Devon Flags – St Petroc’s Flag, Devon Bunting & Ensign

The Devon flag: St Petroc’s cross

The Devon flag is a green field with a black cross edged in white, the colours of St Petroc, the sixth-century Cornish-born saint who founded churches across the county and whose cross had been used informally for Devon long before the flag existed. The design was drawn by Ryan Sealey and chosen in a BBC Devon public vote in 2003, the green standing for the rolling hills and moorland, the white for the surf and the china clay, and the black for Dartmoor, and it was registered with the Flag Institute in 2006. It is now the flag over County Hall in Exeter and on half the campervans heading down the A30. That registered design is our Devon flag. Alongside it the Devon ensign puts the county flag in the fly of a red ensign for the boat, and the Devon Lion flag carries the county’s heraldic lion for a rugby or civic display.

Devon Day, 4 June

Devon Day falls on St Petroc’s Day, 4 June, with the flag on civic buildings in Exeter, Plymouth, Torbay, Barnstaple and the market towns, cream-tea mornings in the villages and the hand flags out at schools. The county’s calendar runs through the Devon County Show at Westpoint in May, the Totnes and Honiton shows, Sidmouth Folk Festival in August, Dartmouth Royal Regatta, the Torbay airshow, Widecombe Fair in September, the Ottery St Mary tar barrels on 5 November, Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park, Plymouth Argyle at Home Park and the surf comps at Croyde and Bantham, with the flag flown at every one of them. The events calendar keeps the dates.

Sizes, grades and fittings

The Devon flag is held in 20x12in for a hand pole, a car or a desk, 3ft x 2ft for a wall or a short mast, 5ft x 3ft for a garden pole, a pub or a float, and 8ft x 5ft for a rugby ground, a town hall or a tall fixed pole. It comes in three grades: Flagtex, the printed woven polyester for the show, the regatta and Devon Day; Flagtex Nylon, the lighter cloth that lifts in a weak breeze on a sheltered pole in a combe; and DuraFlag, the heavy knitted grade with reinforced hems for a pole on the north coast or the moor that flies the cross all year. Every size has eyelets, and the DuraFlag can be ordered with rope and toggle for a halyard.

Devon bunting

Devon bunting has the widest choice of any county on the site: rectangular pennants with the full cross in 3m, 5m, 9m and 20m lengths, a triangular cut in the same colours for a village-fete look, and a giant 18.25m length with oversized pennants for a high street, a show marquee or a harbourside. A 3m run suits a pasty-shop door, 9m dresses a village hall or a surf-club balcony, and 20m crosses a street for Devon Day or the regatta.

Hand flags, table flags and windsock

Devon hand flags on wooden sticks come in 9x6in and 18x12in for the Sandy Park crowd, the carnival and the school parade. On the desk there is the Devon table flag with base at 6x4in, the 9x6in wooden table flag, the 18x12in large wooden table flag and the satin table flag for a council chamber, a hotel reception or a Devon Day dinner. The Devon windsock is for the campsite, the caravan and the beach hut. Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset are under county flags.

Devon flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Devon Flag (20x12in to 8x5ft, 3 grades)from £6.99
• Devon Bunting (3m to 20m, triangle & giant)from £9.98
• Devon Hand Flags (9x6in & 18x12in)from £5.99
• Devon Ensignfrom £6.99
• Devon Lion Flag£7.99
• Devon Table Flag with Basefrom £1.98
• Devon Windsock£9.99