Flag of Northumberland

The Northumberland flag is the flag of the historic county of Northumberland. It is a banner of the arms of Northumberland County Council. The shield of arms is in turn based on the arms medieval heralds had attributed to the Kingdom of Bernicia (which the first County Council used until it received a regular grant of arms). The Bernician arms were fictional but inspired by Bede's brief description of a flag used on the tomb of St Oswald in the 7th century.[1]

Northumberland
Proportion3:5
Adopted1995
Designed byCollege of Arms
Scottish and Northumberland flags at Carter Bar

The arms of the county council were granted in 1951, and the banner of those arms were registered by the Flag Institute as the flag of Northumberland in 1995.[2][3] Despite a spokesman for the county council saying in 2000 that the "flag should only be rightfully flown within the present administrative County of Northumberland",[4] the Flag Institute's registration description explicitly says that the flag is for the historic county, which contains the part of Tyne and Wear north of the Tyne, and so includes Newcastle upon Tyne, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay amongst other places.[2]

When flying, the top corner, nearest the flagpole, should be gold.

Flag design

The Pantone colours for the flag are:[2]

  • Red 485
  • Yellow 109

References
  1. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, Ch. 11: "And to furnish a lasting memorial of the royal saint, they hung the King's banner of purple and gold over his tomb" (et ut regia viri sancti persona memoriam haberet aeternam, vexillum eius super tumbam auro et purpura conpositum adposuerunt).
  2. "UK Flag Registry: Northumberland".
  3. "The Northumberland Flag Northumberland Northumbria England UK GB (page 113)". Web.archive.org. 2005-06-24. Archived from the original on 2005-06-24. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  4. Councillor Peter Hillman, Spokesman for Community Services, Northumberland County Council (1 February 2000). "Letter to the Editor". The Journal. Newcastle Chronicle and Journal Ltd.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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