Rutland Flags – Horseshoe & Acorns Flag, Bunting & Table Flags

The Rutland flag: the horseshoe and the acorns

The Rutland flag is a green field with a large gold horseshoe at the centre, surrounded by gold acorns. The horseshoe is the county’s oldest emblem: by a custom going back to the Middle Ages every peer of the realm passing through Oakham for the first time gives a horseshoe to the lord of the manor, and the walls of Oakham Castle’s great hall are hung with more than two hundred of them, some from kings and queens. The acorns are for the oaks of the old royal forest of Leighfield and the county’s woods, and the green is the Rutland countryside around Rutland Water. The horseshoe and acorns appear on the county council’s arms and on its motto Multum in Parvo, much in little. This design is our Rutland flag, held in the full size range; the bunting, hand flags and most of the table flags carry the earlier council-style Old pattern, which also shows the horseshoe and acorns.

Where the horseshoe flies

Rutland is England’s smallest county and makes the most of its flag: it goes up on Oakham Castle and the county offices at Catmose, for the Rutland Show at Burley on the Hill in June, Oakham’s Wednesday and Saturday markets and the Uppingham fatstock show, Rutland Water’s sailing regattas, the Rutland Water half marathon and the Normanton church, the Oakham and Uppingham school speech days, Burghley just across the border, the Cottesmore and Ketton carnivals and the Rutland Day celebrations each year that mark the county’s independence regained in 1997. It flies on garden poles across the villages for St George’s Day, jubilees and coronations. The events calendar keeps the dates.

Sizes, grades and fittings

The Rutland flag is stocked in 20x12in for a hand pole, a desk or a car, 3ft x 2ft for a wall or a short mast, 5ft x 3ft for a 6m garden pole, a pub or a float, and 8ft x 5ft for the showground, the castle or a tall fixed pole. Flagtex is the printed woven-polyester grade for a show or a weekend; DuraFlag is the heavier knitted-polyester grade with reinforced hems and double stitching for a pole by the reservoir that flies the horseshoe all year. Each has eyelets, and rope and toggle can be ordered on the DuraFlag for a halyard.

Rutland bunting

Rutland bunting repeats the horseshoe and acorns in the Old pattern on rectangular pennants in 3m and 9m lengths. Three metres dresses a shop, a bar or a classroom, nine metres runs along a village hall, a pavilion or a show tent, and lengths tied together will cross Oakham market place or Uppingham high street for a carnival.

Hand flags and table flags

Rutland hand flags are 9x6in on wooden sticks in the Old pattern for a parade, a school or the show ring. On the desk there is the Rutland table flag with base at 6x4in in the current design, the Old pattern table flag in the same size, the 9x6in wooden table flag and the satin table flag for a council chamber, a school or a dinner. Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire are under county flags.

Rutland flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

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