Flag of Wiltshire

The Wiltshire flag with The Great Bustard "(Otis Tarda)" as the centrepiece, is the official county flag for Wiltshire, created by Mike Prior and designed by Helen Pocock. It is partly based on the flag of the Wiltshire County Council, including the alternating stripes of green and white that are said to represent the grassy downs of the county and their chalk underlay. Publicity for the flag also mentions that the colours can represent hope, joy and safety (green) and peace (white).

An image of the Great Bustard stands at the centre of the flag. This bird had been extinct in England since 1832, but is now part of an intensive ten-year breeding programme on Salisbury Plain. Salisbury Plain, at the heart of the county, is one of only two areas in Great Britain in which the Great Bustard originally lived. On the flag, the male Great Bustard is depicted in gold on a solid green circle to represent the open grassland. The border of the circle, in six sections alternating green and white, is said to represent the stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury in the county. The six portions are also said to represent the six surrounding counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset.

The technical specification of the flag is that it is a 3:5 ratio, and is manufactured in green and gold onto a white material.

Although Mike Prior admits that there "is no method or authority to get it accepted as the county flag of Wiltshire, that is all done by public acceptance." [ [http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/wiltshire/display.var.941338.0.lord_bath_helps_hoist_county_flag.php "Lord Bath helps hoist county flag" (Wiltshire Times)] ] , the flag has received the support of Wiltshire County Council, and has been flown at Wiltshire County Hall in Trowbridge since June 2007. [ [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/large/getnewsitem.htm?id=2050 "County flag flies at County Hall" (Wiltshire County Council Press Release)] ] [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2007/06/04/wiltshire_flag_feature.shtml "The Wiltshire flag unfurls!" (BBC Wiltshire)] ]

The copyright for the flag is held by Mr Mike Prior, and is marketed under the trading name wiltshireflag.co.uk. Mr Prior's daughter, Helen Pocock, [ [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/linear/getnewsitem.htm?id=2050 "Wiltshire County Council - County flag flies at County Hall] ] a graphic designer, came up with a design for the flag using the Great Bustard as the centrepiece. The Great Bustard has been an iconic symbol of the county for many years appearing on County Council insignia and within the badges of many Wiltshire based societies and groups. The bird had lived on Salisbury Plain for centuries until 1832 when the last bird was sited, until the re-introduction programme which commenced in recent years. The White Horse downland carvings are recent history, only being evident in the last three hundred years, none of them being listed in the John Speede map of Wilshire (his spelling) of 1610.

White Horse Flag

The White Horse Flag was an independently produced proposal for a county flag. It was designed in 2006 by Chrys Fear, [cite web |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/4853140.stm|title= Student campaigns for county flag |accessdate=2008-08-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= 2006-03-28|work= |publisher=BBC News] [cite web |url= http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14411345_ITM|title= Chris's crusade to fly the county flag|accessdate=2008-08-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=2006-03-30 |work= |publisher="Western Daily Press"] who asserted the white horse design—as found in numerous hillside chalk carvings across the county such as the Westbury White Horse and the Cherhill White Horse—was an image that was closer in cultural context to Wiltshire. Fear's design was modelled after the sketch of the Cherhill White Horse found in Plenderleath's "The White Horses of the West of England" published in 1885. [ [http://wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/plenderleath.html "Plenderleath's sketches"] , wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk. Retrieved on 2008-8-8] Fear's design was presented via a Geocities web site, but was never officially offered to the county's officials for their review and approval. In September 2008, Fear relaunched his campaign to see the white horse flag adopted by the county to replace Mike Prior's design [http://www.geocities.com/wiltshireflag/news.htm] .

ee also

*Hill figure

References

----