Flag of Suffolk

Flag of Suffolk
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	Not yet adopted

Suffolk

Bullstode proposal

Flag device used by the Suffolk County Council

The Suffolk flag is the proposed flag of the county of Suffolk . It has not yet been registered with the Flag Institute.

Design

The design is a banner of the arms of Saint Edmund which bears two gold arrows passing through a gold crown. Edmund, a one time Saxon king of East Anglia is strongly connected with the county of Suffolk - his burial site is located at Bury Saint Edmunds, in the county. The arms featuring a Saxon crown for the martyred Saxon king, were ascribed to Saint Edmund in the mediaeval period and can be seen across the county incorporated into the coats of arms of several towns, as well as the arms of the county council. The Saint Edmund's arms themselves however are not used by any entity and have been proposed by Graham Bartram of the Flag Institute as an ideal flag for the county of Suffolk. This illustration of the arms is by Philip Tibbetts.

An alternative proposal features the Saint Edmunds arms in shield form as an escutcheon on a Saint George's Cross. This is the work of Bill Bulstrode. Thuis design originated with a campaign initiated by local Suffolk media to replace Saint George as England's patron saint, with Saint Edmund. Accordingly, Bill Bulstrode, a local flag seller, lent support to this campaign by designing a flag to represent Saint Edmund and after some research decided that an appropriate move would be to combine Saint Edmund's blue shield with the red cross of Saint George. Originally designed with a triple pointed shield, after consultation with the Suffolk heraldry Society, the flag was modified to feature the more commonly seen heater shield shape. Whilst an interesting idea the design is widely seen as too similar in form to the long established Flag of East Anglia, which bears three gold crowns on a blue shield, again as an escutcheon on a red Saint George's Cross. As Suffolk is a constituent part of this wider region it is necessary to distinguish the county's flag clearly and precisely, from the regional flag which already exists on the Flag Institute's registry.

The Suffolk County Council itself does not conform with the standard heraldic practice of placing the design from the shield of its arms on a flag as a bnner of the arms but unconventionally opts to feature the shield again as an escutcheon at the center of a yellow flag.

While the campaign to replace England's patron saint was unsuccessful, Saint Edmund was recognised by Suffolk County Council as the patron saint for Suffolk.