Royal Burgh of Inverkeithing
Inverkeithing seems to have been created a Royal Burgh by King Malcolm IV between 1153 and 1162 but to have been granted by King William the Lion to his illegitimate son, Sir Ralph de Londoniis, before 1195. By 1223, it was again held of the Crown.
The arms are taken from the obverse and reverse of the oldest known Burgh seal of which impressions dated 1296 and 1357 are on record.
On the suggestion of the parish minister and local historian, the Rev. William Stephen, the Town Council specially asked for both sides of the seal to be included in the coat of arms. The left hand side shows a ship, thus recalling “the passage and ship of Inverkeithing ” granted by King David I to the monks of Dunfermline in 1129.The sinister side shows St Peter patron saint of the Burgh holding his keys and a model of the parish church, the Saint’s halo could refer to the special connection the town had, through its ferry, with the shrine of St Margaret at Dunfermline.