flag with red and white stripes and crest in white stripe

These “formalised” curves represent the undulating green downs of the county, over their chalk underlay. Unusually however, the stripe pattern was given a new slant, literally, the stripes being depicted in an inclined aspect, bending to the centre from both vertical edges of the flag. As noted, they took their initial inspiration from the council’s arms where the green and white pattern recalled the county’s pasture-lands and chalk downs and this symbolism was similarly applied in the new flag. Mike explained his motivation “I have always loved flag flying and I thought it would be good to fly something other than the Union Flag or national flags…I have done my research and found there wasn’t a flag for the county so I thought why not design one?” Realising that the council’s banner was not available for public use he and his daughter set about the task of creating a new flag that would represent the county as an entity in its own right. Additionally, it should also be noted that this commercially available version of the armorial banner includes the red dragon, which represents Wessex (of which Wiltshire is a part), set against a green background – this is, of course, highly inaccurate as the background should be white. Had been commercially available for some time, so to an extent the new flag has rather maintained a recognised local theme, although of course the armorial banner represents only Wiltshire County Council, it is not and never has been, the county flag and indeed only the council is legally entitled to use these arms or a banner formed from them there is no general right to raise it. Namely the pattern of stripes, the colours green and white and the depiction of a great bustard – as the crest over the shield, in the coat of arms. Several of the elements in the flag were present in the coat of arms awarded to Wiltshire County Council in 1937 The flag features a Great Bustard (Otis tarda) at its centre, a bird native to the county, which had been extinct since 1832 but was recently returned as part of an intensive ten-year breeding programme on Salisbury Plain. The flag is the creation of county resident Mike PriorĪnd his daughter Helen Pocock. Wiltshire’s flag was registered on December 1 st 2009, following a declaration of support for the design by the Wiltshire County Council.

Flag with red and white stripes and crest in white stripe