Today is Cumbria Day, hoorah! And amongst the noise that brings is a mini-celebration that accompanies the Cumbrian flag coming to Westminster… But seeing that made me think it was wrong, or at least not what I’d come to know as the Cumbrian flag. A quick Google later and I was even more confused! Here’s what I found:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Given that it’s Cumbria Day you’d have thought the very least people could do was decide upon a single flag and clear up some of this confusion. Maybe it’s time for a campaign and some clarity?
Could you please let me know which is the official flag for Cumbria.
I am researching for an update to my book “Fly the World’s Flags”. I wish to add the English County flags in my book and the main one for Cumbria has me Foxed at this stage..
Thank You.
Mike Parke.
Well, I think it might be the top right flag above! But it might not be! That’s the point of my post really, it seems there is great confusion. Add to that the apparent incompetence of our politicians, the flag shown in the linked image outside the Westminster (which is the top right image above) is upside down!
Thanks for your response Pete.
It looks as if I will have to dig deeper.
Wikipedia says that it is the top left one but the one you can purchase is the top right one. It is available in two versions. Old and new with. The new one has larger flowers.
Some one should have a grip on the situation!!!
That was the pits with the flag being displayed upside down.
Cheers.
Mike
Given the number of times you see the Union Flag being flown upside down, it doesn’t surprise me in the least!
Possibly it’s an omen for Brexit’s effect on the Union?
You could email me if you wish if you find out more.
Thanks.
Mike
The top-right is the flag of Cumberland:
http://www.cumbriacrack.com/2013/02/21/cumberland-flies-new-flag/
Looking at the graphic half-way down the page it would seem that the England County Flag registrations still show Cumberland, Lancashire and Westmorland as having three different flags.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Cumberland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Westmorland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Lancashire
These all tie up to that graphic.
Therefore I would say that the top-right flag is not the flag of Cumbria (but CUMBERLAND), and therefore Cumbria probably doesn’t have an official flag at all (it being comprised of Cumberland, Westmorland and a bit of Lancashire) as far as the county registration goes.
However, the wikipedia article for Cumbria states that the county flag depicts the banner of arms of the county council, which is the one depicted on the bottom left:
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/communications/35years/cumbriacoatofarms.asp
But, reading this article makes me think not, and that the wiki article has been edited (especially as the link (31) does not check out:
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-e-cum.html
So, the county council apparently has produced the chevron version (top left) in ~1973, when Cumbria became a full unified county. It seems that this is the officially recognised flag of Cumbria:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/communitiesuk/sets/72157624821543799/
Assuming of course Cumbria is recognised as a county! π
If only it were so simple, or complex!
The top-right and bottom-right are both Cumberland flags. Of which top-right is the “commercial” flag Which is why I think it often gets used for Cumbria. But this is not right. However, it does seem to be often used, especially by politicians from those parts of Cumbria. While bottom-left is a flag that is little more than a flag used by Carlisle United football fans. I suspect it’s given some credibility by using the County Council commissioned coat of arms. Again, I don’t think this right. All of those three are Cumberland (north of Cumbria) biased.
It remains the case that Cumbria seems to be without a flag!
(Lastly, I can only assume that you last comment is tongue-in-cheek?)
Why would it be tongue-in-cheek? Cumbria isnβt a county. It was an administrative area.
Yes, I understand that the top right is the flag of Cumberland. I remember something like that in a coat of arms on my primary school exercise books (I am old). I was driving down to Kendal today past Ings and a burger van there had a Westmorland flag which is very nice. The Lancashire flag is the red rose, which you knew.
The bottom right is a flag of Cumbria that I have seen on cars. I suppose it is like the Scottish flag because of our links with Scotland. Interestingly the modern county coat of arms has a red dragon to symbolise our ancient links with Wales (Cymru – Cumbria)
OK:
The Top Right Flag is the flag of Cumberland, recognised by the Flag Institute as such (see https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flags/cumberland/) and so the ‘Official’ Cumberland Flag. It is, therefore, NOT a flag of Cumbria, which includes Cumberland, Westmoreland, a bit of Lancashire and even a tiny bit of what used to be Yorkshire.
The Bottom Right is also a Flag for Cumberland. Not sure where it came from, thought there are some remarks about it on the British County Flags site (https://britishcountyflags.com/2013/03/29/cumberland-flag/). It seems to be fading out of use now that the Flag Institute has recognised the other one.
The Bottom left flag was designed in 2006 by Dave Atkinson, the owner of the Flags of the World website, to be used as a Flag of Cumbria. He flies it at Carlisle Football games and it has been noticed. See https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/Flags/gb-e-cum.html.
Finally, the top left one is a Banner from the Arms of Cumbria County Council, created in 1974. As such, it’s probably the most official. Note, however, that the Flags Institute do not accept that Cumbria is a county and so refuse to register any flags for it. As such, there is no ‘Official’ Flag for Cumbria and never will be. However, Wikipedia lists the top left as the Cumbrian Flag and it has the backing if the counsil and dates back to 1974. So, it’s as official as you can get.
Yes, top left is the official flag of Cumbria. The flag of any English County is recognised as an official flag by the UK Government.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flying-flags-a-plain-english-guide/flying-flags-a-plain-english-guide
Who are the “Flag Institute” to decide whether Cumbria is a county? They are a members organisation who have become respected enough to be considered as a well regarded source of advice about flags by many, but they have no official status and are not an authority on the status of counties. Cumbria is a ceremonial county.
Here in Carlisle I’ve only ever seen the Scottish English mash up one used before, and thought it was our own rather than anything to do with Cumbria!