 | |
| Proportion | 5:8 |
|---|---|
| Adopted | 1951 |
| Design | Paly of eight Or and Gules per fess embattled all counterchanged [1] |
| Designed by | College of Arms |
The flag ofNorthumberland is the banner of arms of Northumberland County Council. It is also used to represent Northumberland in general, and unofficially to represent the historic county.
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The design is the same as the coat of arms of the county council, granted in 1951; the heraldic blazon, or description, of the arms is Paly of eight Or and Gules per fess embattled all counterchanged. [2] It is based on the arms medieval heralds attributed to the Kingdom of Bernicia based on a brief description by the historian Bede of a flag used on the tomb of St Oswald in the 7th century. [3] The flag should be flown so that the top corner nearest the hoist is gold. [4]
In November 1995, the county council agreed to allow the flag to be flown anywhere in the county. [5] In 2000, a spokesman for the county council stated that the "flag should only be rightfully flown within the present administrative County of Northumberland". [6]
The Flag Institute, a vexillological charity, has included the flag in its "Flag Registry" and considers it to represent the area within the historic county boundaries, which includes northern Tyne and Wear. [7]
