County flags – Berkshire

 

County flags – Berkshire

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Berkshire flag was registered with the Flag Institute in March 2017. It is the flag of the historic county. It shows a stag standing under an oak tree, both of which are traditional symbols of Berkshire and date back to at least 1627.

In that year, Michael Drayton (1563-1631), who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, wrote a poem, ‘The Bataille of Agincourt.’ Agincourt was fought in 1415, and Drayton described the men of Berkshire marching in that battle under the symbol of ‘a Stag, under an Oake that stood.’

The stag shown is a red deer bearing twelve-point antlers, which marks it as a ‘Royal’, thus evoking the shire’s title as the Royal County of Berkshire, and also alluding to the deer herds to be found.  The oak tree bears reference to its wonderful forests.

 Berkshire has had historic ties to royalty since the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror began building Windsor Castle in 1070 and it was completed in 1086. The county was always known informally as Royal Berkshire but was designated ‘Royal County’ in 1958. It is the only royal county in the United Kingdom.

Berkshire County Council was abolished in 1998. The county remains as a ceremonial county, no longer administered as a single entity, but divided into six unitary authorities.