town its name. On either side of it are swords and shields to commemorate the two battles of Falkirk (1298 and 1746). The idea of having the lion rampant as the bearer, instead of supporters, comes from the carving on the Cross Well of the Burgh which has been recently restored to its former place in the High Street.