Arms of the Roval Burgh of Sanquhar. 77 



presume or lak upon h -nd to leave or use ony amies in 

 '.yme cuming," it is quite clear that from a date considerably 

 earlier than 1592 organised bodies of the " common sort 

 of people" had "amies and sig^nes armorial." The arnis 

 of the Royal Burgh of Sanquhar are thus described by 

 Gumming, a former custodier of the heraldic Records in the 

 Lyon Ollice, Edinburgh : — " Azure, a double-leaved gale 

 triple towered on an ascent of five steps or degrees, flanked 

 by two towers all argent, the towers arch roofed and masoned 

 sable." Put into simple language, the description tells that 

 the groundwork of the shield should be blue, the gateway and 

 towers white, with the masonry lines black. When did 

 Sanquhar first assume a coat-of-arms is a question which is 

 more easily asked than answered. The Burgh records were 

 all destroyed in 1714, and the records referring to our Burgh 

 which have been preserved in other places are extremely 

 scanty. The earliest impression of the burgh seal that I 

 know of dates from the 17th century, and is attached to a 

 deed of that time. A burgess ticket of 1730 with seal attached 

 is still to the fore. There is a fine engraving of the arms, 

 which differs somewhat from the seal presently in use on the 



Insignia of the Royal Burgh of Sanquhar. 



