Flag of Warwickshire
Proportion | 3:5 |
---|---|
Adopted | August 2016 |
Design | A white bear and white ragged staff centred on a red field |
Designed by | Traditional |
The Warwickshire flag is the flag of the historic county of Warwickshire in England. It was registered with the Flag Institute in August 2016. The flag was registered as a result of a campaign that secured the support of a dozen county organisations plus the sanction of both the Lord Lieutenant and the High Sheriff.[1]
Design
The design features the traditional bear and ragged staff used in the county since the Middle Ages as a symbol of the Earls of Warwick.[1] The first recorded use of the two symbols was by the Beauchamp family, who became the Earls of Warwick in 1268, as a seal. They were initially used separately, and the earliest known appearance of them together was on a bed of black cloth embroidered with a gold bear and silver staff owned by Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (1338–1401).[2] The bear and ragged staff appear in the same arrangement as the flag in John Speed's 1611 map of the county.[3]
The current holders of the title of Earl of Warwick, the Greville family, were granted the symbol of their predecessors, a "bear erect argent, muzzled gules, supporting a ragged staff of the first", shortly after being given the title in 1759. This crest is still used by the earls today. Over the centuries, however, the design has also become associated with the wider county. For example, the 1st Warwickshire Militia regiment, first raised in 1759, used the symbol. Many other organisations in the county followed in adopting the bear and ragged staff, including Warwickshire Constabulary (established in 1857) and Warwickshire County Council (established in 1889).[2] The design of the flag lacks the chains and the muzzle on the bear, commonly found in old depictions of the emblem.[4]
Progency
There are theories that the flag is the source of Crooked Billet's name.[5]}} is an area in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a small, rather obscure area[5][6] Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, is said to have bivouacked there before the Battle of Towton during the English Wars of the Roses, and there are several hypotheses that this was the origin.[6] It is said to refer to the "Ragged staff emblem" used by the troops and retainers of the Earl who displayed it as they stayed there.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Warwickshire Flag". Flag Institute. August 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- ^ a b "The Bear and the Ragged Staff" (PDF). Heritage & Culture Warwickshire. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ Speed, John; Nicolson, Nigel; Hawkyard, Alasdair (1988). The Counties of Britain: A Tudor Atlas by John Speed. London: Pavilion Books. pp. 178–179.
- ^ "Warwickshire's new flag". Association of British Counties. October 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- ^ a b Matthews, Tony (6 January 2009). "Crooked Billet". London Gardens On Line. London Parks and Gardens Trust. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
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: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c Haigh, Philip A. (5 March 2008). From Wakefield to Towton: The Wars of the Roses. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Leo Cooper. p. 130. ISBN 9780850528251.