Flag of Northumberland

{{short description|Flag of English county}}

{{use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{infobox flag

| name = Northumberland

| Design = Paly of eight Or and Gules per fess embattled all counterchanged{{Cite web|url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/north_east.html|title=Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - North East Region|website=www.civicheraldry.co.uk}}

| Image = Flag of Northumberland.svg

| Image_size = 200px

| Symbol = File:IFIS Equal.svg

| Proportion = 5:8

| Adoption = {{start date and age|1951}}

| Designer = College of Arms

}}

File:Scottish-English border.jpg]]

File:Northumberland Flag - geograph.org.uk - 2979551.jpg]]

The flag of Northumberland is the banner of arms of Northumberland County Council. It is also used to represent Northumberland in general, and unofficially to represent the historic county.

The design is the same as the coat of arms of the county council, granted in 1951; the heraldic blazon, or description, of the arms is Paly of eight Or and Gules per fess embattled all counterchanged.{{Cite web |title=Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - North East Region |url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/north_east.html |website=www.civicheraldry.co.uk}} It is based on the arms medieval heralds attributed to the Kingdom of Bernicia based on a brief description by the historian Bede of a flag used on the tomb of St Oswald in the 7th century.Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, Ch. 11: "And to furnish a lasting memorial of the royal saint, they hung the King's banner of purple and gold over his tomb" (et ut regia viri sancti persona memoriam haberet aeternam, vexillum eius super tumbam auro et purpura conpositum adposuerunt). The flag should be flown so that the top corner nearest the hoist is gold.{{cite web|url=http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/vg/flag.html |title=The Northumberland Flag Northumberland Northumbria England UK GB (page 113) |date=2005-06-24 |access-date=2010-09-25 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050624074238/http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/vg/flag.html |archive-date = 2005-06-24}}

In November 1995, the county council agreed to allow the flag to be flown anywhere in the county.{{Cite news |last=Winter |first=Ian |date=28 November 1995 |title=County flies its own flag |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19951128/114/0014 |access-date=20 September 2024 |work=Newcastle Journal |page=14}} In 2000, a spokesman for the county council stated that the "flag should only be rightfully flown within the present administrative County of Northumberland".{{cite news |author=Hillman |first=Peter |date=1 February 2000 |title=Letter to the Editor |newspaper=The Journal |publisher=Newcastle Chronicle and Journal Ltd}}

The Flag Institute, a vexillological charity, has included the flag in its "Flag Registry" and considers it to represent the area within the historic county boundaries, which includes northern Tyne and Wear. {{cite web |title=UK Flag Registry: Northumberland |url={{Flag Institute|Northumberland}}}}