The Gloucestershire flag, also known as the Severn Cross, was the winning entry in a competition held by the then

High Sheriff of Gloucestershire This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire, who should not be confused with the Sheriffs of the City of Gloucester. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (in England and Wales the office previously kn ...

, Jonathan Carr, to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in March 2008. Prior to 2008, the

banner of arms A banner of arms is a type of heraldic flag which has the same image as a coat of arms, ''i.e.'' the shield of a full heraldic achievement, rendered in a square or rectangular shape of the flag. The term is derived from the terminology of he ...

for Gloucestershire County Council was used as the

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

flag for the county. The new flag is coloured blue, cream and green, representing the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

Cotswold stone The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...

and the

Golden Valley, Stroud The River Frome, once also known as the Stroudwater, is a small river in Gloucestershire, England. It is to be distinguished from another River Frome in Gloucestershire, the Bristol Frome, and the nearby River Frome, Herefordshire. The river ...

respectively.

History

Prior to 2008, there was a flag of Gloucestershire available, but was actually the

for Gloucestershire County Council and therefore not the county flag. The new flag was registered in March 2008, and is named the ''Severn Cross''. The design was the winning entry in a 2008 competition, judged by

, Jonathan Carr, in celebration of a millennium of the county's existence. In addition, Carr stated that many counties of the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

had their own flags and this anniversary presented the opportunity to add Gloucestershire's flag. In addition, the winner would take home a prize of £250. The competition had over 1000 entries, and the winning entry was designed by Jeremy Bentail, a mental health worker. The 80 best entries were then displayed at the Shire Hall. Once the winner had been chosen, the first thirty flags produced were flown by district councils and University of Gloucestershire.

Design

The flag comprises a cross of mid-blue, outlined in cream, against an apple green background. The blue represents the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

, the green represents the

and the cream represents

References

{{Subnational flags of the United Kingdom Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

History

Design

See also

References