PARISH councillors in Porlock have been told to stop using the village’s coat of arms because it was never registered with the College of Arms, the country’s official heraldic authority.

Cllrs Craig Gardner and Sue McCanlis have been working on a redesign of the present coat of arms and researching its origins.

They discovered the crest was first used in the 1970s by Porlock Visitor Centre and as a stamp for the Porlock Vale newsletter, and then on the council’s chairman’s regalia in 1980.

But it was never formally adopted, and now the college has said it should stop being used, given its appearance is of a ‘heraldic device’.

Councillors are clarifying with the college whether it is a ‘requirement’ or ‘recommendation’ to halt its use.