CANTON (HERALDRY)

'Canton' is a charge placed in the upper dexter corner. It 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. However, in the roll of Henry III the quarter appears in several coats which in later rolls are blazoned as cantons. The canton, like the quarter, is an early bearing, and is always shown with straight lines.
The diminutive of the canton is the chequer that forms part of the field of chequy but cannot be shown as a charge on its own.
A ''canton sinister'' is a canton placed on the sinister side of the shield.