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Armorial Bearings were granted to the then Bishop’s Stortford Urban District Council in 1952, and these Bearings were transferred to the Town Council in 1974 following the reorganisation of local Government.

They consist of ‘Vert on a pale Argent surmounted by a Fesse wavy of the last charged with a Barwavy Azure counterchanged on the Pale a Mitre and a Garb proper and for the Crest on a Wreath of the Colours On a Mount Vert the battlements of a Tower proper issuant there from a Cross pomelled Gules.’

The symbolism of these bearings, which are used as the Town Crest, is that the Mitre represents the Bishops of London to whom the town of Stortford was sold c.1060, the Mural Crown represents Waytemore Castle, which once dominated and protected the town, whilst the blue and white navy bands on the shield represent the River Stort and the ford across it.

The Cross Pomme represents St Michael in allusion to St Michael’s Church, the Sheaf of Barley commemorates agriculture and the malting industry which, for many years, were the backbone of the town’s prosperity and the green of the shield reminds the people of Bishop’s Stortford that theirs is a town set in and taking its being from the countryside which surrounds it.

The motto, which reads in Latin 'Pro Deo et Populo’ can best be translated as ‘for God and the People.’

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