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Bedfordshire (England)

Last modified: 2014-10-11 by rob raeside
Keywords: bedfordshire |
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[Flag of Bedfordshire] image by Jason Saber, 13 September 2014

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Description of the flag

Bedfordshire’s flag is that used by the council which is now defunct – similar to Middlesex and Westmorland for example. The registered version has been slightly modified by transposing the blue and white wavy lines on the left handside (form the observer’s viewpoint) to ensure that yellow does not touch white and red does not touch blue. The blue is also a lighter hue to stand out better where it touches the black central panel. The three escallops or shells on a black field are from the arms of the Russells, Dukes of Bedford, with the red and yellow (gold) quartered field, from the arms of the Beauchamps, the leading family in the county after the Norman Conquest, who constructed Bedford Castle and were granted a barony at Bedford. The blue and white wavy stripes are a reference to the River Ouse which flows through the county and are a traditional heraldic representation of a "water course". Thus, although a relatively recent creation, composed in 1951, the design subsumes centuries of local tradition, with elements that bespeak the county's history, heritage and geography. The same design features in the badges, crests, logos and insignia of a myriad Bedfordshire organisations.
Jason Saber, 13 September 2014


Former Bedfordshire County Council flag

[Flag of Bedfordshire]by Dirk Schönberger

The flag of Bedfordshire county council is a simple the banner of arms (obtained from Dirk Schönberger's website).
Falko Schmidt, 25 October 2002

See also the Department for Communities and Local Government stream on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/communitiesuk/sets/72157624821543799/with/5050801617/ where they have a set of county flags.
Colin Dobson, 2010