Norfolk (England)

Last modified: 2020-07-04 by rob raeside
Keywords: norfolk |
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• Description of the flag
• Commercial Flag

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Description of the flag

Norfolk’s flag is the armorial banner of the arms attributed to the first Earl of Norfolk Ralph de Gael. This 12th century design has been associated with the county ever since, appearing on maps and books and of course forming the basis of the county council arms awarded in 1904. This flag was added to the British Flags Registry in September 2014.
Jason Saber, 13 September 2014

The flag of Norfolk was registered on September 11th 2014 as a traditional county flag, following a campaign by Norfolk native Dominic Victor Maverick Smith to secure recognition of the historic emblem of the county. The design is a banner of the arms attributed to Ralph (Ranulp) de Gael (de Guader), first Earl of Norfolk (1071-1075).
Source: https://britishcountyflags.com/2014/09/19/norfolk-flag/

Flag Type: County Flag
Flag Date: C11th-C17th
Flag Designer: Traditional
Adoption Route: Traditional
Aspect Ratio: 3:5
Pantone® Colours: Black, White, Gold 123
Certification: Flag Institute Chief Vexillologist, Graham Bartram
Source: https://www.flaginstitute.org
Valentin Poposki, 28 June 2020

Commercial flag

located by Ian MacDonald, 14 July 2010

Source: http://www.englishcountyflags.com 

This flag is being marketed for Norfolk.

http://www.englishcountyflags.com records:

The Norfolk flag is basically the coat of arms stretched into the flag.

The coat of arms is very popular in the county and is worn for example by Norfolk football Referees and Police officers.

Unfortunately I cannot find anything out about the history or the arms which is strange as Norfolk is proud of it's history and especially it's most famous son Lord Horatio Nelson.

David Bethall wrote in to say:

Browsing your site I noticed that you say you can't find any information on the origins of Norfolk's coat of arms.

The county map of Norfolk, produced as part of the Atlas Novus of 1648 and held at the National Library of Scotland, shows the arms to be those of one Richard Gaite, Earl of Norfolk.  Above the shield are added a lion passant guardant on a red field to represent the city of Norwich and two Prince of Wales feathers in recognition of a royal birth at Sandringham (Edward VII?).