Norfolk Flags – Ermine Bend Flag, Bunting & Hand Flags

The Norfolk flag: ermine on gold

The Norfolk flag is a gold field crossed by a diagonal band of ermine, the white fur with black tails that heralds use for royalty and the peerage, running from the top of the hoist to the bottom of the fly. The arms are those attributed to Ralph de Gael, the first Earl of Norfolk after the Conquest, and the ermine bend on gold has been used for the county on seals, regimental badges and the county council’s own shield for centuries. The flag was registered as the county flag of Norfolk with the Flag Institute in 2014 and is the version we sell as the Norfolk New (No Crest) flag: just the ermine band on gold, bold enough to read from the far side of a showground. The Norfolk Old (with Crest) flag is the banner of the county council’s full arms, with a red band of wheatsheaves and a lion across the top for the county’s farming and its royal connection, and it still flies on older civic buildings.

Norfolk Day, the Royal Norfolk Show and the Broads

Norfolk Day is 27 July, started in 2018 and now marked with flags on churches, pubs, village signs and the market stalls of Norwich, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth, with a full week of events either side. The Royal Norfolk Show at the Norfolk Showground in late June is the county’s biggest two days of the year and the flag is on every stand; the Cromer and Sheringham carnivals in August, the King’s Lynn Festival, the Norfolk and Norwich Festival in May, Holt Festival, the Sandringham Flower Show and the Wells and Blakeney regattas fill the rest of the summer. Norwich City supporters take the flag to Carrow Road next to the yellow and green, which it happens to match, the Broads hire fleets and the sailing clubs at Hickling and Wroxham fly it from the mast, and the beach huts at Wells-next-the-Sea, Old Hunstanton and Mundesley carry it through the season. Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and the rest of the counties are under county flags.

Sizes, grades and fittings

The Norfolk 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 club pole. Flagtex is the woven-polyester print with brass eyelets for Norfolk Day and the show season; DuraFlag is the knitted-polyester grade with double-stitched hems and a reinforced header, roped and toggled for a halyard, for a flag that stays up through the wind off the Wash.

Norfolk bunting

Norfolk bunting repeats the ermine band on gold on each rectangular pennant, sewn to a tape in 3m and 9m lengths, with the crest bunting in the same lengths. Three metres does a hut, a stall or a doorway, nine metres runs along a quay, a village hall or a show marquee, and lengths tie together for a high street on Norfolk Day.

Hand flags, table flags and windsock

Norfolk hand flags on wooden sticks are the carnival and parade flags, with the crest hand flag alongside. The Norfolk table flag with base is the 6x4in desk flag for a parish council, a hotel reception or a dinner, the wooden table flag is the 9x6in version on a wooden stand, and the satin table flag is the sleeved one for a chrome base. The Norfolk windsock is the one for a Broads cruiser, a campsite or a beach hut pole, where it keeps turning when a flag would hang still.

Norfolk flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Norfolk Flag, No Crest (20x12in to 8x5ft)from £7.99
• Norfolk Flag with Crestfrom £7.99
• Norfolk Bunting (3m or 9m)from £9.98
• Norfolk Hand Flags£5.99
• Norfolk Table Flag with Basefrom £1.98
• Norfolk Satin Table Flagfrom £5.00
• Norfolk Windsock£9.99