 | |
| Proportion | 3:5 |
|---|---|
| Adopted | 2013 |
| Designed by | Katie, Holly and James Moffat |
The Flag of County Durham is the flag of the historic county of Durham. It was registered with the Flag Institute as the flag of the county in 2013, after winning an online competition to decide a flag for the county. [1]
A competition to design a new flag for County Durham was launched in July 2013 on the blog of Andy Strangeway, who had already established flags for the Ridings of Yorkshire. [2] The competition noted that County Durham was the only traditional county in the North of England without a flag, after the adoption of the flags of Cumberland and Westmorland in 2011 and 2012.
The winning flag was chosen from six finalists, and was designed by twins Katie and Holly Moffatt alongside James Moffat from Chilton, County Durham. The flag features the Cross of St Cuthbert, counterchanged on the county colours of blue and gold.
Finalists [3]
The flag of the Scottish county of Kirkcudbrightshire, adopted in 2016, also prominently includes the Cross of St Cuthbert. [4]
County Durham had long used the banner of Durham County Council as an unofficial flag of the county. This flag is the banner of arms of the County Council, the council's arms itself based on the arms of the See of Durham (Azure a Cross Or between four Lions rampant Argent). [5] In 1961 the council adopted a coat of arms based on those of the See, with the lions holding swords and wearing crowns and the addition of five black lozenges to represent the county's coal mining industries. After the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect the council lost territory in the north to Tyne and Wear and in the south to Cleveland, whilst gaining the Startforth Rural District from the North Riding of Yorkshire council. The arms of the County Council were altered to their present form by replacing the central lozenge with a White Rose of York to represent the area of Yorkshire it governs. [6]
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, today in north-eastern England and south-eastern Scotland. Both during his life and after his death, he became a popular medieval saint of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at Durham Cathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria. His feast days are 20 March and 4 September.
Westmorland is a historic county in Northern England.
County Durham, officially simply Durham (/ˈdʌrəm/), is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington, and the county town is the city of Durham.
In heraldry, an ordinary is one of the two main types of charges, beside the mobile charges. An ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge.
The White Rose of York is a white heraldic rose which was adopted in the 14th century as a heraldic badge of the royal House of York. In modern times, it is used more broadly as a symbol of Yorkshire.
Holwick is a small village in Teesdale, County Durham (district), England. Located in the Pennine hills, it consists of a few houses spread along a road in the pattern of a linear settlement. As the population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100, details are maintained in the parish of Lunedale.
The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped rhombus charge, usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. A lozenge throughout has "four corners touching the border of the escutcheon". A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily. In civic heraldry, a lozenge sable is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump of coal.
This is a list of the coats of arms of various county councils in England.
Hemsworth was, from 1894 to 1974, a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
The coat of arms of Dewsbury was the official symbol of the county borough of Dewsbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The county borough was abolished in 1974 under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and replaced by Kirklees Metropolitan Council and West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council.
The coat of arms of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council was granted by the College of Arms in 1974.
The coat of arms of the City of York Council is the coat of arms granted to the City of York Council, the local authority of the City of York, England. The borough has been extended a number of times from the original city contained within the city walls. However, the arms have remained the same throughout all these changes to the borough.
Flags and symbols of Yorkshire have been used to identify Yorkshire and its related councils through flags and symbols. This article also includes flags and symbols used by the present and former local authorities covering Yorkshire.
The Gloucestershire flag, also known as the Severn Cross, was the winning entry in a competition held by the then High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, Jonathan Carr, to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the county in March 2008. Prior to 2008, the banner of arms for Gloucestershire County Council was used as the de facto flag for the county. The new flag is coloured blue, cream and green, representing the River Severn, Cotswold stone and the Golden Valley, Stroud respectively.
Cumbria County Council was the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it was an elected local government body responsible for the most significant local services in the area, including schools, roads, and social services.
The coat of arms of the City of London Corporation is the official coat of arms granted to the City of London Corporation. The Corporation governs the City of London, one of the 33 administrative areas within Greater London, England.
The Flag of Kirkcudbrightshire is the flag of the county and Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. It was registered with the Flag Institute as the flag of the county in June 2016 after the Lord Lieutenant petitioned the Lord Lyon.
The coat of arms of Barcelona is the official emblem of the City Council of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, has its origin in the Middle Ages, these arms were first documented in 1329. The Government of Catalonia conferred the coat of arms and the flag as official symbols of the municipality in 2004. It has an escutcheon in lozenge which is commonly used in municipal coats of arms of cities in Catalonia. Currently the City Council of Barcelona also uses an isotype based on the heraldry of the city.
