The Craigavon Borough Armorial Bearings - an explanation

The Armorial Bearings of Craigavon Borough Council represents the amalgamation of the rural and borough councils in 1973 and is reflected in the motto 'Together We Progress'.

On the crown stands Master McGrath, the famous greyhound owned by the Brownlow family of Lurgan and three times winner of the Waterloo Cup. He holds a wheel tapper as a reference to the importance of Portadown as a railway junction.

The Shield is indented to depict the joining of the two Boroughs and surrounding the Red Hand of Ulster are four woven gold strands representing linen manufacture. Other industry is depicted by roundels symbolising coins and by cogs in the centre of each roundel.

The supporters are a unicorn inspired by the Armorial Bearings of Lurgan, bearing flax to represent the historic linen industry of the town and an antelope from the Armorial Bearings of Portadown in reference to the Dukes of Manchester who owned the land. The antelope bears the Seagoe Bell, an ancient bell of that parish. Both stand on a rural grassy mound scattered with apples, the celebrated local fruit and shamrock. The symbolic water represents the River Bann and Craigavon Lakes.