Flag of Wiltshire

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Wiltshire
County Flag of Wiltshire.svg
Bustard Flag
Proportion3:5
Adopted2007 (initial usage)
2009 (official)
Designed byHelen Pocock

There are three flag designs associated with the English county of Wiltshire. Like the proposed flags of many other counties, two of the three have no official status as they were not designed by the College of Arms. One of the designs, the "Bustard Flag", was approved by a full meeting of the Wiltshire Council on 1 December 2009, as a county flag [1] and subsequently registered with the Flag Institute.

Contents

Armorial banner

Wiltshire Council armorial banner Wiltshire County Council Armorial Banner.svg
Wiltshire Council armorial banner

A banner of the arms of the former Wiltshire County Council has been commercially available for many years. It represents the council, rather than Wiltshire as a geographical area. In April 2009, the county council was merged with the old district councils of Wiltshire (Kennet, North Wilts, Salisbury and West Wilts) into a new unitary authority known as Wiltshire Council, and the arms of all of them passed to the successor authority. New green flags were created which have been flown from council buildings around the county, but these flags are not generally available to the public.

Bustard Flag

The "Bustard Flag" was created by Mike Prior and designed by Helen Pocock, a graphic designer, in 2007. It is partly based on the flag of the Wiltshire County Council, including the alternating stripes of green and white that represent the grassy downs of the county and their chalk underlay. The colours can represent hope, joy and safety (green) and peace (white). Although distinct, the complicated and irregular design has been met with some criticism by flag designers and heraldists. The people of Wiltshire however did not vote for this flag to represent them, so as a rule the people reject the flag and acknowledge it is the flag of the Wiltshire Council, not of Wiltshire itself.[ citation needed ]

An image of the great bustard (Otis tarda) stands at the centre of the flag. This bird had been extinct in England since 1832, but is now part of an intensive ten-year breeding programme on Salisbury Plain. Salisbury Plain, at the heart of the county, is one of only two areas in Great Britain in which the great bustard originally lived, the other being the sandy brecklands of eastern England (Norfolk and Suffolk). [2] On the flag, the male great bustard is depicted in gold on a solid green circle to represent the open grassland. The border of the circle, in six sections alternating green and white, represents the stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury in the county. The six portions also represent the six surrounding counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset.

The technical specification of the flag is that it is a 3:5 ratio, and is manufactured in green and gold onto a white material.

Although Mike Prior admits that there "is no method or authority to get it accepted as the county flag of Wiltshire, that is all done by public acceptance.", [3] the flag received the support of Wiltshire County Council, and was flown at Wiltshire County Hall in Trowbridge in June 2007. [4] [5]

The Bustard Flag was first raised in Trowbridge by Lord Bath in September 2006 and was later flown by Jane Scott, leader of the former county council, at County Hall, Trowbridge, on 5 June 2007.

At a full meeting of the Wiltshire Council on 1 December 2009, the Bustard Flag was formally approved as the county flag. [6]

June 2011 saw the Wiltshire Flag flown for one week above the Department of Communications government building in London. This was highly and positively publicised by Matthew Smith on BBC Wiltshire radio breakfast show.

White Horse Flag

White Horse Flag as designed by Chrys Fear Wiltshorseflag.svg
White Horse Flag as designed by Chrys Fear

The White Horse Flag was designed in 2006 by Chrys Fear, [7] [8] who asserted that the white horse symbol as found in the context of hillside chalk carvings across the county – most famously the Westbury White Horse and the Cherhill White Horse – was an image of greater cultural connection to Wiltshire. Fear's design incorporated the sketch of the Cherhill White Horse found in William Plenderleath's The White Horses of the West of England published in 1885 [9] placing it on a green background.

Fear's design was never offered to the county's officials for their review and approval, but the campaign aimed for the flag's popular adoption by local people and emphasised its free, public and uncopyrighted status. As of May 2010 the website vanished, the campaign apparently over following Wiltshire Council's adoption of the bustard design.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire</span> County of England

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire and Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon and Trowbridge is the county town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uffington White Horse</span> Prehistoric carving in Uffington, England

The Uffington White Horse is a prehistoric hill figure, 110 m (360 ft) long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of Whitehorse Hill in the English civil parish of Uffington, some 16 km (10 mi) east of Swindon, 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the town of Faringdon and a similar distance west of the town of Wantage; or 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south of Uffington. The hill forms a part of the scarp of the Berkshire Downs and overlooks the Vale of White Horse to the north. The best views of the figure are obtained from the air, or from directly across the Vale, particularly around the villages of Great Coxwell, Longcot, and Fernham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trowbridge</span> County town of Wiltshire, England

Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Bath, 31 miles (50 km) south-west of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) south-east of Bristol. The parish had a population of 37,169 in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bradford-on-Avon</span> Town in Wiltshire, England

Bradford-on-Avon is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 10,405 at the 2021 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbury White Horse</span> Hill figure in England

Westbury or Bratton White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain, approximately 1.5 mi (2.4 km) east of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Located on the edge of Bratton Downs and lying just below an Iron Age hill fort, it is the oldest of several white horses carved in Wiltshire. It was restored in 1778, an action which may have obliterated another horse that had occupied the same slope. A contemporary engraving from around 1772 appears to show a horse facing in the opposite direction that was rather smaller than the present figure. There is, however, no documentation or other evidence for the existence of a chalk horse at Westbury before 1772.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calne</span> Human settlement in England

Calne is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England, at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alton, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Alton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the adjacent villages of Alton Barnes and Alton Priors, and the nearby hamlet of Honeystreet on the Kennet and Avon Canal. It lies in the Vale of Pewsey about 6 miles (10 km) east of Devizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbury, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Westbury is a market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherhill</span> Human settlement in England

Cherhill is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is about 2+12 miles (4 km) east of the town of Calne, on the A4 road towards Marlborough. The parish includes the village of Yatesbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hill figure</span> Type of landscape design

A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and rubble made from material brighter than the natural bedrock is placed into them. The new material is often chalk, a soft and white form of limestone, leading to the alternative name of chalk figure for this form of art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire Council</span> Unitary authority in South West England

Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is a unitary authority which governs the district of Wiltshire, which covers the majority of the ceremonial county of the same name in South West England. The council has been controlled by the Conservative Party since 2000, and has its headquarters at County Hall in Trowbridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherhill White Horse</span> English geoglyph

Cherhill White Horse is a hill figure on Cherhill Down, 3.5 miles east of Calne in Wiltshire, England. Dating from the late 18th century, it is the third oldest of several such white horses in Great Britain, with only the Uffington White Horse and the Westbury White Horse being older. The figure is also sometimes called the Oldbury White Horse.

William Charles Plenderleath was an English Anglican clergyman, author and antiquarian, best remembered for his White Horses of the West of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calstone Wellington</span> Human settlement in England

Calstone Wellington is a small village and former parish in Wiltshire, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) south-east of Calne and now part of the civil parish of Calne Without. The village has a 15th-century church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlborough White Horse</span>

Marlborough White Horse, also called the Preshute White Horse, is a hill figure on Granham Hill, a fairly shallow slope of the downland above the hamlet of Preshute, southwest of Marlborough in the county of Wiltshire, England. Dating from 1804, it is one of several such white horses to be seen around Great Britain, and one of nine in Wiltshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alton Barnes White Horse</span> Hill figure in Alton, United Kingdom

Alton Barnes White Horse is a chalk hill figure of a white horse located on Milk Hill some 1,000 metres north of the village of Alton, Wiltshire, England. The horse is approximately 180 feet high and 160 feet long, and was cut in 1812 under the commission of local farmer Robert Pile. Pile instructed inn sign painter John Thorne to design and cut the horse, although Thorne conned Pile by leaving with his advance sum while employing local resident John Harvey to cut the horse instead. It is based on another white horse hill figure in Wiltshire, the Cherhill White Horse, and is the second-biggest of nine white horses in Wiltshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pewsey White Horse</span> Hill figure of a white horse in England

Pewsey White Horse is a hill figure of a white horse near the village of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Cut of chalk in 1937, it replaces an earlier horse that had disappeared under the grass and is one of eight remaining white horses in Wiltshire. It measures 66’ by 45’, making it the smallest of the eight canonical white horses in Wiltshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad Town White Horse</span>

Dorset and Wilts Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union in the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire, England. Dorset & Wilts RFU is a Constituent Body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and is responsible for the management and administration of the game within the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire of all forms and at all levels. Originally Dorset and Wiltshire had their own county teams but would start to merge into one body towards the end of the 1930s, having already played a combined match against Hampshire in 1935–36 which Dorset & Wilts won 9–6. By 1939 Dorset & Wilts agreed to become a unified rugby football union to take part in the 1940–41 County Championships but this was postponed by the outbreak of World War II. After the war Dorset & Wilts played its first official county match in 1947 and attained full county status from the RFU in 1949.

References

  1. "Wiltshire Council approves flag". Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  2. Butcher, Charles (27 November 2018). "Great Bustards in Stanhoe". Stanhoe.org. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  3. Lord Bath helps hoist county flag (Wiltshire Times)
  4. "County flag flies at County Hall (Wiltshire County Council Press Release)". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  5. The Wiltshire flag unfurls! (BBC Wiltshire)
  6. "Wiltshire Council approves flag". Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  7. "Student campaigns for county flag". BBC News . 28 March 2006. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
  8. "Chris's crusade to fly the county flag". Western Daily Press. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
  9. "Plenderleath's sketches", wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk. Retrieved on 8 August 2008