Flag of Somerset

The English county of Somerset in southwestern England has no official flag. A campaign has been running since 2006 for there to be a flag for the whole of the ceremonial county, which includes the administrative county of Somerset and the unitary authorities of North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset, for the purpose of symbolizing county-wide unity. Currently Somerset County Council has its own coat of arms and the unitary authorities have their own logos as well, but there is no actual county flag. The Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Lady Elizabeth Gass, has shown her support as has the Rt Hon David Heath MP and the local TV, radio and newspapers.

History

Late in 2005 enquiries were made as to the potential usage of Somerset County Council's logo as a flag of the ceremonial county either in it's current form or in a modified form without the mace (the symbol of the Council's authority). The response was that the people of Somerset could fly the Council's flag to show their support for both their council and county. This seemed to imply that North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset were not included as Somerset in the eyes of Somerset County Council. Strong support for a flag subsequently came from David Heath, Lady Gass, as well as coverage from the Western Daily Press, Somerset County Gazette, and BBC Somerset in addition to Orchard FM and Ivel FM.

Somerset County Council Armorial Banner

Somerset County Council was awarded its coat of arms by the College of Heralds in 1911. The blazon or heraldic description of Somerset County Council's coat of arms is "Or, a Dragon Rampant Gules holding in the claws a Mace erect Azure". Meaning a red upright dragon on a gold background holding an upright blue mace. It is an inversion of the gold dragon on a red background traditionally associated with Wessex. Post 1974 with the loss of northern Somerset to the county of Avon and then post 1996 with the end of Avon and the creation of the unitary authorities, Somerset County Council does not control the whole of Somerset. This means that the coat of arms not only do not represent the whole county, but are not for public use. The logo that is based on the coat of arms is available for sale , but technically as it bears the mace it still represents the County Council.

The Future

BBC Somerset Sound has expressed an interest in staging a competition to decide on a flag for the county, but as yet the competition has not been held.

References

External links

• Somerset Flag website