Dorset Flags – Dorset Cross Flag, Bunting & Hand Flags

The Dorset flag: St Wite’s Cross

The Dorset flag is a white cross with a thin red edge on a gold field, known as the Dorset Cross or St Wite’s Cross after the Saxon saint whose shrine survives in the church at Whitchurch Canonicorum, one of only two in England to have kept its relics through the Reformation. The flag was chosen by public vote in 2008, with the gold for the county’s sandy beaches and cornfields and the red and white taken from the Dorset Regiment and the old county arms, and it was registered with the Flag Institute in the same year. The Dorset New flag is this registered cross, with the colours matched to the official shades so it sits properly next to the Union Jack on a civic pole. The Dorset Old (Lions) flag is the banner of the county arms used before 2008, three red lions on white, which still flies on older civic buildings and is bought by people who prefer the heraldic design.

Dorset Day, the County Show and the steam fair

Dorset Day is 1 June, the feast of St Wite, celebrated since 2016 with flags on churches, pubs and village halls from Sherborne to Swanage, and it opens a summer that runs through the Dorset County Show at Dorchester in September, the Great Dorset Steam Fair at Tarrant Hinton over the August bank holiday, Bournemouth Air Festival, Swanage carnival, Camp Bestival at Lulworth, the Weymouth and Poole regattas, Lyme Regis Lifeboat Week, the Sherborne Castle country fair and the Purbeck folk and food festivals. AFC Bournemouth supporters take the flag to the Vitality, the sailing clubs at Poole, Weymouth and Portland fly it from the mast, the Jurassic Coast campsites and the beach huts at Studland, Mudeford and Sandbanks carry it through the season, and Dorset Cream Teas and Dorset Knob throwing both have their own flag-draped days. Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire are under county flags.

Sizes, grades and fittings

The Dorset flag is stocked in 20x12in for a car, a boat or a hand pole, 3ft x 2ft for a beach hut, a bar or a short pole, 5ft x 3ft for a garden flagpole, a pub or a show stand, and 8ft x 5ft for a church tower, a town hall or a sailing club. Flagtex is the woven-polyester print with brass eyelets for Dorset Day and the summer; DuraFlag is the heavier knitted grade with double-stitched hems and a reinforced header, roped and toggled for a halyard, for a flag that stays up on a clifftop or harbour pole all year.

Dorset bunting

Dorset bunting repeats the cross on each rectangular pennant, sewn to a tape in 3m and 9m lengths, with the Dorset Old (Lions) bunting in the same lengths. A 3m length does a beach hut, a stall or a pub doorway, 9m runs along a quay, a village hall or a show marquee, and lengths tie end to end for a high street on Dorset Day.

Hand flags, table flags and windsock

Dorset hand flags on wooden sticks in 9x6in and 18x12in are the carnival, regatta and school flags, with the Lions hand flag alongside. The Dorset table flag with base is the 6x4in desk flag for a parish council, a hotel reception or a dinner, the wooden table flag and large 18x12in wooden table flag suit a top table, the satin table flag is the sleeved one for a chrome base, and the Dorset windsock is the one for the campsite, the boat and the beach hut.

Dorset flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Dorset Flag (20x12in to 8x5ft, Flagtex or DuraFlag)from £6.99
• Dorset Old (Lions) Flagfrom £7.99
• Dorset Bunting (3m or 9m)from £9.98
• Dorset Hand Flagsfrom £5.99
• Dorset Table Flag with Basefrom £1.98
• Large Wooden Table Flagfrom £3.98
• Dorset Windsock£9.99