Beddington and Wallington

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Heraldry of the World
Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom


Incorporated into : 1965 London Borough of Sutton

Official blason :
ARMS: Argent a Fess embattled between three roses Gules each surmounted by a a Rose Argent barbed and seeded proper the Fess surmounted by an Escutcheon Azure charged with a representation of an Hannibal Aircraft volant Argent and in base a rising Sun Or all within a Bordure compony Or and Azure.
CREST: On a wreath Argent and Gules issuant a dexter Arm in Armour embowed the hand grasping a Gauntlet proper.
MOTTO: 'PER ARDUA AD SUMMA' - Through Difficulties to the Heights.


The arms were officially granted on July 3, 1937.

Thee embattled bar refers to a walled town, sometimes said to be the Romano-British town of Noviomagus (of doubtful location, but believed by some early antiquarians to have been at Woodcote, in the south of Wallington). Perhaps, more probably, however, this is a reference to a mistaken derivation of the name "Wallington" (which really means 'settlement of the Welsh' or Celts) as 'walled town'.

The border, is in the colours of the arms of the Warrenne Earls of Surrey.
The Tudor roses refer to the prominence of the Carew family of Beddington in Tudor times, and to Beddington and Wellington being royal manors when confiscated by Henry VIII after the execution of Sir Nicholas Carew, K.G., Master of the Horse, for alleged treason in 1539 as part of Henry's collection of local manors when building Nonsuch Palace.

The small inner shield, with its aeroplane flying over a rising sum, refers to the presence of Croydon Aerodrome, London's first major airport, in the east of the Borough. (The first Croydon Airport, formed in 1920 from two First World War flying fields was wholly in Beddington and Wellington; the extended Airport, after 1928, was 86% so). This was the first instance of a complete aeroplane being used in civic heraldry.

The arm in armour, holding a gauntlet - to be flung down in challenge to a false contender for the Crown - refers to the Dymock or Dymoke family, of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire, who held the Manor of Wallington, in the 15th and 16th centuries,and whose head is the Hereditary Champion of England.

The motto, again with Croydon Aerodrome (which began as an RFC/RAF station) in mind, is based on the RAF motto: 'Per ardua ad astra'.

Literature : Image and information provided by Laurence Jones

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