It is described in the public Register of all Arms and Bearing in Scotland as follows: Per pale Or and Azure: a fess chequy per pale, dexter of the Second and Argent, sinister of the Third and Gules, surmounted of a shakefork, Sable overall, all between a bonnet of the second, with a round tassel of the Fourth, and an annulet of the First, stoned of the Fourth, in chief, and another similar bonnet and a mullet of the Third in base.
While on the run from MacBeth's men, he was saved by a Stewarton farmer, named Cunninghame, who hid him under forked hay.
After the Reformation the land belonging to the church passed into "lay hands", and Stewarton was administered by commissioners and magistrates, whose offices were not filled by free election, and their tenure has no fixed date.
These prominent families had early association with the burgh, and their arms share a place with the bonnets, which represent the Town and Trade.
The local government reorganisation enforced in 1975 meant that the existing burghs and their councils were abolished and the rights to use the coat of arms was lost.