Flag of Sussex
Encyclopedia
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
is the flag
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
of the English county
Counties of England
Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several...
of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. The flag was registered by the Flag Institute
Flag Institute
The Flag Institute is a research and documentation centre for flags and flag information, founded on St George's Day, 23 April 1971 by William Crampton and Captain EMC Barraclough CBE RN. Although not an official body, it is the principal advisor and designer of flags to the government of the...
on Friday 20 May 2011 as a 'traditional' county flag and was certified by Chief Vexillologist, Graham Bartram. It was first flown officially on 4 June 2011 at Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle stands at the highest point of Lewes, East Sussex, England on an artificial mound constructed with chalk blocks. It was originally called Bray Castle.-History:...
and was flown from the Department of Communities and Local Government at Eland House
Eland House
Eland House is an office building in Westminster, London occupied by the Department for Communities and Local Government. It was designed by EPR Architects and built by Mowlem for Land Securities, and although finally completed in 1998, staff of the former Department of the Environment had moved in...
, London on Sussex Day, 16 June 2011.
Flag registration
The Flag of Sussex was registered as a result of a campaign started in August 2010, under the name of Saint Richard's Flag, after the county's patron saint, Saint Richard of Chichester. The flag was slightly altered from the original proposal before its registration by the Flag Institute. The flag represents the whole of Sussex and is based on the traditional emblem of Sussex, six Gold martletMartlet
A martlet is a heraldic charge depicting a stylized bird with short tufts of feathers in the place of legs...
s on a Blue field. This emblem was first used by John Speed
John Speed
John Speed was an English historian and cartographer.-Life:He was born at Farndon, Cheshire, and went into his father's tailoring business where he worked until he was about 50...
in 1610, as the emblem of the Kingdom of the South Saxons
Kingdom of Sussex
The Kingdom of Sussex or Kingdom of the South Saxons was a Saxon colony and later independent kingdom of the Saxons, on the south coast of England. Its boundaries coincided in general with those of the earlier kingdom of the Regnenses and the later county of Sussex. A large part of its territory...
. Today it is used by many Sussex organisations, such as Sussex County Cricket Club, Sussex County Football Association and also features on the village sign of Ringmer in Sussex. The Flag Institute manages and maintains the national flag registry of the United Kingdom, and therefore this is now the definitive County Flag of Sussex.
BBC competition
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
for a flag to commemorate "Sussex Day" (16 June) which has been described as a celebration of all things uniquely Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. The winning entry was designed by Martin Shrimpton from Woodingdean in Brighton. Chairman of the judging panel, Graham Bartram
Graham Bartram
Graham Bartram is a British vexillologist who is currently Secretary-General for Congresses of the Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques, the Chief Vexillologist of the Flag Institute and a consultant to the British government on flag design and usage.Graham Bartram was born...
said: "Well it had very clear Sussex symbolism. The colours were bright and I think it's just going to look like a really nice flag."
The BBC competition winner would, according to the Sussex Association, be an inappropriate choice for a county flag of Sussex that is meant to be representative of the traditional county of Sussex, rather than a joint flag for the administrative counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. This flag portrays an amalgamation of County Council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
arms, which do not represent any county and only represent the councils. The county flag of Sussex does not need to feature the colour red on it to represent the east of the county; red only represents East Sussex County Council. There are many examples where blue is used to represent the county of Sussex, in the east of the county as well as the west.
Many of the proposed designs incorporated the charge of six martlet
Martlet
A martlet is a heraldic charge depicting a stylized bird with short tufts of feathers in the place of legs...
s (a mythical bird found in heraldry, essentially representative of a swallow) that have been traditionally associated with Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
for centuries and that have appeared on the various forms of arms used in the county. However this flag was never registered by the Flag Institute.
Other flags
East Sussex County Council uses the traditional red version of the flag.
West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains 7 district and borough councils, and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 71 elected councillors...
promoted a different flag to celebrate Sussex Day from 2007. This was also billed as the 'West Sussex Flag' and is no longer on sale from the County Council.
There was also a similar previously proposed Saint Richards Flag.
External links
- The Sussex Association
- [
Sussex Sussex Flag] at the Flag InstituteFlag InstituteThe Flag Institute is a research and documentation centre for flags and flag information, founded on St George's Day, 23 April 1971 by William Crampton and Captain EMC Barraclough CBE RN. Although not an official body, it is the principal advisor and designer of flags to the government of the... - Sussex Flag- Saint Richard's Flag
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/content/articles/2008/06/13/sussex_flag_winner_feature.shtml
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/content/image_galleries/sussex_flag_competition_entries_gallery.shtml?3
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/content/articles/2008/04/28/sussex_flag_intro_feature.shtml
- http://englishcountyflags.com