The Armorial Bearings originally granted to the former Stowmarket Urban District Council by Letters Patent in 1970, were transferred to the Town Council after local government re-organisation in 1974.
Blazon (official description) of the Arms –
“Or THREE CROWNS gules on a CHIEF azure a mitre argent garnished OR”
Motto – “Sit Anima Mea Cum Christo”
Translated from Latin this means “May my Soul be with Christ”
The Arms were designed by the College of Arms and are similar to those belonging to the Abbot of St. Osyth in Essex. The significance of this is that the Town and Manor of Stowmarket, with the royalties and the church living, were held by the Austin Abbey of St. Osyth from 1348 until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536.
St. Osyth was Ositha, daughter of King Frithwald and married to Sighere, King of the East Saxons. It is said that she lived as a religious person and was martyred by the Danes in 653, in one of their bloody ravages. It is also claimed that the Monastery adopted the arms of St. Osyth to honour her memory – three bloody crowns which spoke of the painful death of the pious virgin Queen and the gold shield of rich inheritance in heaven.
