Rev. Collins designed a crest for the Collegiate School, Kandy, in 1873, with a crouched lion against a backdrop of Adam’s Peak and the sun. The crouched Lion representing the Sinhalese, a sinuous line to represent Adam’s Peak , the place of the greatest historic interest in Sri Lanka and the sun just rising behind it to show that the school was intended mainly for Orientals. The design was encircled by the name of the the school and below it was inscribed the motto.

In 1878, when the school changed its name to Trinity College, Kandy the crest was changed to display the new name and depicted a lion with a palm tree behind it. The palm tree was symbolic to represent the people from Jaffna. The motto remained unchanged.

Rev. Gaster deigned a new crest in 1912 which has not been altered since. The crest initially appeared on the 1st annual College Magazine at the beginning of the year 1912 which included the work for the college activities for the year besides containing articles of a literary or educational character.

In Gaster’s design the lion holds a sword in his right paw, a direct inspiration from the traditional Kandyan lion on Sinhala flags which  represents the Sinhalese . It stands on a shield with a cross and three crowns within it. The boarder with the arrow-heads in the corners are taken too from the Kandyan emblem. The crowns which represent the triune God, were borrowed from the University of Oxford Crest.

The College motto, Respice Finem, “look to the end”, has remained unchanged since Rev. Collins coined it in 1873.