About British County Flags

THE COUNTIES

There are 86 counties in Great Britain:

13 are Welsh, 39 are English and 34 are Scottish. Many of these counties have existed for the best part of a thousand years and contrary to a general misunderstanding, have never been abolished. It may therefore come as something of a surprise to learn that Caernarfonshire, Middlesex, Banffshire, Westmorland and Cumberland all still exist. Such misunderstandings have arisen because of the association made between local administrations, generally termed councils and counties. It is often assumed that a council represents a county and a county is represented by a council but this is not the case – as is graphically demonstrated at our page of comparative maps.

In the late nineteenth century, the local administrations, the county councils, were set up for each county. With population changes over the following century the government redefined local administrations so that they were no longer based on the real counties. However, changing administrative arrangements did not abolish the real counties which have never gone away, a council does not a county make! To underline this fact, when the 1972 local government act came into effect, a government official was at pains to explain that

“They are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change.” .

Middlesex therefore, has existed since the Anglo-Saxon era, a council was created to administer it in the 1890s, that council ceased to be in 1965 but the county was never abolished as an entity by any legislation.

Ulverston and Barrow are in Lancashire, Wantage, in Berkshire, Sedbergh is in Yorkshire, Bournemouth has never ceased to be in Hampshire. The same applies to traditional county divisions such as the “Ridings” of Yorkshire and the “Parts” of Lincolnshire.

Several decades later, a 2012 rule change was announced , allowing county flags to be flown without planning permission and on Saint George’s Day (April 23rd) 2013, Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whose remit covered England, asserted that the nation’s historic and traditional counties still exist, and are now recognised by the government – including the likes of Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Westmorland and Middlesex.

For years and in disregard of the 1974 government statement, many parts of Whitehall and municipal officialdom had shunned these counties, a practice which Mr Pickles announced would not be maintained as the government would now seek to encourage the marking and continued use of such traditional county names and encourage local residents to continue to champion such local identities, irrespective of current tiers of local administration. The Secretary of State declared,

“The tapestry of England’s counties binds our nation together. This government has binned the arbitrary Government Office euro-regions, and instead, we are championing England’s traditional local identities which continue to run deep. Administrative restructuring by previous governments has sought to suppress and undermine such local identities. Today, on St George’s Day, we commemorate our patron saint and formally acknowledge the continuing role of our traditional counties in England’s public and cultural life.”.

The following year (2014) Mr Pickles used the same Saint George’s Day date to announce a further initiative to support the ‘tapestry’ of traditional English counties. His department declared,

“England’s traditional counties date back over a thousand years of English history but many of the counties have been sidelined by Whitehall and municipal bureaucrats in recent decades, including the municipal restructuring by Edward Heath’s government in 1972. By contrast, this government is championing local communities continuing to cherish and celebrate such traditional ties and community spirit.”

A change in planning rules (paragraph 33 “Advertisement guidance”) was presented allowing for councils to put up boundary signs marking traditional English counties – including the likes of Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Westmorland and Middlesex. Eric Pickles himself stated that

” the tapestry of England’s counties binds our nation together, and is interwoven with our cultural fabric – from our cricket to our ales. Previous governments have tried to wipe the counties off the map, imposing bland administrative structures or alien euro-regions. But I believe we are stronger as a nation when we cherish and champion our local and traditional ties. This government is proud to wave the flag of St George alongside our county flags. Whatever one’s class, colour or creed, we should have pride in our English identities within the United Kingdom’s Union that binds us together.” 

Underlining the government’s commitment to our true counties, in 2016, following a change in planning policy, the Office of National Statistics published its Index of Place Names in Great Britain, and at its website specifically highlighted the continued existence of our real counties,

“Recent moves to recognise the cultural importance of historic counties led to a change in planning policy in 2014 so that road signs for these areas may now be put up by local authorities.” … “The forthcoming 2016 IPN will offer a variety of changes and new features designed to be useful to a wide range of users. …place names will now also be assigned to historic county….”

In late December 2018, government minister Jake Berry ordered his civil servants in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to draft new guidance for English local authorities, on promoting their traditional county links. This policy initiative followed the 2012 change to the rules, allowing local and county flags to be flown without planning permission and the 2014 planning guidance, permitting councils to put up signs marking the true county boundaries. He opined, however, that not enough had been done and ordered the fresh guidance to assist councils in how they can “boost community pride and tourism” declaring,

“For years, town hall bureaucrats have been obsessed with modern metropolitan boroughs that divorce people from their historic birthright and created meaningless agglomerations like Humberside. Our historic counties are at the heart of communities and are part of the fabric of British society that has been woven into our national story since Saxon times.”

He declared that councils should put up signs to indicate where historic municipal boundaries lay, to encourage families to find out more about their history and, that they should fly county flags!

His call was accompanied in the Daily Telegraph report by an illustration of the 36 English county flags registered at the time

and designs proposed for the remaining three

Subsequently, following consultation with the Association of British Counties by the Parliamentary Flags and Heraldry Committee, Jake Berry announced in June 2019 that the registered county flags would decorate Parliament Square

to commemorate Historic County Flags Day, the following month, as detailed here.

Governmental comments on the status of our true counties are listed at the foot of this page and this is explored further here.

EMERGENCE OF COUNTY FLAGS

Unlike American states or German Länder, the counties of the United Kingdom have not uniformly, borne distinctive flags. A few such as Kent and Essex, have been associated with specific emblems for centuries which in the modern era have also appeared as flags. The constituent divisions of federal or confederal states such as Germany and Switzerland readily adopt or are ascribed flags, as indications of their authority. The constituent divisions of the United Kingdom, the counties, never having exercised such powers as wielded by territories like the state of California or Bavaria, have not required such expression.

Certain territories of the United Kingdom however, with differing historical, cultural and linguistic legacies have raised flags, to mark themselves out as distinct and different. A Cornish flag has existed since at least the nineteenth century for instance and is considered to be a “national” flag reflecting a status of the territory and its people as an assimilated Celtic land, rather than just one amongst many English counties. Similarly, flags for the North Atlantic archipelagos of Shetland and Orkney, with strong Scandinavian heritages, were created in the twentieth century. In recent years such enthusiasm has spread and a number of British counties have marked their presence as distinct entities with a county flag. In much the same manner that one may wave a national flag to demonstrate pride in one’s nation or support for a national sports team, so people wanting to demonstrate their local pride or indicate their origins amongst a concert crowd or similar gathering, have turned to flags as a natural means of doing so.

The complication with this trend however is that for England and Wales at least, there being no “UK Flag Act” that might “authorise” such county flags, there is no official method or process of establishing them. The College of Arms is commissioned to design flags for government offices and departments and of course designs and registers the arms of individuals and corporations but has never been required to do the same for any of the shires, it does not supply county flags.

THE FLAG REGISTRY

In an effort to regularise the situation, a registry has been established by the Flag Institute. Founded in 1971 the Institute is one of the world’s leading research and documentation centres for flags and flag information and an advisor to the British government on flag related matters. The UK Flag Registry exists as a definitive record of the flags which exist in the UK both nationally and locally. There is no other similar formal national listing, so whilst ostensibly it operates as a record book of county flags, it effectively serves also as the de facto authority which endorses them.

The criteria laid down for inclusion in the Registry emphasise the authoritativeness of the record; designs are not accepted without question but have to demonstrate a definite usage or acceptance:

• The design must be unique within the UK (i.e. no other UK area or organisation is using the design);
• The design must be in the public domain (i.e. not subject to copyright);
• In the case of county flags the flag must normally apply to a historical county rather than a modern administrative area ;
• The flag must be registered with the College of Arms, registered with the Office of the Lord Lyon, traditional, selected by a public vote or selected by an appropriate county or city organisation.

For county flags this in practice generally means being endorsed by a venerable county organisation, which can be a county council or an active local pressure group; a flag for Hertfordshire for instance was registered after its sanction by Hertfordshire County Council, while the flag of Lancashire appeared as a result of a request from the pressure group Friends of Real Lancashire. These conditions have been formally presented in a guide to establishing “community flags”. Since 2015 however, the Flag Institute sadly now further insists that any flag requested for registration is also backed by a county official; a county council, a high sheriff or a lord lieutenant. This requirement is seemingly at odds with the notion of a “community flag” which it promotes and makes the task of securing further county flags more burdensome, as such officials are rarely as enthused to promote their county with a flag as the communities residing within them.

In Scotland, all flags must be authorised by Lord Lyon (the chief heraldic authority) and recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland.

TYPES OF FLAGS

County flags fall broadly into three categories;

• “Banners of arms” of local authorities released for public use – e.g. Hertfordshire;
• Flags derived from or utilising elements from, banners of arms in a simplified pattern; e.g. Lancashire;
• Entirely new and ground breaking designs. e.g. Dorset, Gloucestershire

A “banner of arms” (or “armorial banner”) refers to the practice of extending the design from the shield found in a coat of arms, on a rectangular piece of cloth to be deployed as a flag. All bodies or individuals, who have been granted coats of arms by the College of Arms or Lord Lyon, may display them in this fashion including county councils.

The confusion of councils and counties is particularly evident in the area of arms and banners. It is often generally assumed that arms granted to a county council also represent the county it administers as an entity in its own right and that a banner of such arms is therefore the county flag; this is not the case. Coats of Arms and banners formed from them may be legally used only by the body to whom they have been granted and individual citizens have no right to display or fly such banners without specific permission, a fact generally ignored by commercial flag producers and vendors who often market banners of council arms as county flags. As stated in the magazine of a Hampshire society which adopted a seal in 1906, “counties have no arms and consequently no right to bear a shield”. This is specified today by the College of Arms in reference to the revised flag flying regulations of 2012 stating “The regulations are not intended to permit the flying of armorial flags or flags bearing coats of arms;…. It is unlawful to fly or use a flag of the arms of any local authority save on sites or premises occupied by that authority.” Given that the 2012 regulations make specific reference to flags of a “county” and “historic county” this categorical statement puts it beyond doubt that local authority banners are not county flags! Such confusion can be attributable to the fact that council arms frequently include symbols or devices that are locally familiar or used traditionally to represent the county and its people; often the same or similar versions of symbols found on council arms will be seen on the badges of county sporting bodies or fire and rescue services, so there is a clear association of symbol and county. Symbols of this kind may derive from local legend such as the Stafford Knot in Staffordshire or may originate from the arms used by families of local renown over several centuries.

It is common for council arms to feature a traditional local device or theme, as one element, within a more detailed coat of arms, the additional charges specifically distinguishing the body and often reflecting the authority it wields; whilst the basic theme or pattern represents the wider county in general. Some examples are depicted below with county flags at left and armorial banners of local councils at right

For several counties the situation differs slightly. The modern counties of Kent, Essex, and Sussex originated as kingdoms in the Anglo-Saxon period. As such they were anachronistically ascribed arms by mediaeval heralds several hundred years later with arms based on local traditions, as depicted by John Speed in his 1611 work “History Of Great Britaine”

and George Vertue in his 1745 engraved depiction of the arms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.

Thus three white seaxes (short Saxon swords) on a red field were the arms of the ancient kingdom of Essex and were also used in Middlesex which originally formed part of that early kingdom. A white horse on a red field was ascribed to Kent and six gold martlets (swallows) on a blue field to Sussex. Such emblems were associated with the respective counties for centuries before the establishment of local government and the county councils in these counties were accordingly granted arms incorporating these ancient emblems but having thus existed before the origin of the county councils, such arms could not be restricted to their use alone and citizens of these counties have always been free to bear flags with these ancient devices. Incidentally, the arms representing the kingdom of Northumbria in Vertue’s engraving are the cross and lions from the See of Durham, which seems to be a misapprehension, as the red and yellow striped device of ancient Northumbria was well attested by this time and clearly pre-dates the Durham arrangement This was a usage also made by John Speed in the preceding century in both his celebrated atlas and the above cited work, about which more is available at the Northumberland and Northumbria pages.

FLAG DESIGN

Aside from the legal restrictions on their use there are also stylistic objections to the use of council arms as county flags. Although individual elements from such arms may be worthy of inclusion in a county flag the arms themselves in most cases do not make good flags. As heraldic contrivances the designs are often complicated or “fussy”, replete with motifs and colours that might serve well on a town hall wall but do not work too well on a piece of cloth flying from a lofty perch. The complex heraldic patterns generally contravene the tenets of good flag design highlighted by the Flag Institute which state:

1. Keep it simple The flag should be simple enough that a child can draw it from memory.
2. Use meaningful symbolism The flag’s elements, colours, or patterns should relate to what it symbolises.
3. Use two to three basic colours Limit the number of colours on the flag to three, which contrast well and come from the standard colour set: red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, black and white. Yellow and white work well on any of the other colours and vice versa.
4. No lettering or seals Avoid the use of writing of any kind or an organisation’s badge, seal or coat of arms. It is better to use elements from an appropriate coat of arms as symbols on the flag.
5. Be distinctive or be related Avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections.
6. How will it fly in the wind? Remember, the design must be distinctive when flying on a high pole in a strong wind, and when hanging in windless conditions too. Also remember that it will almost always have ripples caused by the wind.

A concise recommendation for flag design is to imagine it reduced to the size of a postage stamp, if it cannot be successfully reduced without losing detail then it is a bad design. You may also like to consult the Flag Institute’s more expansive guide to good flag design, which is particularly applicable to the design of British county flags, the more general Guiding Principles On Flag Design and the Good Flag, Bad Flag guide.

THE STATUS QUO

In the modern era with the practice of flag flying gaining ever greater popularity, several campaigns to establish county flags have successfully achieved registration with the Flag Institute. Of the 86 counties 52 are now “vexilliferous” or flag bearing. A map of Great Britain depicting these, is shown on this site, which demonstrates the swathes of territory north and west, as yet “unflagged”.

The Flag Registry includes a number of areas, islands and regions, which bear flags of their own. Regions such as East Anglia and Wessex, both former kingdoms, and islands, which by their nature are clearly separate entities, appear on the registry although they may traditionally fall within the accepted boundaries of an adjacent county. Flags for the Ridings of Yorkshire are also on the registry.

Revised regulations in 2007 (related to advertising but also affecting flag display) and 2012, outlined here ( with links to the specific legislation included towards the end of the pages) have greatly reduced the restrictions on the raising of flags in England and made it a far easier practice.

Government quotes through the years regarding the nation’s real counties, confirming their continued existence.

“The new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties.”

Government statement issued 1st April 1974 and printed in the Times newspaper.

■ “I can confirm that the government still stand by this statement,…. that the local authority areas and boundaries introduced in 1974 do not alter the boundaries of traditional boundaries of counties. The 1974 arrangements are entirely administrative, and need not affect long-standing loyalties and affinities.”

Michael Portillo MP – Minister of State for Local Government – 11th July 1990

■ “The Local Government Act 1972 did not abolish traditional counties, only administrative ones. Although for local government purposes some of the historic counties have ceased to be administrative areas, they continue to exist for other purposes, organisations and local groups.”

Department of the Environment – 3rd September 1991

■ “Although the Local Government Act of 1888 and subsequent legislation transferred to newly constituted Councils administrative business and responsibility for redefined areas, such legislation did not alter or affect the Duchy palatinate boundaries which remain the same as the old (pre 1888) geographical County of Lancaster. Both Furness and Cartmel lie within the County Palatine.”

Office of the Duchy of Lancaster – 23rd September 1992

■ “The Government is aware that many people attach importance to Historic and traditional county areas and it is not their intention that people’s identification with their counties will be diminished.”

John Powell, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister – 29th August 2003

■ “I can confirm that these Acts (1933, 1972) did not specifically abolish traditional counties so traditional counties still exist but no longer for the administration of local government…”

Department for Communities and Local Government – 22nd August 2006

■ “There is no doubt about the importance of historic counties… as part of our history and cultural life. I agree that they provide many people with a strong sense of identity and local pride. Indeed the continued use of traditional county names and areas in tourism, sport, business, literature and the arts, to name but a few examples, bears testament to that.

Gillian Merron MP, Private Secretary to the Cabinet Office – 29th June 2007

■ “The legislation that currently defines counties for the purposes of the administration of local government is the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by various Orders in the 1990s). This legislation abolished the previous administrative counties, which were established by the Local Government Act 1933. However, these Acts did not specifically abolish traditional counties, so traditional counties still exist, but no longer for the purpose of the administration of local government. We are certainly aware that many people attach importance to historic or traditional county areas and that they feel strongly about such issues. It is true that the traditional counties continue to play an important part in national life, and their names are often used in sport, business, local and family history, military history, literature and the arts.”

Parjit Dhanda MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities & Local Government – 16th April 2008

■ ““English counties continue to form an important part of our cultural and local identity in this country and many people remain deeply attached to their home county. This sense of pride and shared identity is one of the things that binds communities together and it’s right that the Government department responsible for communities and local government should be actively recognising the important role they play.”

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – 10th September 2010

■ “The historic English counties are one of the oldest forms of local government in Western Europe. Their roots run deep. And no amount of administrative reshuffling can delete these longstanding and cherished local identities.”

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – 11th July 2011

■ “The background to the legislation relating to local government administrative areas and traditional counties is as follows: The Local Government Act 1972 defines counties for the purpose of the administration of local government. The above Act abolished the previous administrative counties, i.e. those established by the Local Government Act 1933. Neither Act specifically abolished traditional counties – these still exist but not for the purpose of the administration of local government.”

M. Duggleby, Department For Transport, Leeds. – Tuesday 9th October 2012

■ “The tapestry of England’s counties binds our nation together. This government has binned the arbitrary Government Office euro-regions, and instead, we are championing England’s traditional local identities which continue to run deep. Administrative restructuring by previous governments has sought to suppress and undermine such local identities. Today, on St George’s Day, we commemorate our patron saint and formally acknowledge the continuing role of our traditional counties in England’s public and cultural life.”.

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – 23rd April 2013

■ “In April, my Department formally acknowledged the continuing role of England’s traditional counties in English public life. Previously, many parts of Whitehall and municipal officialdom have shunned these counties, many of which date back over a thousand years of English history. On 25 May, my Department flew the flag of Wessex as part of our broader programme of recognising and celebrating the traditional institutions of England.

Flags are a symbol of local and national pride and heritage and we have already amended the law to make it easier to fly flags without a permit from the council. I was pleased to see that misjudged decisions by Radstock town council in Somerset and the Places for People social landlord in Preston to ban the St George’s flag have been reversed.

Recent events remind us that we are stronger as a society when we celebrate the ties that bind us together and we challenge the politics of division. Whatever one’s class, colour or creed, we should have pride in Britain’s local and national identities.”

Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government – 3rd June 2013

■ “England’s traditional counties date back over a thousand years of English history but many of the counties have been sidelined by Whitehall and municipal bureaucrats in recent decades, including the municipal restructuring by Edward Heath’s government in 1972. By contrast, this government is championing local communities continuing to cherish and celebrate such traditional ties and community spirit.

To mark St George’s day, on 23 April, my Department announced a new initiative to support the “tapestry” of traditional English counties, including getting rid of a Whitehall ban on the names of traditional counties being displayed on street and road signs. We have also published a new online interactive map of England’s county boundaries.

Planning guidance has been changed to allow for councils to put up boundary signs marking traditional English counties—for example, the likes of Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Westmorland and Middlesex. In addition, the Government are shortly to propose changes to highways regulations to allow traditional county names to appear on boundary road signs. The current rules prevent unitary councils like Blackpool from having a road sign saying “Lancashire”, or Poole saying “Dorset”—since they confusingly are not considered to be part of an “administrative county”.

No council is being forced to make any change or put up unnecessary street clutter, but the intention is to free councils from Whitehall red tape, support local tourism and to cherish local ties and traditions. Local communities will be able to lobby their councils for the restoration of traditional boundary signs, including campaigns by public subscription.

This is part of a series of steps to champion England’s national identities; the Government have previously changed Whitehall rules to allow local and county flags to be flown without planning permission, and supported the Flag Institute in encouraging a new wave of county and community flags to be designed and flown by local communities.”

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – April 23rd 2014

■ “On 16 May, my Department raised the flag of Middlesex to mark Middlesex day, and on 2 June my Department also raised the flag of Dorset to celebrate Dorset day. England’s traditional counties date back over a thousand years of history, but in the past, many of them were sidelined by Whitehall and municipal bureaucrats. By contrast, the coalition Government are championing local people in flying the flag for such traditional ties and community spirit.”

Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government – 5th June 2014

■ “England’s counties and historic counties continue to form an important part of our cultural and local identity in this country and many people remain deeply attached to their home county.”

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – 13th October 2014

■ “England’s traditional counties date back over a thousand years of English history, but many of the counties have been sidelined by Whitehall in recent decades, whether by the bland municipal restructuring of Edward Heath’s Government in 1972, or by the imposition of artificial regional structures by the last Labour Government based on the EU’s Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (the appropriately-named ‘NUTS’ Regulations). Yet the tapestry of England’s counties binds our nation together, and is interwoven with our cultural fabric – from our cricket to our ales. So this Government has taken a series of steps to champion our traditional counties:

• We have amended planning regulations to allow local and county flags to be flown without planning permission, and published a plain English guide to flying flags. Previously, flying a county flag on an existing flag pole required a princely sum of £335 to be paid to the council.

• We have supported the Flag Institute in publishing a new guide for would-be vexillologists to encourage a new wave of county and other local flags to be designed and flown.

• My Department has flown a range of county flags in Whitehall to mark different county days, including Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Westmorland and Middlesex. We have also flown flags to celebrate other historic localities such as those of the Ridings of Yorkshire and of Wessex – the kingdom which gave birth to the united English nation.

• We are changing highways regulations to allow traditional county names to appear on boundary road signs. The previous rules prevented unitary councils like Blackpool from having a road sign saying ‘Lancashire’, or Poole saying ‘Dorset’ – since they were not considered to be part of the ‘administrative county’.

• We have a new online interactive map of England’s different county boundaries.

• Ordnance Survey, the Government’s National Mapping Agency, now provides a dataset of current, ceremonial counties(counties retained for the purposes of representing Her Majesty by Lord Lieutenants and High Sheriffs).

• I can also announce to the House today that from May a dataset of the traditional, historic counties based on 19th Century boundaries will be available on the OS OpenData portal. These datasets are compatible with the OS Boundary-Line product which is available to all free of charge. Ordnance Survey is also going to provide a viewing map window on their website showing both the historic and ceremonial County boundaries on top of a base map.

• Later in the year, Ordnance Survey is hoping to publish a paper map of the Historic Counties of England, Scotland and Wales (as defined in the Local Government Act 1888 for England and Wales and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 for Scotland), which will be available to the general public to purchase and proudly display.

We are stronger as a nation when we cherish and champion our local and traditional ties. This Government is proud to wave the flag of St George and Union flag alongside our county flags. Whatever one’s class, colour or creed, we should have pride in our English identity within the United Kingdom’s Union that binds us all together.”

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Parliamentary Under Secretary, Department for Communities & Local Government – 10th March 2015

■ “We have backed British values and identity, flying the United Kingdom’s national and traditional county flags, and recognising England’s traditional boroughs, towns, cities and counties.”

Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government – 26th March 2015

■ “For years, town hall bureaucrats have been obsessed with modern metropolitan boroughs that divorce people from their historic birthright and created meaningless agglomerations like Humberside. Our historic counties are at the heart of communities and are part of the fabric of British society that has been woven into our national story since Saxon times.”

Jake Berry, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth – 30th December 2018

Additionally, 2016 advice from the Office for National Statistics, in the user guide (page 13) to its index of place names clarified that,

“The historic counties of Great Britain (also known as ancient counties, counties proper, geographical counties or traditional counties) have existed largely unchanged since the Middle Ages. Their original administrative function became the responsibility of separate administrative counties and county councils set up by the Local Government Act 1888 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. It was these administrative counties and county councils that were abolished in England and Wales in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, and in Scotland in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, not the historic counties. While no longer a statistical geography, the historic counties are now included in the IPN for those users who wish to use them for historic, traditional or cultural purposes. They are recommended as a stable, unchanging geography which covers the whole of Great Britain.”

Further information was subsequently released on the statistical service’s geography blog.

And in 2019, following his above, late 2018 announcement, new guidance was issued by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Jake Berry’s department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to English local authorities, on promoting their traditional county links which stated,

“This document summarises why the Government thinks the historic counties should be an important issue for both local and national partners. It sets out the rationale for the promotion of the historic counties, what local authorities can currently do in relation to these activities and collates the relevant guidance and regulations…The Government attaches great importance to the history and traditions of this country. Our history helps to define who we are and where we come from and we are stronger as a nation when we cherish and champion our local traditions…The tapestry of England’s historic counties is one of the bonds that draws our nation together. The promotion of the historic counties can bring real benefits. The historic counties are an important element of English traditions which support the identity and cultures of many of our local communities, giving people a sense of belonging, pride and community spirit. They continue to play an important part in the country’s sporting and cultural life as well as providing a reference point for local tourism and heritage. We should all seek to strengthen the role that they can play.”

It further advised that,

“The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has also supported The Flag Institute in producing guidance to encourage a new wave of county and other local flags to be designed and flown.”

■ “I regularly have discussions with local authorities covering a wide range of issues which can include the celebration of historic counties. To help county council leaders develop local activities to celebrate their historic counties, I issued on 10 April guidance which included a section referring to the County Flags Day on 23 July and provided advice about the flying of Historic County Flags.”

Jake Berry, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Housing, Communities & Local Government – 20th May 2019

■ “I am a huge supporter of our historic counties which are an integral part of local identity and belonging. Over the last year or more, we have been active in promoting the role of our historic counties in celebrating the history and traditions of our nation. We will use the opportunity presented by Historic County Flags Day on 23 July to raise their profile once more….”

Simon Clarke MP, Minister of State for Local Government – 8th July 2020

■ “Our new guidance helps local authorities celebrate historic counties, their shared heritage, culture, history and our great nation. In government, we are throwing our full weight behind historic counties through proudly flying 50 iconic county flags in the heart of Parliament Square for Historic County Flags Day on 23 July. I am proud that we’re helping councils celebrate our nation’s great historic counties and their rich cultures. I look forward to seeing what innovative ideas they have to celebrate historic counties not just on Historic County Flags Day but all year round.”

Jake Berry MP, Northern Powerhouse Minister – 16th July 2019

The British County Flags blog was suggested by adventurer and campaigner Andy Strangeway ,

amongst whose achievements are five flag competitions which are detailed on these pages. The current administration thanks him for his hard work initiating the site.