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The meaning and origin of the Club Badge








Hurrah for the squares entwine-ed,
the Badge we all hold dear,
While hearts are thus inclin-ed,
No clique or split we ll fear .



So goes the club cry of In order to assume a new
Blackheath Harriers frst identity for the club it is
used in 1903. The badge possible that its founding
referred to is a familiar fathers such as H.D. Thomas
symbol, the signifcance and and F.W. Reed chose the
derivation of which few badge to symbolise that new As to its derivation, there
members are really aware, identity as it moved to new are a number of likely
but as investigation reveals surroundings. Keen to project precedents. These range
it has a fascinating history. the new club identity and from ancient Rome, and the
One of the great mysteries of looking for a monogram for Italian Renaissance to Islamic
club lore and tradition is that the re-vitalised club, F.W. Reed, cultures. One likely possibility
of the origin of the club badge as an architect, was probably is that it came from the
with its two entwined squares. attracted to the star symbol. Roman tessellated pavement
Is it Masonic, mythological, As a practicing freemason at Bucklersbury Roman Villa,
biblical or classical? The answer he would have been well near Cannon Street which
is that no one knows for certain acquainted with such symbols was excavated in 1869 and
even though the Blackheath and as the two squares assembled in the Guildhall
badge dates back to the early mentioned were entwined Museum where it remained
years of the clubs existence. and not merely superimposed until 1976 since when it has
It was adopted in 1878 when upon one another, they could been displayed in the Museum
the club, then known as represent the Clubs continuity of London. The mosaic
Peckham AC was re-organised and unity, something which survived almost intact and is
under the name of Blackheath Reed, after the traumas of the in two sections, one of which,
Harriers, and moved its clubs earliest years would be the square portion, contains
headquarters from Peckham to anxious to establish and protect. two interlocking squares
the Green Man, Blackheath. of guilloche, (a decorative
That badge retained the same
appearance for many years until engraving technique employing
in 2003 the clubs merger with a precise intricate pattern) and
Bromley AC brought with it the whole area is bordered by a
the addition of a Maltese cross further guilloche frame.
placed inside the entwined But another possible source
squares, an emblem which in for the origin of the badge
ten years has itself become comes from a much more
highly familiar in club circles. recent era. Tom Phillips VP a
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