Flag of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire
Proportion 3:5
Adopted 1951
Designed by College of Arms

The Bedfordshire flag is the flag of the county of Bedfordshire. It is a based on the banner of the arms of the, now defunct, Bedfordshire County Council. The banner of arms are described in heraldic terms as Quarterly Or and Gules a Fess wavy barry way of four Argent and Azure surmounted by a Pale Sable charged with three Escallops of the third.

The arms were granted to the county council in 1951, and adopted as the flag of the modern day historic and ceremonial county of Bedfordshire in 2014.

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

History

An image of the coat of arms of Bedfordshire County Council on the walls of Dunstable library

Bedfordshire County Council had its coat of arms created in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations. The coat of arms became the symbol of the county being placed on many public buildings and signs. The council used the banner of arms as a flag until it was abolished in 2009.

In 2014 The Friends of Bedfordshire Society began a successful campaign to have a slightly updated version of the council's flag registered with the Flag Institute.

Design

Coat of arms of the Beauchamps, Barons of Bedford.

The flag is made up of three main elements which contribute to the overall design of the flag:[1]

Coat of arms of the Duke of Bedford

The county councils original design was at odds with the apparent Rule of Tincture, showing a white and yellow section next to one another. When the flag was officially recognised for the county it was decided that the blue and white on the left side of the flag should be reversed to make the colours more visible, without changing the character of the flag. Also to add to the contrast, a slightly lighter shade of blue was chosen.

Colours

The pantone colours for the flag are:[2]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.