The Flag of County Durham is the flag of the

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

county of Durham The County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge, commonly referred to as County Durham or simply Durham, is a historic county in Northern England. Until 1889, it was controlled by powers granted under the Bishopric of Durham. The county and Northum ...

. It was registered with the

Flag Institute The Flag Institute is a UK membership organisation headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, England, concerned with researching and promoting the use and design of flags. It documents flags in the UK and internationally, maintains a UK Flag Regi ...

as the flag of the county in 2013, after winning an online competition to decide a flag for the county.

2013 flag

A competition to design a new flag for County Durham was launched in July 2013 on the blog of

Andy Strangeway Andy Strangeway (born 1965 in Londesborough, East Riding of Yorkshire) is a decorator and adventurer from the Yorkshire Wolds. He has landed and slept on all 162 of Scotland's islands of 100 acres (40 hectares) and above. He completed this chal ...

, who had already established flags for the

Ridings of Yorkshire A riding is an administrative jurisdiction or electoral district, particularly in several current or former Commonwealth countries. Etymology The word ''riding'' is descended from late Old English or (recorded only in Latin contexts or forms, ...

. The competition noted that County Durham was the only traditional county in the North of England without a flag, after the adoption of the flags of Cumberland and

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

in 2011 and 2012. County Durham flag unfurling ceremony

The winning flag was chosen from six finalists, and was designed by twins Katie and Holly Moffatt alongside James Moffat from

Chilton, County Durham Chilton is a town in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the east of Bishop Auckland and a short distance to the south of Ferryhill, on the A167. The bypass on the A167 opened on 20 June 2005, cutting down the traffic through C ...

. The flag features the Cross of St Cuthbert, counterchanged on the county colours of blue and gold. The flag of the Scottish county of Kirkcudbrightshire, adopted in 2016, also prominently includes the Cross of St Cuthbert.

Council banner

County Durham had long used the banner of Durham County Council as an unofficial flag of the county. This flag is the banner of arms of the County Council, the council's arms itself based on the arms of the

See of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Church of England, Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Pau ...

(''Azure a Cross Or between four Lions rampant Argent''). In 1961 the council adopted a coat of arms based on those of the See, with the lions holding swords and wearing crowns and the addition of five black lozenges to represent the county's coal mining industries. After the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect the council lost territory in the north to

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

and in the south to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, whilst gaining the Startforth Rural District from the North Riding of Yorkshire council. The arms of the County Council were altered to their present form by replacing the central lozenge with a

White Rose of York The White Rose of York (Latinised as ''rosa alba'', blazoned as ''a rose argent'') is a white heraldic rose which was adopted in the 14th century as a heraldic badge of the royal House of York. In modern times it is used more broadly as a s ...

to represent the area of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

it governs.

References

External links

County Durham Flag
on Andy Strangeway's blog * Flag Institute – County Durham {{Subnational flags of the United Kingdom

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

County Durham