The Borough Council's Mace

The mace is a symbol of the authority of the Mayor and is carried before the Mayor on all ceremonial occasions and at official occasions such as meetings of the full Council. The Borough's mace is to a modern design and is made up of a wooden shaft of lignum vitae with a head and embellishments of silver and gold-plate. Its finial carries the Borough's Coat of Arms in enamel. The mace is approximately 1.2 metres (or four feet) in length.

The mace was made by Officers and Ratings of HMS Collingwood and was presented to the Borough on 9 April 1974.

Historical Note

The mace was once a weapon of war and the ceremonial mace of today is a highly ornamental version of early man's club or bludgeon. With the introduction of body armour, the wooden club came to be bound with iron and then to be made of iron or steel. By the 11th and 12th Centuries it had been developed into a formidable weapon.

The war mace was about 0.6 metres (or two feet) long and at the hitting end had an iron or steel ball fitted with spokes or flanges with sharp points.

When used with force, it was capable of penetrating or splitting the armour and helmets used at the time. It was adopted as the special weapon of the Sergeants-at-Arms appointed to protect Philip II of France (1180-1223) from assassins, after he deserted the cause of the Crusaders. A similar bodyguard was then instituted by Richard I of England, Coeur de Lion. The mace also became the particular weapon used by a bishop or churchman when he took the field in war.

It continued to be the custom for the King's Sergeants-at-Arms to use the mace and for the Royal Arms to be inscribed or engraved on a knob at the end of the handle. As Sergeants-at-Arms, and others entitled to attend on Sheriffs, Bailiffs and Mayors, gradually became less and less armed personal bodyguards and more in the way of messengers to convey Royal orders, the mace with the Royal Arms engraved on it came to be seen as a token of Royal authority. In the course of time, therefore, the hitting end of the mace fell out of use and the handle end increased in importance. At the same time, the mace became decorated with, or in some cases made entirely of, precious metal. Eventually, the mace became no longer a weapon of war but solely a symbol of authority. By the end of the Tudor period, the ceremonial mace was firmly established.

A curious point to note about the mace is that its evolution has also been a revolution - the hitting head has become the base and the knob on the handle has become the head. So to speak, the ceremonial mace of today is carried upside down.