Canton (heraldry)

A canton is classed by some heraldic writers as one of the honorable ordinaries; but, strictly speaking, it is a diminutive of the quarter, being two-thirds the area of that ordinary.

The canton, like the quarter, appears in early arms, and is always shown with straight lines.

The chequer, a pane of the field of chequy, can be considered a diminutive of the canton, though it cannot be a charge on its own.

An "enlarged sinister canton" appears in the arms of William Wilde Lotter.

The canton is typically the Red Hand of Ulster (in sinister),[5][6][7] but Baronets of Nova Scotia use the shield of the arms of Nova Scotia as a canton.

Argent a canton gules
The canton of a baronet augments the arms of the Knowles baronets , of Lovell Hill