Northamptonshire Flags – Rose of the Shires Flag, Bunting & Table Flags

The Northamptonshire flag: the Rose of the Shires

The Northamptonshire flag sets a maroon rose with green sepals at the centre of a gold cross edged in black on a maroon field. Northamptonshire has been called the Rose of the Shires for generations, the maroon and gold are the county’s traditional colours, familiar from the cricket club and from the old county council livery, and the cross echoes the shape of the Eleanor crosses at Geddington and Hardingstone, two of the three that survive from the twelve raised for Queen Eleanor. The flag was chosen in a public vote and is flown from County Hall in Northampton and at county events. That is our Northamptonshire flag; the Northamptonshire Old flag is the council-style banner, a red cross on white between a white stag and a black bull with the Tudor rose and the motto Rosa Concordia Signum, held in 20x12in to 5ft x 3ft for anyone who wants the heraldic version.

When the rose is flown

The flag goes up for the Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens, for Northamptonshire cricket at Wantage Road, for the Cobblers at Sixfields and for the Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone, when the campsites along the Dadford Road are a sea of flags. It appears at the Oundle and Rothwell fairs, the Kettering and Wellingborough carnivals, the Brackley and Towcester shows, Althorp and Boughton estates, Rockingham Castle and the Northampton balloon and shoe festivals, and on the village greens of the Nene valley for St George’s Day, jubilees and coronations. The historic county takes in Peterborough and the Soke, so the rose flies there as well. The events calendar lists the dates.

Sizes, grades and fittings

The county flag is stocked in 20x12in for a car window, a hand pole or a desk, 3ft x 2ft for a wall or a short mast, 5ft x 3ft for a 6m garden pole, a pub or a campsite, and 8ft x 5ft for a rugby club, a town hall or a tall fixed pole; the Old flag runs from 20x12in to 5ft x 3ft. Flagtex is the printed woven-polyester grade for a race weekend or a match day, DuraFlag the heavier knitted-polyester grade with reinforced hems for a pole that flies all year. Eyelets come as standard on both, and the DuraFlag can be fitted with rope and toggle for a halyard.

Northamptonshire bunting

Northamptonshire bunting puts the rose and cross on rectangular pennants in 3m and 9m lengths. Three metres dresses a bar, a shop counter or a classroom wall; nine metres runs along a cricket pavilion, a village hall or a campsite awning, and lengths can be tied together for a street in Oundle or a market square in Northampton.

Hand flags and table flags

Northamptonshire hand flags are 9x6in on wooden sticks for a parade, a carnival or the Silverstone grandstands. On the desk there is the Northamptonshire table flag with base at 6x4in, the 9x6in wooden table flag and the satin table flag for a council chamber or a reception, with the Old pattern table flag for the heraldic version. Leicestershire, Rutland, Bedfordshire and Warwickshire are under county flags.

Northamptonshire flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Northamptonshire Flag (20x12in to 8x5ft, 2 grades)from £6.99
• Northamptonshire Bunting (3m & 9m)from £9.98
• Northamptonshire Hand Flags£5.99
• Northamptonshire Old Flagfrom £7.99
• Northamptonshire Table Flag with Basefrom £1.98
• Northamptonshire Wooden Table Flagfrom £2.99
• Northamptonshire Satin Table Flagfrom £5.00