Lewisham's Arms and the White Stag

When the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham was created in 1900, a committee was appointed to design a coat of arms. This device [another word for arms], adopted in the following year, included a shield, crest, supporters and motto.

The shield had four quarters. The first quarter had the attributed arms of King Alfred first lord of the manor. The second quarter showed a white on red horse, taken from the former Borough of Deptford’s arms. This is originally taken from Kent's arms. The Lewisham area was part of the County of Kent until 1889. The third quarter showed a buck's head, from the arms of the Earl of Dartmouth lord of the manor of Lewisham in 1901. The fourth quarter featured a bear's head and fesse or horizontal band, from the arms of Lord Northbrook, lord of the manor of Lee in 1901.

The crest was a raven, representing the Ravensbourne River. The supporters were a silver buck sprinkled with red stars and a bear with a gold portcullis on his shoulder. These were also derived from the arms of the Earl of Dartmouth and Lord Northbrook respectively. 

The Latin motto was Salus Populi Suprema Lex, or "the welfare of the people is the highest law" - [a motto common to many English municipalities] is carried on a scroll at the bottom or the arms. 

In 1950, in celebration of the borough’s golden jubilee, a grant was obtained to make a new coat of arms.

The shield was greatly simplified and the supporters [as they are known] were altered to make them unique to the borough. The White stag was kept but the brown bear is replaced with a white horse, which is taken from the second corner of the original shield. Around their necks were placed mural crowns representative of local government, civic dignity and authority. 

The motto at the bottom of the arms was kept on the new coat and continued to be used by the London borough of Lewisham, when borough arms became obsolete. The background colours of green, purple and black allude to Lee Green, Hither (Heather) Green and Blackheath. The two lions' faces each donned with a Saxon crown, as in the old arms of Lewisham, symbolise the royal and Saxon connections both of Lewisham, where King Alfred was the first Lord of the Manor, and Deptford, where the same King fought the Danes. 

The golden ship in the base represents the famous Royal Shipbuilding Yard established in Deptford by King Henry VIII in 1513. 

The reversed pall consisting of wavy bars of blue and silver forms a heraldic map view, representing the meeting point of the rivers Ravensbourne and Quaggy. This was the original settlement point of what is now Lewisham [and Lewisham Rail and Bus Station, and where The Lewisham Natureman was once seen drinking.] The river then flows north toward the River Thames. 

The two green dolphins represent the close association of the Borough with things nautical and refer also to the dolphins, which were the supporters of the unofficial arms formally used by Deptford. The silver wings and golden mullet are from the arms of Lord Northbrook, Lord of the Manor of Lee. 

These arms became obsolete when the metropolitan boroughs were abolished in 1965. Deptford and Lewisham became The London Borough of Lewisham.

This is another version of the arms, featuring a brown stag and a crown with three tall points, later used as Lewisham's logo and developed into the crown we know and love now. The date this was produced  was somewhere between the two above.