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Pembrokeshire (Wales)

Last modified: 2013-11-11 by rob raeside
Keywords: pembrokeshire | caldey island | wales |
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[Pembrokeshire] image by Jason Saber, 8 October 2013


See also:


Description of the flag

A banner for Pembrokeshire is displayed on www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk, where the flag shown above can be seen as part of the banner.
Valentin Poposki, 7 November 2005

Note that the banner in the photo has on it the Pembrokeshire flag, though the rose seems different in detail, but I wouldn't ascribe any significance to that. I can confirm that the flag existed and was informally used when I was on holiday in Pembrokeshire a few years ago.
André Coutanche, 7 November 2005


Pembrokeshire flag competition

Pembrokeshire had a contest for a county flag. See article at http://www.pembrokeshiretv.com/content/templates/v6-article.asp?articleid=1281.
Valentin Poposki, 1 February 2006

The web site points out elsewhere that Pembrokeshire already has a flag [shown above] and this is a completely unofficial competition. They are also asking for information on an earlier Pembrokeshire flag.
Colin Dobson, 1 February 2006


Caldey Island flag report

[Flag of Caldey Island, Wales] image by Jaume Ollé, 11 June 2010

Source: unknown.

A blue flag with a golden fish over a golden sword. Caldey Island lies off the south coast of Pembroke, near Tenby. It seems to be a printed image from a bookplate. Is it of a Cistercian order? See http://www.caldey-island.co.uk/cp%20big4.jpg (image linked from http://www.caldey-island.co.uk) where the a shield bears this design.
Rob Raeside, 2 July 2010

No complementary information was provided by the Catalan vexillologist Fernando Berguillos, and I found the drawings when I come at home for the weekend, without time for contact it.
Jaume Ollé, 12 Jun 2010

Surely it must be what the Order deems to be the Caldey Abbey coat of arms (whatever 'coat of arms' means in this ecclesiastical context, and by whatever authority a coat of arms might be granted). In the context of that chart, it's clear that the shields relate to specific Cistercian foundations. The Welsh motto which appears below the shield might just be translated something along the lines of 'Spreading Praise through the Islands' (my extremely limited Welsh plus some hopeful googling).

So it's probably the coat of arms of Caldey Abbey. Whether or not it results in a Banner of Arms for the Abbey is unknown - we have no evidence for it. We have even less reason to regard it as the flag of Caldey Island.
André Coutanche, 12 July 2010

A group of Renaissance re-enactors seems to have adopted Caldey as the focus of their storylines. They have a logo based on the arms in question at their website. See http://www.thelivingmoon.com/01library/05research/01con/04ca/caldey.html. Perhaps an actual banner may have been made as a prop for their reenactments?

Also a boat charter firm uses the same logo on their webpage advertising Caldey trips. See http://www.whitewatercharters.co.uk/wildlife-trips-caldey-island.htm. So perhaps there is some local sentiment linking the arms as representative of the whole island?
Ned Smith, 12 July 2010

I got a reply from caldey-island.co.uk:
Thanks for your enquiry. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a flag for Caldey, either official or unofficial. Boats plying to the island usually fly the Union Flag and/or the Welsh Dragon. A design combining the Christian symbols of the fish and the cross has been used as a symbol of the island during the 20th century, and is still used as such, but to my knowledge it has never been used on a flag. It is also quite different from the image you refer to. I attach a picture of the Caldey symbol for your information.
John Cattini, Caldey Island
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg
, 3 May 2011