Great video! Interesting about the Worcester black pears; visited not long back and I was told it dated back to Elizabeth I's visit when she ordered a black pear tree to be transported to a royal place. Evidently it goes back further!
Thank for your great work going all through these flags. Thankfully, 3 of the Yorkshire sub-couunties now have their flags registered with the Flag Institute, who is the equivalent of the Court Leon but for flags, all registered in 2013. East Riding 18th April. North Yorkshire 4th May West Yorkshire 23 May.
FUN FACTS: 1. That park of West Yorkshire that became Cumbria was the Sedbergh District. 2. Historic Westmorland essentially grew in size as "Westmorland and Furness", a district within Cumbria.
Alex, another fun summary by you!!! Thank you. In the US our states have a state bird and a state flower. At least one English county had a county flower on its flag as you noted. Might county flowers and/or birds form another series?
Thanks, that's a good idea. I feel that in England's case though, there might not be much variety as a lot of counties just use roses! And county birds would be great, although I think maybe our pedigree isn't the broadest as we don't get anything bigger than buzzards over here. Not that I'm aware of, at least.
@@juni.Th17I was born about 1/4 mile within Liverpool boundary. I'm a Lancashire lass not a Merseysider. Woolton, Gateacre, Halewood outside the Liverpool boundary until about 1913 ish. Age 84.
The flag of Yorkshire also covers the unitary authorities, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland, that form part of the ceremonial county of Yorkshire. The same is frue for Peterborough, which hasn't been part of Cambridgeshire since 1996.
@Hollows1997 Cleveland County (1974-1996) was formed from parts of the North Riding of Yorkshire and parts of the Palatinate of Durham. After the county was abolished, its 4 borough councils, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool, and Langbaugh, became unitary authorities. Langbaugh, which covered part of the old wapentake of the same name, changed its name to Redcar and Cleveland.
@@Hollows1997 The Tees is essentially the boundary with Middlesbrough falling into Yorkshire and Stockton, Billingham etc falling into Durham. (Splitting old Cleveland in half though it long since moved to it's new home in Redcar) It is still a point of contention between generations as to what to put your county address down as. 😂
@@nurserynook a bit like Sunderland then? I know a few blokes who still insist on writing their address as Sunderland, County Durham. They simply refuse to write Tyne and Wear 😂
Great video. Disappointing that you included Cumberland and Westmoreland flags due to the lack of a Cumbrian one, but bypassed the Black Country Flag whilst skipping around the lack of a Birmingham or West Midlands flag.
It should be emphasised that most of these flags are of very recent invention and although they're all widespread on the Internet, not all of them have found widespread acceptance in their counties. The amount of design and consultation effort that went into some of them was quite low. For a more historically valid appreciation, one should study the county shields which the flags are mostly based on.
@@eelsemaj99I agree, our flag is based on an older flag from 1816 flown by lord Exmouth. It was green with white circles. It represents the green rolling hills of Devon. And the flag is everywhere 😊 just like the Cornish one.
Correct. The county shields or coats of arms are more widely known and used, although officially these were for the county councils as bodies, not for the county area itself. Most of these flags are only from the last decade or so and not even well known in their own counties.
I find the misuse of English words more annoying. Oh perhaps you do see an upside down flag constantly, that must get annoying, particularly when trying to do some computer work.
Buckinghamshire boy at heart, so more than happy with our flag. These days I live in Bedfordshire, close to the local town council office. Here they normally fly the "three seashells" flag. It does amuse me!
Many of these flags seem to differ markedly from the 1889 County Councils coats of arms. Wessex is usually represented by a Wyvern. Just were the Somerset dragon comes from is a bit of a mystery. 'Hengist' and 'Horsa' both mean 'horse'. 'Berk-shire refers to the forest, 'bark', it was covered by. Surely a 'Seax', canting pun on 'Sax-on', is a Sword, not a knife? Oxford is on the confluence of the Thames and Cherwell. Strangely, Cambridge -shire was not part of the Kingdom of East Anglia but of Mercia. Derbys flag may have a Rose - Or/ Gold but that is NOT a 'Tudor Rose' which is a doubled York White and Lancaster Red roses.
Somerset dragons are not a mystery. There are many stories of dragons in the local folklore . West Somerset is very hilly, and often, hills are said to be sleeping dragons .
Not the same as Hampshire! * Official county flag of Isle of Wight since January 2009. * The Isle of Wight is England's only island county and is located off England's south coast. * Historically it was once part of Hampshire, the island became a separate administrative county in 1890. It became a ceremonial county in 1974. * The island is represented on its flag by its distictive diamond or rhomboid shape hovering over sea waves. * The indentation at the top of the diamond represents the River Medina, which is the largest river on the island. * The island was named Vectis in ancient Roman Britain, some island organisations still use the ancient name today.
Interesting video :) What about Bristol though? It’s its own county in its own right and I know the coat of arms being from here but can’t say I’ve ever seen a flag
Bedfordshire - Family name of Beauchamps... Maybe a nugget of wrong information I got from when I wore short trousers - but I think it is pronounced... "Beech-hum" -
NZ's first great writer Katherine Mansfield is actually a Beauchamp and they also deliberately pronounced it the English way, not the correct French way.
Isle - note Isle as is an island - of Wight is very separate from Hampshire, we've fought long and hard for our independence! The Romans called it Vectis. We are also reintroducing the Whitetailed Sea Eagle 🦅 which last nested here on Culver Cliffs. They are likened to flying barn doors so a LOT bigger than a Buzzard!
Very interesting video. But as for the county of Kent, the motto of Invicta that comes from 1066 when William the (illegitimate) came thought the county and the men of the county let him though to London but was told “if you want to go then go but take your army with you or we will kill you all”. So unlike the rest of the country, Kent was never officially conquered and therefore Invicta (unconquered) Hope that helps for some.
So the North rebelled against the Norman invaders time after time, so much so that William ordered the 'Harrying of the North' where almost all of Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland was laid waste and the population wiped out. Meanwhile, the 'unconquered' Kent just let them through without lifting a finger? I would use a different adjective to 'unconquered'.
Lovely accent. Really enjoy your videos, Alex. Thanks for all the knowledge! I’m curious, what are your top 3 places to visit in Lincolnshire (besides Lincoln)?
Thanks, and great question! Well besides Lincoln, as you say, I'd recommend Stamford as it's one of the prettiest towns in the country. Then Louth since it's got the tallest medieval non-cathedral spire. And finally Cleethorpes as it's got everything you need in a seaside town, and it's often overlooked in favour of Skegness instead!
@@AlexinGreatBritain Great! Thank you for the recommendations, I’m adding them to my list of places to visit. I’ve been to Lincoln before (and loved it!) and I want to explore more of the region in the future. I’ve had Cleethorpes and also Grimsby on my radar for a while, hope to be able to visit soon, I’ll be watching your walks in the meantime! 😉
try Mablethorpe seaside resort and Theddlethorpe beach as well. Horncastle and Brigg are also nice towns. Donna Nook is very interesting inasmuch that pregnant seals land on the beach during December each year in order to give birth. Woodhall Spa is steeped in history and has a Dambusters memorial there. The nearby Kinema in the woods is worth a visit. Market Rasen is another nice town that is famous for its race course.
In terms of the historic counties it was mostly Warwickshire, with a tiny bit of Worcestershire and Staffordshire mixed in as well, if I'm not mistaken.
Just a small note; South Yorkshire wasn't created solely from part of the West Riding, it also took chunks of Derbyshire. Several Derbyshire villages were subsumed into Sheffield, much to the displeasure of the residents.
I’ve never seen it flying anywhere when I am visiting my place of birth, when I’m in Cornwall they proudly fly it everywhere, every council building should fly them.
I think everyone should fly there county’s flag on all their council buildings as well as the English flag or the British one, when I was in Cornwall they proudly flew it everywhere, but I live in Surrey never seen it eny where, I’m Cumbrian or from Cumberland if you’re a purist. Do you know how you can get a flag of your own county, seems like I’m seeing a lot of certain flags over our own.
Very interesting thanks, this must have taken a vast amount of research!. Incidentally Lewes East Sussex is pronounced Loo - is, one of many confusing English place names to pronounce!
Feels a bit weird having some county flags be these super historic symbols of history while some are radio competition winners, or otherwise recent flags. Im sure the newer ones have historic inspiration but they just feel strange knowing how new some are
I note however, that you put a Lancashire red rose at the end of your post. I take it the white square preceding it refers to the Yorkshire flag of surrender? Just joking!!!!
Buckinghamshire The chained swan is not referring to the breeding of swans for the Kings table in saxon times. The swan being food of the Kings table was introduced in 1066 by the Norman's. The saxon symbol predates the saxon times. The swan carries a gold crown or corona around its neck, symbolising the sun or Sunna. The gold chain ends with a ring. This ring was attached to the bow of the boat in which Sunna sails through the sky on the milky way. Hence the swan pulls the sun through the sky. This mythology is based upon astrological observation. The Cygnus (Swan) Constellation or Northern Cross, rises and falls in the night sky in sequence with the rising and falling sun through the year. As such, Cygnus reaches its zenith at the Summer Solstice. It falls below the western horizon at All Hallows Eve (the end of the agricultural year), and rises above the eastern horizon at the Winter Solstice when the sun is symbolically reborn ie the days start to get longer.
The use of the map of historical counties throws up lots of issues. Namely, which historic period. Peterborough is historically part of Northamptonshire but now sits as part of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire after being merged with Huntingdonshire and then both were absorbed in to Cambridgeshire until 1996 when it became a unitary authority.so which is the historically correct flag? Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, or Cambridgeshire.
I hear what you're saying. It's just that the present ceremonial counties would leave several gaps where there are no official flags - mainly the metropolitan counties, so I opted for the historic counties.
@@AlexinGreatBritainI thought I recognised the accent! Sounds very similar to mine. I'm also a Lincolnshire yellowbelly. Lincoln really is such an underappreciated city
@@AlexinGreatBritainBut that’s who we are Cumberland is the name we had before it was changed, never understood why as Northumberland has kept their name, I’m originally from Cumbria and can remember when it was changed, a lot of older people still refer to it as Cumberland, my parents did.
Beauchamp I knew from my time living in Leicester, where it is often found. I was born in Southgate, now part of Greater London but prior to that part of Middlesex. My Infant and Junior school was De Bohun, as the area was once part of the large estate of Sir Denis De Bohun, a Norman, however I have never heard it called De Boon; surely one of those names lost in time.
I've always found the flag of County Durham to be very disappointing, when the Durham City coat of arms is an absolute banger of a starting place. Sure, it's another "St. George's Cross but...", but a red cross outlined in white on a black field is such a good colour scheme!
City of Durham flag is beautiful. In my personal opinion though, if I could add anything to it, it would be the addition of a St Cuthbert Cross in gold. Place that in the upper left corner such as the flag of Lichtenstein or the George Cross on the flag of Malta. I think it would be fantastic.
@@Hollows1997 I can see it, but I'm afraid I'll have to disagree on adding St Cuthbert's cross in a quadrant. I've long considered a variant that keeps the same design but flares the spokes of St George's cross in the centre to give the same effect as St Cuthberts, with the same thickness of white between the red and black.
Sussex divided into East and West long before 1974. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century and obtained separate county councils in 1886. However, it remained single ceremonial county until 1974.
@@AlexinGreatBritain North and West Yorkshires' flags were recognised by the Flag Institute in 2013. I did think South Yorkshire's had been too but then again it's a bit shite by comparison. I quite like West Yorkshire's; I like to think the sun represents the once great cities of Leeds and Bradford ablaze; it is yet to have a crescent moon added but I have no doubt it will in our lifetime. I preferred one of the other entries for North Yorkshire (competition on the radio I think) which echoed the old North Riding emblem which included the St. George Cross. From what I remember of South Yorkshire's, it's a bit of a mess, maybe some wiggly blue lines and the rather naff SY monogram? Have you read "Worth Dying For: the power and politics of flags" by Tim Marshall?
Your video states that "historically" Hampshire included the Isle of Wight. Correct, but this island has been a county in its own right for the last 130 years, and has its own flag, and its own County Council (although the Police are controlled from Winchester). It is the second smallest county in England - the smallest being Rutland.
3:50 I recently started believing that 4-legged dragons in Heraldry and related iconography either started out as Gryphons or are intended to be a similar blend of Lion and Wyvern vs Eagle
@@JohnyG29 Saying it's "just a dragon" won't get you far when you start trying to decrypt exactly what Dragons and Dragon iconography are. The definition of dragon is pretty darn broad. I'm not saying that it didn't become that or that it didn't possibly always have a dragon element to it, but dragons kind of randomly started getting depicted with an extra 2 limbs at some point and nobody's ever really been sure why - Add to that the fact that many early European depictions of dragons make them look almost beaked and you can see where certain things could get mixed around. Blended animals were very common in the art and mythology of Europe and still are to a point today. How can you say it's "Just a dragon" when you can barely find 2 people in the word that actually AGREE on what a dragon is?
Yep, much nicer than the new one. Would like to see the old one brought back with the addition of a St Cuthbert Cross in gold placed in the upper left corner such as Lichtenstein or Malta.
That's a good spot! Yeah there was some sort of international flag day type of event going on in Dorchester the day I filmed that clip. So North Korea was one of several flags flying on the high street.
If you’re dealing with historic counties, Monmouthshire was administratively in England from 1541, only became part of Wales in 1974, when it became Gwent and has an officially registered flag.
INVICTA Is important. It represents the fact that Kent was not conquered by William the bastard! They stood back and watched the Battle of Hastings and then ambushed William, now the Conqueror, at Swanscombe Kent. William asked not to fight as his men were depleted and exhausted. Instead a Parley was held were it was agreed that William would control Dover and the Medway crossing at Rochester while leaving the rest of Kent alone. William held to this agreement until roughly a year later when he was much stronger and took the rest of Kent. Google. There is a large plaque on a church wall in Swanscombe commemorating the Parley!
Great video and great job at showing the beauty of England in the stock footage.
Cornwall is not England
Great video! Interesting about the Worcester black pears; visited not long back and I was told it dated back to Elizabeth I's visit when she ordered a black pear tree to be transported to a royal place. Evidently it goes back further!
Thanks!
Thanks Dianne, very kind indeed! :)
i’m from stroud and i like the gloucestershire flag, it’s nice and light and reflects the colours of the landscape on a summers day
Stroud’s flag is just a picture of Dale Vince’s face
Fascinating stuff, thought i'd use the subtitles to see the historical references, but they were pure gobbledygook.
For the "Cobblers, no its true" alone I'm subbing.
Haha, cheers!
Thank for your great work going all through these flags. Thankfully, 3 of the Yorkshire sub-couunties now have their flags registered with the Flag Institute, who is the equivalent of the Court Leon but for flags, all registered in 2013.
East Riding 18th April.
North Yorkshire 4th May
West Yorkshire 23 May.
Polydore Virgil once referred to Cornwall as the fourth part of Great Britain alongside England, Wales and Scotland.
Excellent, interesting video. Really glad I stumbled across your channel.
Ah cheers!
Fascinating stuff. Thank you for this informative video.
No problem, thanks for watching!
Excellent video; well done. The flags all look ace.
Most interesting 😊 Thanks for sharing. Cheers from Norway😊
Hey, thanks for watching!
Great video, I was surprised how recent some county flags were
Went to Torbay the other year, so it was nice seeing it when you were talking Devon.
FUN FACTS:
1. That park of West Yorkshire that became Cumbria was the Sedbergh District.
2. Historic Westmorland essentially grew in size as "Westmorland and Furness", a district within Cumbria.
Excellent video! 👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻
Greetings from a Swede in Glasgow....
Subscribed while here! 🤜🏻🤛🏻🍻
Tack så mycket. Enjoy Glasgow!
Alex, another fun summary by you!!! Thank you. In the US our states have a state bird and a state flower. At least one English county had a county flower on its flag as you noted. Might county flowers and/or birds form another series?
Thanks, that's a good idea. I feel that in England's case though, there might not be much variety as a lot of counties just use roses! And county birds would be great, although I think maybe our pedigree isn't the broadest as we don't get anything bigger than buzzards over here. Not that I'm aware of, at least.
Video was great. Good work. Thank you.
that's interesting 👏👏
and Merseyside?
No official flag for Merseyside. Most of the county used to be part of Lancashire.
@@AlexinGreatBritain got it; belonged to Lancashire; in fact 👏
@@juni.Th17I was born about 1/4 mile within Liverpool boundary. I'm a Lancashire lass not a Merseysider. Woolton, Gateacre, Halewood outside the Liverpool boundary until about 1913 ish. Age 84.
CGP Grey should rate these flags!
The flag of Yorkshire also covers the unitary authorities, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland, that form part of the ceremonial county of Yorkshire. The same is frue for Peterborough, which hasn't been part of Cambridgeshire since 1996.
Rege especially 5.45 d😢4dusteded 5:3inss,g5d 5:3inz 😅wtf9td😮zghs.30 in s
I thought Cleveland was County Durham?
@Hollows1997 Cleveland County (1974-1996) was formed from parts of the North Riding of Yorkshire and parts of the Palatinate of Durham. After the county was abolished, its 4 borough councils, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool, and Langbaugh, became unitary authorities. Langbaugh, which covered part of the old wapentake of the same name, changed its name to Redcar and Cleveland.
@@Hollows1997 The Tees is essentially the boundary with Middlesbrough falling into Yorkshire and Stockton, Billingham etc falling into Durham. (Splitting old Cleveland in half though it long since moved to it's new home in Redcar)
It is still a point of contention between generations as to what to put your county address down as. 😂
@@nurserynook a bit like Sunderland then? I know a few blokes who still insist on writing their address as Sunderland, County Durham. They simply refuse to write Tyne and Wear 😂
@12:00 "Cobblers". That was a nice touch of humour. Just don't mention George Best's double hat-trick to the locals.
Northampton is the centre of the shoemaking industry.
@@johnturner4400 We know that, and George Best wore Stylo Matchmakers, made by Barratts, who started in Northampton , but later moved to Yorkshire.
Cobblers are not shoemakers, using the term is pejorative.
@@marionbanks-wilkinson8368 It's what the local football fans call their club. Either that, or The Shoe Army.
Great video. Disappointing that you included Cumberland and Westmoreland flags due to the lack of a Cumbrian one, but bypassed the Black Country Flag whilst skipping around the lack of a Birmingham or West Midlands flag.
It should be emphasised that most of these flags are of very recent invention and although they're all widespread on the Internet, not all of them have found widespread acceptance in their counties. The amount of design and consultation effort that went into some of them was quite low.
For a more historically valid appreciation, one should study the county shields which the flags are mostly based on.
That said, some really have. I’m from Devonshire and our flag was only adopted in 2008 but you wouldn’t know that, it flies everywhere
@@eelsemaj99I agree, our flag is based on an older flag from 1816 flown by lord Exmouth.
It was green with white circles.
It represents the green rolling hills of Devon.
And the flag is everywhere 😊 just like the Cornish one.
I agree. The coats of arms have more local connections than these often invented flags
I am from Middlesex and see the flag, not quite frequently, but certainly not rarely either.
Correct. The county shields or coats of arms are more widely known and used, although officially these were for the county councils as bodies, not for the county area itself. Most of these flags are only from the last decade or so and not even well known in their own counties.
Forget the county flags, I wish people in this country would learn the correct way up to have the British flag .I constantly see it flying upside down
I find the misuse of English words more annoying. Oh perhaps you do see an upside down flag constantly, that must get annoying, particularly when trying to do some computer work.
They must be in constant distress then 😂
@@davedevonlad7402you beat me to it.
@@davedevonlad7402 I was going to say the same and maybe it’s because we are in a distressing state.
@@ragdolly22 distressing, Certainly feels like it these days.
Buckinghamshire boy at heart, so more than happy with our flag. These days I live in Bedfordshire, close to the local town council office. Here they normally fly the "three seashells" flag. It does amuse me!
Great video
Many of these flags seem to differ markedly from the 1889 County Councils coats of arms.
Wessex is usually represented by a Wyvern. Just were the Somerset dragon comes from is a bit of a mystery. 'Hengist' and 'Horsa' both mean 'horse'. 'Berk-shire refers to the forest, 'bark', it was covered by. Surely a 'Seax', canting pun on 'Sax-on', is a Sword, not a knife? Oxford is on the confluence of the Thames and Cherwell. Strangely, Cambridge -shire was not part of the Kingdom of East Anglia but of Mercia. Derbys flag may have a Rose - Or/ Gold but that is NOT a 'Tudor Rose' which is a doubled York White and Lancaster Red roses.
Somerset dragons are not a mystery. There are many stories of dragons in the local folklore . West Somerset is very hilly, and often, hills are said to be sleeping dragons .
0:17 that's my hometown :)
I enjoyed that very much. 😊
Subbed.
Thank you!
Not the same as Hampshire!
* Official county flag of Isle of Wight since January 2009.
* The Isle of Wight is England's only island county and is located off England's south coast.
* Historically it was once part of Hampshire, the island became a separate administrative county in 1890. It became a ceremonial county in 1974.
* The island is represented on its flag by its distictive diamond or rhomboid shape hovering over sea waves.
* The indentation at the top of the diamond represents the River Medina, which is the largest river on the island.
* The island was named Vectis in ancient Roman Britain, some island organisations still use the ancient name today.
Can't believe one of the first sights I'm subjected to in this video is Redruth. You're tormenting me, Alex.
"Or Oxen-Ford, as it were" astounds me I've never pieced that together
Interesting video :) What about Bristol though? It’s its own county in its own right and I know the coat of arms being from here but can’t say I’ve ever seen a flag
Yeah, no official flag for Bristol as far as I'm aware.
Bedfordshire - Family name of Beauchamps... Maybe a nugget of wrong information I got from when I wore short trousers - but I think it is pronounced... "Beech-hum" -
Yup. Bee-chum.
NZ's first great writer Katherine Mansfield is actually a Beauchamp and they also deliberately pronounced it the English way, not the correct French way.
Isle - note Isle as is an island - of Wight is very separate from Hampshire, we've fought long and hard for our independence! The Romans called it Vectis.
We are also reintroducing the Whitetailed Sea Eagle 🦅 which last nested here on Culver Cliffs. They are likened to flying barn doors so a LOT bigger than a Buzzard!
Ah, so that explains why your bus company's called Southern Vectis!
@@AlexinGreatBritain Exactly 😁
Nice to see the Pantiles in my home town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, good choice 👍
Very interesting video.
But as for the county of Kent, the motto of Invicta that comes from 1066 when William the (illegitimate) came thought the county and the men of the county let him though to London but was told “if you want to go then go but take your army with you or we will kill you all”.
So unlike the rest of the country, Kent was never officially conquered and therefore Invicta (unconquered)
Hope that helps for some.
This is great, thanks! I guess those Jutes didn't mess about.
So the North rebelled against the Norman invaders time after time, so much so that William ordered the 'Harrying of the North' where almost all of Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland was laid waste and the population wiped out. Meanwhile, the 'unconquered' Kent just let them through without lifting a finger? I would use a different adjective to 'unconquered'.
The first few seconds of Herefordshire vids are of Leominster which is a part of Hereford.
The flag of Cornwall is prevalent in Newcastle. It turns out the Newcastle Falcons (rugby team) have also adopted it.
Lovely accent. Really enjoy your videos, Alex. Thanks for all the knowledge! I’m curious, what are your top 3 places to visit in Lincolnshire (besides Lincoln)?
Thanks, and great question! Well besides Lincoln, as you say, I'd recommend Stamford as it's one of the prettiest towns in the country. Then Louth since it's got the tallest medieval non-cathedral spire. And finally Cleethorpes as it's got everything you need in a seaside town, and it's often overlooked in favour of Skegness instead!
@@AlexinGreatBritain Great! Thank you for the recommendations, I’m adding them to my list of places to visit. I’ve been to Lincoln before (and loved it!) and I want to explore more of the region in the future. I’ve had Cleethorpes and also Grimsby on my radar for a while, hope to be able to visit soon, I’ll be watching your walks in the meantime! 😉
try Mablethorpe seaside resort and Theddlethorpe beach as well. Horncastle and Brigg are also nice towns.
Donna Nook is very interesting inasmuch that pregnant seals land on the beach during December each year in order to give birth. Woodhall Spa is steeped in history and has a Dambusters memorial there. The nearby Kinema in the woods is worth a visit. Market Rasen is another nice town that is famous for its race course.
@@AndreaBahenIf churches are your thing Boston Stump is nice. Not a lot more to see in Boston 🙈 but worth a passing visit.
Enjoyed that , greetings from the land of The Pince Bishops and Saint Cuthbert
Ah cheers!
I think you'll find the flag for Norfolk has been updated or at least has changed since this was produced.
What does Birmingham come under, if anything?
west mids
or mercia
In terms of the historic counties it was mostly Warwickshire, with a tiny bit of Worcestershire and Staffordshire mixed in as well, if I'm not mistaken.
In 2002 BBC Radio Devon asked the public to send in designs for a flag, there was an online vote and it was made a year later.
the isle of wight is it own county and dose have it own flag
Just a small note; South Yorkshire wasn't created solely from part of the West Riding, it also took chunks of Derbyshire. Several Derbyshire villages were subsumed into Sheffield, much to the displeasure of the residents.
Ah, interesting. Still, I'm guessing it was probably harder for Barnoldswick, Earby etc to accept the change from Yorkshire to Lancashire!
Loved it. Very interesting. Not so keen on the radio show designs, much prefer the oldest designs that relate to the counties history. 😊
Interesting video ❤ perhaps you’ll extend this series for the rest of Britain and Ireland too 🇮🇪🏴🇬🇧🏴
Thanks. I'd need a fair bit of time to gather more footage, but yes that would be a great idea!
Slight correction: the north and west ridings of Yorkshire do have official flags
You may be right, although North Riding and West Riding don't observe the same boundaries as the post-1974 counties.
Actually no they dont, those flags were unofficial
@@TonySpike The modern boundary flags are unofficial but the historic riding flags are officially registered
Cumbria has had flag since 1974, its almost identical to the Cumberland
I’ve never seen it flying anywhere when I am visiting my place of birth, when I’m in Cornwall they proudly fly it everywhere, every council building should fly them.
I think everyone should fly there county’s flag on all their council buildings as well as the English flag or the British one, when I was in Cornwall they proudly flew it everywhere, but I live in Surrey never seen it eny where, I’m Cumbrian or from Cumberland if you’re a purist. Do you know how you can get a flag of your own county, seems like I’m seeing a lot of certain flags over our own.
I agree wholeheartedly! I think there are a few specialist shops online.
I have to say that the Swords are more reminiscent of Scimitars than Seaxes but hey.
I think Durham is my favourite. I really like St Cuthbert as a Saint. I’ve had the privilege of walking on St Cuthbert’s Island.
Very interesting thanks, this must have taken a vast amount of research!.
Incidentally Lewes East Sussex is pronounced Loo - is, one of many confusing English place names to pronounce!
Great video and really informative but a shame you didn't include the flag of the isle of white
Feels a bit weird having some county flags be these super historic symbols of history while some are radio competition winners, or otherwise recent flags. Im sure the newer ones have historic inspiration but they just feel strange knowing how new some are
I wonder if a great deal of flags changed after the English reformation ?
Worcestershire, it's the Rivers Severn and Teme, but this is the recent flag, the older one was better still had the 3 black pears on the shield.
Which county's flag is a gold coloured cross on a black background.
That could be the flag of St David, especially if you've seen it in Wales.
There’s only one Yorkshire in my heart! ⬜️🌹
I note however, that you put a Lancashire red rose at the end of your post. I take it the white square preceding it refers to the Yorkshire flag of surrender? Just joking!!!!
Buckinghamshire
The chained swan is not referring to the breeding of swans for the Kings table in saxon times. The swan being food of the Kings table was introduced in 1066 by the Norman's.
The saxon symbol predates the saxon times. The swan carries a gold crown or corona around its neck, symbolising the sun or Sunna. The gold chain ends with a ring. This ring was attached to the bow of the boat in which Sunna sails through the sky on the milky way. Hence the swan pulls the sun through the sky.
This mythology is based upon astrological observation. The Cygnus (Swan) Constellation or Northern Cross, rises and falls in the night sky in sequence with the rising and falling sun through the year. As such, Cygnus reaches its zenith at the Summer Solstice. It falls below the western horizon at All Hallows Eve (the end of the agricultural year), and rises above the eastern horizon at the Winter Solstice when the sun is symbolically reborn ie the days start to get longer.
Come on Derbyshire 17:41 💪💪🐏🐏💪💪
Spot on.
Why did you leave out the city and county of Bristol? One of the oldest city counties.
22:43 I’m from Darlington
I’m from Herefordshire and I love our flag
proud of our rampant dragon..... can't be that rampant never seen more than one dragon!
You missed the City and County of Bristol.
The use of the map of historical counties throws up lots of issues. Namely, which historic period. Peterborough is historically part of Northamptonshire but now sits as part of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire after being merged with Huntingdonshire and then both were absorbed in to Cambridgeshire until 1996 when it became a unitary authority.so which is the historically correct flag? Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, or Cambridgeshire.
I hear what you're saying. It's just that the present ceremonial counties would leave several gaps where there are no official flags - mainly the metropolitan counties, so I opted for the historic counties.
@@AlexinGreatBritain you've had to do the best you can with our convoluted history.
@@neiloflongbeck5705 Thanks, yeah convoluted's the right word!
Suffolks flag has a rising sun behind it too to represent it being the most easterly.
I was told, by an old Cornishman, that the Cornish flag of St. Piran symbolised the light of Christianity in the darkness of faithlessness.
Gosh, I love the narrator's voice. What regional accent is that?
Haha thanks! I'm from Lincolnshire.
@@AlexinGreatBritainI thought I recognised the accent! Sounds very similar to mine. I'm also a Lincolnshire yellowbelly. Lincoln really is such an underappreciated city
@@ironblu4110 Oh it is indeed!
I live in Cumbria, We definitely have a county flag
Unofficially perhaps, but when I explored the Cumbrian coast all I ever saw were Cumberland flags.
@@AlexinGreatBritainBut that’s who we are Cumberland is the name we had before it was changed, never understood why as Northumberland has kept their name, I’m originally from Cumbria and can remember when it was changed, a lot of older people still refer to it as Cumberland, my parents did.
Beauchamp is pronounced Beecham and De Bohun is pronounced De Boon, both very prominent medieval aristocratic families. Good video.
Beauchamp I knew from my time living in Leicester, where it is often found. I was born in Southgate, now part of Greater London but prior to that part of Middlesex. My Infant and Junior school was De Bohun, as the area was once part of the large estate of Sir Denis De Bohun, a Norman, however I have never heard it called De Boon; surely one of those names lost in time.
The White cross on Black you find in Cornwall isn't the county flag really. it's the flag of the Kingdom of Kernow. :)
Kernow Bys Vyken!
The oldest of the flags are those of the septachy... Northumberland, Essex and Kent among them
I've always found the flag of County Durham to be very disappointing, when the Durham City coat of arms is an absolute banger of a starting place. Sure, it's another "St. George's Cross but...", but a red cross outlined in white on a black field is such a good colour scheme!
City of Durham flag is beautiful. In my personal opinion though, if I could add anything to it, it would be the addition of a St Cuthbert Cross in gold.
Place that in the upper left corner such as the flag of Lichtenstein or the George Cross on the flag of Malta. I think it would be fantastic.
@@Hollows1997 I can see it, but I'm afraid I'll have to disagree on adding St Cuthbert's cross in a quadrant. I've long considered a variant that keeps the same design but flares the spokes of St George's cross in the centre to give the same effect as St Cuthberts, with the same thickness of white between the red and black.
Great video, however I'd love it if the films were labelled as to where they were filmed.
Probably the county town of each county, but can’t say for sure
Hello from Cheshire
Sussex divided into East and West long before 1974. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century and obtained separate county councils in 1886. However, it remained single ceremonial county until 1974.
You can tell if someone’s actually from Sussex if they don’t mention east or west though
@@jakedeane5304 That's true, I was born in West Sussex and can vouch for that.
Theres no flag for Tyne and Wear as the County doesnt really exist any more except in postal addresses and the minds of Newcastle folk.
I know a few, albeit older blokes, from Sunderland that refuse to acknowledge Tyne and Wear and still list their address as County Durham.
@@Hollows1997 yup, its an abomination.
You just forgot the crescent moon and scimitar flag. Now a national flag everywhere.
You missed the County of Bristol, one of the oldest and was given to us by King Edward III in 1373.
And the 3 riding of Yorkshire have there own flags as dos south yorkshire
I understand why you didn't use the correct term for the "6 subdivisions of Sussex". Its a county full of inuendo
Haha, well observed! The forbidden 'R' word might have got this video demonetised!
North Yorkshire does have a flag of its own, as do West and SouthYorkshires.
Those are unofficial flags though.
@@AlexinGreatBritain North and West Yorkshires' flags were recognised by the Flag Institute in 2013. I did think South Yorkshire's had been too but then again it's a bit shite by comparison. I quite like West Yorkshire's; I like to think the sun represents the once great cities of Leeds and Bradford ablaze; it is yet to have a crescent moon added but I have no doubt it will in our lifetime. I preferred one of the other entries for North Yorkshire (competition on the radio I think) which echoed the old North Riding emblem which included the St. George Cross. From what I remember of South Yorkshire's, it's a bit of a mess, maybe some wiggly blue lines and the rather naff SY monogram? Have you read "Worth Dying For: the power and politics of flags" by Tim Marshall?
I've not read it, no. Would you recommend it?
@@AlexinGreatBritain absolutely, yes! 👍🏻
Your video states that "historically" Hampshire included the Isle of Wight. Correct, but this island has been a county in its own right for the last 130 years, and has its own flag, and its own County Council (although the Police are controlled from Winchester). It is the second smallest county in England - the smallest being Rutland.
I was going to say something similar. Although the Island is smaller than Rutland at hightide, and Rutland is smaller at lowtide.
This should be taught in all British schools.
@7:42 should be a brown cross then lol
3:50 I recently started believing that 4-legged dragons in Heraldry and related iconography either started out as Gryphons or are intended to be a similar blend of Lion and Wyvern vs Eagle
It's just a dragon.
@@JohnyG29 Saying it's "just a dragon" won't get you far when you start trying to decrypt exactly what Dragons and Dragon iconography are. The definition of dragon is pretty darn broad. I'm not saying that it didn't become that or that it didn't possibly always have a dragon element to it, but dragons kind of randomly started getting depicted with an extra 2 limbs at some point and nobody's ever really been sure why - Add to that the fact that many early European depictions of dragons make them look almost beaked and you can see where certain things could get mixed around. Blended animals were very common in the art and mythology of Europe and still are to a point today. How can you say it's "Just a dragon" when you can barely find 2 people in the word that actually AGREE on what a dragon is?
Durham was red white& black, shield & cross, until changed, not for the better. In my opinion...in recent years
Yep, much nicer than the new one. Would like to see the old one brought back with the addition of a St Cuthbert Cross in gold placed in the upper left corner such as Lichtenstein or Malta.
Bedfordshire didnt know how to use the three seashells 😂
The Isle of Wight is not part of Hampshire and we have our own flag
No West Midlands 😢
2:13
Am I being dumb or is that a North Korea flag on the right?
That's a good spot! Yeah there was some sort of international flag day type of event going on in Dorchester the day I filmed that clip. So North Korea was one of several flags flying on the high street.
If you’re dealing with historic counties, Monmouthshire was administratively in England from 1541, only became part of Wales in 1974, when it became Gwent and has an officially registered flag.
SDo the acorns have nothing to do with OAKham? Really?
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏Simply gooorgeous !
Long live West Sussex !😉
🇦🇷🇬🇧🇦🇷🇬🇧🇦🇷🇬🇧🇦🇷🇬🇧🇦🇷
Im in the Bedfordshire part! Look out for my butt by the flowers ;)
INVICTA Is important. It represents the fact that Kent was not conquered by William the bastard! They stood back and watched the Battle of Hastings and then ambushed William, now the Conqueror, at Swanscombe Kent. William asked not to fight as his men were depleted and exhausted. Instead a Parley was held were it was agreed that William would control Dover and the Medway crossing at Rochester while leaving the rest of Kent alone. William held to this agreement until roughly a year later when he was much stronger and took the rest of Kent.
Google. There is a large plaque on a church wall in Swanscombe commemorating the Parley!