Bedfordshire County Council had its coat of arms created in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations.

[2] The minor modification was to transpose the blue and white wavy lines on the left side of the banner, preventing blue from touching red and white from touching yellow on the adopted flag, in line with the heraldic rule of tincture.

In heraldic terms the design is Quarterly Or and Gules a Fess wavy barry way of four Argent and Azure surmounted by a Pale Sable charged with three Escallops of the third.

The yellow and red quadrants (Quarterly Or and Gules) are taken from the arms of the Beauchamp family, powerful in the county after the Norman conquest of England and constructors of Bedford Castle.

The three vertically-arranged shells (or scallops) on a black panel (a Pale Sable charged with three Escallops) are taken from the coat of arms of the Dukes of Bedford.