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Civic Heraldry of the United Kingdom
England
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WILLESDENIncorporated into : 1965 Brent
Origin/meaning :
The arms were granted in 1933.
The orb is the emblem attributed to King Athelstan who, about the middle of the tenth century, granted the Manors of Neasden-cum-Willesden to the Monastery of St Arkenwold, while the eight black roundels indicate the eight Saxon manors into which Willesden was divided. The crossed swords are from the arms of the See of London, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's having held the manor at the time of the Domesday Survey. The lilies are the emblems of St Mary, the patron saint.
The wings are taken from the crest of Archbishop Bancroft, whose family formerly occupied the Manor of Mapesbury, and the cinqueloils are from the arms of All Souls College, Oxford, which owns much land in Willesden.
The Saxon crowns and the seaxes on the dragons derive from the arms of the Middlesex CC, and represent the ancient Kingdom of the Middle Saxons. Literature : Scott-Giles, 1953; image from here
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