England Flags – St George Cross Flag, Bunting & Hand Flags

England flags: the St George Cross and where it came from

The English flag is a red cross on a white field, the cross running the full height and width of the cloth with each arm one fifth of the flag’s height wide. It was worn as a badge by English soldiers in the thirteenth century, was flying from English ships by the reign of Edward III, and by the Tudor period it was understood everywhere as the flag of England. In 1606 it was combined with the Saltire to make the first Union Flag, which is why the red cross sits on top of the blue in the Union Jack today. There are no fixed colour shades in law, but the printed St George flag we sell uses the same bright red as our Union Jacks so the two match on a street.

St George himself was a Roman soldier martyred in about 303 AD and adopted as England’s patron during the Crusades. The dragon of the legend turns up in this collection on the St George Charger flag, which puts the mounted saint in the centre of the cross, and in the English White Dragon and Wessex Dragon designs that draw on Anglo-Saxon banners.

When the English flag is flown

St George’s Day is 23 April and pubs, parish councils and schools order most of their flags in the fortnight before it. Football is the other big driver: a World Cup or Euros summer, an England v Scotland night at Wembley, or the Six Nations when England play Wales and Ireland. Remembrance in November rounds off the year.

Which size England flag to choose

3ft x 2ft fits a bedroom wall, a window or the short pole on a narrowboat. 5ft x 3ft is the pub and garden size, the one that goes on a telescopic pole and the one most pubs hang from the frontage for a tournament. 8ft x 5ft is for a proper flagpole at a school, cricket club or council building, where a smaller flag would look lost. All three come with metal eyelets on the hoist; the DuraFlag grade can have rope and toggle or clips instead.

Flagtex, Flagtex Nylon and DuraFlag

Flagtex is the printed polyester grade for one-off events and indoor use, with a double-stitched hem and two eyelets. Flagtex Nylon is heavier, with a quadruple-stitched fly end and a richer finish for a flag that will be hung and taken down a few dozen times. The DuraFlag England flag is the permanent-pole option: knitted polyester, UV-fast inks, a reinforced hoist and a choice of toggle or clips, and it is the grade schools and councils buy for a flag that stays up all year.

England bunting

England bunting comes in rectangular and triangular pennants on lengths from 3m to 20m, printed on the same polyester as the flags so it survives a wet summer outside a pub. For a street party or a school fete, run it fence to fence and mix in the St George Charger bunting for a bit of variety.

England hand flags, car flags, windsocks and table flags

England hand flags on wooden sticks come in packs for fan zones, school assemblies and parade routes. The England car flag clips to a window for match day, with the England 2 Lions car flag as the football version. A St George windsock keeps moving on a campsite pole when a flag would hang limp, and the England table flag with base suits a reception desk, a quiz night or a St George’s Day dinner.

English county flags: Yorkshire, Cornwall, Lancashire and more

England’s counties have flags of their own, most of them registered in the last twenty years, and we stock the lot. The white rose of Yorkshire, the black-and-white St Piran of Cornwall, the red rose of Lancashire, the green-and-white of Devon, the fleur-de-lis of Lincolnshire and the three seaxes of Essex are the ones we sell most, with Kent, Norfolk, Somerset, Northumberland and Durham close behind. The Union Jack, Scotland and Wales have hubs of their own under British flags.

England flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• England Flag (3x2 to 8x5ft, 3 grades)from £6.99
• England Buntingfrom £9.98
• England Hand Flagsfrom £5.99
• England Car Flag£7.99
• St George Charger Flagfrom £6.99
• Yorkshire Flagscounty range
• Telescopic Flag Poles3m–12m