Flag of Somerset
Encyclopedia
The English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

 of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 in southwestern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 has no official flag. A campaign had been running between 2006-2009 for a flag for the whole of the ceremonial county, which included the non-metropolitan county of Somerset and the unitary authorities
Unitary authorities of England
Unitary authorities of England are areas where a single local authority is responsible for a variety of services for a district that elsewhere are administered separately by two councils...

 of North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....

 and Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...

.
Currently Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

 has its own coat of arms and the unitary authorities have identifying logos. The Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset. Since 1714, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Somerset.-Lord Lieutenants of Somerset:*John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford 1552–1555...

, Elizabeth, Lady Gass, had shown her support as has 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
Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

's logo as a flag of the ceremonial county either in its 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
Western Daily Press
The Western Daily Press is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England , mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Monday to Saturday in Bristol, UK...

, Somerset County Gazette, and BBC Somerset in addition to Orchard FM
Orchard FM
Heart Somerset was an Independent Local Radio station serving Somerset, England. Originally owned by Orchard Media Ltd, the company was purchased by GWR Group in 1999, and who subsequently became GCap Media in 2005...

 and Ivel FM
Ivel FM
Ivel FM was a United Kingdom radio station. The studios were based in Yeovil centre, but the station's transmission service area covered parts of south Somerset and parts of west Dorset. The station could be heard on 105.6 and 106.6 FM.-History:...

.

Somerset County Council Armorial Banner

Somerset County Council was awarded its coat of arms by the College of Heralds in 1911. The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 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 has superficial similarities to the gold wyvern
Wyvern
A wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...

 on a red background traditionally associated with Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

 (of which Somerset was part). 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. A commercial version of this armorial banner still currently exists, on a white background with 'Somerset' stenciled on the top of the flag. It exists as the only uniformly used version of a Somerset flag.

Campaigns

In 2006, resident Ed Woods set up a website proposing a flag for the entire county of Somerset. This version entailed a red wyvern on a yellow background with no mace. However, as of December 2009, the website and campaign appear to have ceased.
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