English County, Regional and Municipal Flags (original) (raw)

This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

On this page:

English County Flags

Most English counties were originally established in the Middle Ages. Some were used for the administration of justice, others for the organization of the military, and some later for parliamentary representation. Originally these feudal lands of England were under the rule of certain families or a certain noble. Over time, however, as the Royal power grew, and the local lord's powers lessened, some of the larger lands were divided into smaller areas, counties or districts, while others were combined into larger counties. There were considerable boundary changes among them over the years. As these areas were exchanged and as cities grew, suburban areas in one county might be annexed by a growing "borough" (town) of another.

One of the confusing things about the English county flags are the terms used to describe them.

Traditional Counties of England - These are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Anglo-Saxons and others. They are also called "Ancient Counties" or "Historic Counties."
Ceremonial Counties of England - The counties and areas established as "Lieutenancies," areas of England, Wales and Scotland to which lords-lieutenants are appointed, under the Lieutenancies Act of 1997. They are also known as "Geographic Counties" to distinguish them from other types of counties of England. There were 39 traditional counties in England until the reforms of 1889-1890. These reforms abolished the existing traditional county councils or governing bodies replacing them with different ceremonial county administrative bodies. However, the areas do still remain as remembered entities divided between "traditional" and "ceremonial" counties.
Pete Loeser, 24 October 2020

Bedfordshire✯ Berkshire✯ Black Country✯ Buckinghamshire✯ Cambridgeshire✯ Cheshire✯ City of London Cornwall✯ Cumberland✯ Cumbria Derbyshire✯ Devon✯ Lundy Island Dorset✯ County Durham✯ East Anglia✯ East Sussex Essex✯ Gloucestershire✯ Greater London Authority Greater Manchester	Hampshire✯ Herefordshire✯ Hertfordshire✯ Huntingdonshire✯ Isle of Wight✯ Isles of Scilly✯ Kent Lancashire✯ Leicestershire Lincolnshire✯ Mercia✯ Merseyside Middlesex✯ Monmouthshire✯ Norfolk✯ North of England flag Northamptonshire✯ Northumberland✯ Northumbria✯ Nottinghamshire✯ Oxfordshire✯	Rutland✯ Shropshire✯ Somerset✯ South Yorkshire Staffordshire✯ Suffolk✯ Surrey✯ Sussex✯ Tyne and Wear Warwickshire✯ Wessex✯ West Midlands Westmorland✯ West Sussex Wiltshire✯ Worcestershire✯ Yorkshire✯ East Riding✯ North Riding✯ West Riding✯

✯ The star symbol indicates the flag is listed in The Flag Institute's UK "County & Regional" Flag Registry and can be flown without special planning permission.

Municipal Flags

This list of English municipalities is nowhere meant to be a complete list of all of the cities, towns and communities in England, but rather a list of the current pages existing on the our database with information related to Vexillology - the scholarly study of flags. The practice of having community flags, those of cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods, and other regions such as islands or provinces, is relatively new in the United Kingdom. However, since 2010 many of these flags have been recognized by the UK Flag Registry, and are also included in the FOTW database.
Pete Loeser, 27 October 2020

Abingdon-on-Thames Adur District Council Aldeburgh Allerdale Appleby-in-Westmorland✰ Arun District Council Ashby de la Zouch Axholme Axminster Balcombe Parish Council Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Battle Bath Beaconsfield Bedford Beech Village Bexhill Biddulph Birchwood Birmingham✰ Blandford Forum Bishop Monkton Bloxwich Town✰ Bolton Boston Borough Council Bramley Brandon Brighton and Hove Bristol Burghwallis Bury Calne Cambridge Canvey Island Chalfont St. Giles Chalfont St. Peter Charnwood Borough Council Chavey Down Cheshire East Council Cockermouth Colchester Corby Glen Coventry Cowes Coxhoe Cromford Cricklade Curry Mallet Dawlish Derby Dewsbury Dordon Parish Council Dover Dudley Durham City	Elstree and Borehamwood Evenley✰ Fairford Falmouth Faversham Fenland Finchfield✰ Flore✰ Four Elms Gillingham (Dorset) Gloucester Gosport Guildford Halesowen Hampton Poyle✰ Hayle Heathfield Heywood Hinckley-Bosworth Hook Horncastle Horningsea✰ Hull Hutton Cranswick Isle of Purbeck✰ Ivinghoe Kennington Kidsgrove Kingswinford✰ Knutsford Lancaster Leicester Letchworth Lincoln Littlehampton Liverpool London Maidstone Manchester Marden✰ Matlock Melton Borough Council Mid Sussex District Council Milton Keynes Nenthead✰ Newark & Sherwood District Council Newbury✰ Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newton Abbot Northampton North Tuddenham Parish Council Norwich Nottingham	Oakridge Ockbrook and Borrowash Oldham Oxford Patrington Pelsall Penrith✰ Petersfield Penkhull Pewsey✰ Plumpton Plymouth Portland✰ Portsmouth Preston✰ Raunds Royal Sutton Coldfield Royal Wootton Bassett St Albans St Anne's-on-the-Sea✰ Salford Sedgley Sevenoaks Shutford Sleaford Slough Southampton Southend-on-the-Sea Staining✰ Shrewsbury Stalbridge Stoke-on-Trent Stone Stowmarket Sunderland Swindon Tamworth Tarset and Greystead Parish Tenterden Thame Thorpe St. Andrew Titchfield Torbay Totnes Warwick Washington Wealden Westminster Willenhall✰ Windsor and Maidenhead Wing✰ Whitnash Willaston Worcester Wreay✰ Wroxton✰ York

✰ The open star symbol indicates the flag is listed in The Flag Institute's UK "City & Town" Flag Registry and can be flown without special planning permission.