Belfast's Coat of Arms

The Belfast Coat of Arms is a design used in various ways by the people of Belfast and organisations based in Belfast such as the City Council et cetera.

Appearance
The current design has been used by the Council since the 30th of June 1890 when Belfast, which had recently been named a city by Queen Victoria, was given the right to bear arms in a Grant of Arms by the Ulster King of Arms.

As per the standard design Belfast's coat of arms has two supporters; a chained wolf (a lion according to some sources ) on the left and a seahorse on the right. The crest at the top depicts a seahorse above a crown (the crown is sometimes ommited and replaced with a grey and blue line).

The shield is divided horizontally into two segments a third of the way up. The lower segment shows a ship at sea with a blue background (the sky) and the upper segmet, also known as the field, shows an isosceles triangle, with it's shortest side facing up, filled with six full blue triangle and six more which are broken by the borders of the triangle. The upper segment has a grey backgournd both inside and outside of the triangle. The charge of the arms is located at the top left of the field and is a red rectangle with a grey bell.

There is no mantling at the crest but the compartment is decorated by a gold left like design on which the supporters stand.

Motto
The motto at the bottom reads, in Latin, "Pro tranto quid retribuamus" which can be translated as "What can we give in return?" The motto is adapted from a line in the 116th Psalm in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) which is reproduced below:

Symbolism
Of the origins and meaning of some of the symbols used on the Coat of Arms we can not be sure. However, it is known that images such as the bells, seahorses, the ship and the chained wolf were all used by 17th century Belfast merchants on their signs and coinage. It is likely that the ship and seahorses represent the maritime history of the city and that the doubling of the seahorse image is intended to strengthen the impact of this symbol. The crown at the top of the arms represents the British monarchy (Queen Victoria gave Belfast city status in 1888). Is has been suggested that the wold is a tribute to the city's founder, Sir Arthur Chichester, and refers to his own coat of arms.