Lonsdale District Badge
The
Red Rose:
The red rose, originally a badge of the Earls and Dukes of
Lancaster, and the device of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of
the Roses, has become the County emblem and is the principal feature
of the County coat of arms.
Lancashire's red rose was the badge of Edmund Plantagenet, second son of Henry III, and the first Duke of Lancaster. The red rose is the French 'rosa gallica' or 'rosa officialis' introduced into England, perhaps about the time of the Crusades. Henry II's wife, Queen Elinor, who was French, was compared with the exotic French rose. The white Yorkshire rose is the 'rosa alba' and it was always the symbol of the House of York. When the Wars of the Roses ended, the (Welsh) Tudors merged the red and white roses to create the Tudor rose.
John o' Gaunt's Gateway, Lancaster Castle:
John of Gaunt (or Ghent), Duke of Lancaster, was the fourth son of Edward III. and his queen Philippa, and was born at Ghent (Belgium) about 1340. He married Blanche, daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and was created Earl of Derby and Duke of Lancaster. He took part with his brother, the Black Prince, in his Spanish expedition; married soon after Constance of Castile, and assumed the title of King of Castile; invaded France in 1373, and marched unopposed from Calais to Bordeaux; and succeeded his brother as Governor of Gascony. In 1380 he invaded Scotland, and during his absence his palace at London was attacked and burnt by the insurgents under Wat the Tyler. He afterwards made an attack on Castile in alliance with the King of Portugal; but closed the war by marrying his daughter to the son of the King of Castile; and returned to England in 1389. In the following year Richard II. gave him the Duchy of Aquitaine. By his first wife John of Gaunt was father of Henry IV. He married as his third wife Catherine Swynford, and died in 1399. He had distinguished himself as the firm and powerful protector of Wickliffe.
And, perhaps, the argent ground behind the gateway represents the silver waters of the River Lune, anciently Loyne, from which dale the District takes its name, and which passes through a large portion of it.
Or even the silver waters of Morecambe Bay . . .
Original badge
made from the winning competition design by Russell King
of Orpington, Kent for a District Badge for Lancaster in
1972.
Click on the thumbnails opposite to view photos of Lancaster Castle - John o' Gaunt's gateway
See http://www.lancastercastle.com/ for further information on Lancaster Castle
