Police Burgh of St Monance
Motto
“Mare Vivimus”
“From the sea we have life”
St Monance, formerly called Abercrombie, was created a Burgh of Barony in 1596 in favour of Sir William Sandilands of St Monance.
In 1649, the superiority of the Burgh passed to General David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark, the able Scottish Covenanting general, and there after in 1696 by marriage to Sir Alexander Anstruther.
It became a Police Burgh in 1933.
The arms show the silver dog from the crest of Sandilands, Lord Abercrombie, the gold buckle of Leslie and also the griffin’s head from the crest of the Bairds of Elie who became the Superiors of the Burgh in modern times.
The griffin’s head also recalls the Leslie’s, as they have a demi-griffin as their crest.
Two features of the Leslie arms implement the desire of the Town Council that General David Leslie’s special connection should be clearly shown in the arms.
The cross represents the famous Church of St Monance, built by King David II between 1363 and 1367, and a great landmark above the sea; the fishing scene comes from the seventeenth century seal of the Burgh and the fish could refer to the fish “reddendo” payable annually by the Burgh to its Sandilands superior.