Happy New Year 2010!

This week we will again look at options for a name for the Black Country Flag, having looked at ideas derived from religion and geography already. In the last article looking at geography we hit upon the idea of ‘The Coal Cross’ and this may give us a clue as to another area for examination. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Christmas!

Although separated between Dudley and Sandwell councils these two towns have a lot of shared history. Whilst Cradley and Cradley Heath do have a fun brotherly rivalry, I felt that the flags to represent them should be very similar – brother flags for brother towns if you will – though still noticeably different. Read the rest of this entry »

This week we feature two flags that have drawn upon quite unique inspirations for their designs. The first is Amblecote, a small town just north of Stourbridge, which many might consider to be a suburb though a civic history of its own belies its nature as distinct town.

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The Rowley Regis is a nice example of a concept in tartan design called under-check and over-check. Which put pretty simply is where it looks like there is a broad ‘base’ check pattern with a smaller ‘foreground’ overlaid on the top. Read the rest of this entry »

My proposal for a Netherton flag has a reasonably long gestation, nearly as long as my Halesowen flag. When I started designing the latter, a good friend of mine, James Tromans, a passionate Netherton native, was keen that I turn my attentions to his home town too! Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesbury was one of the very first town flags that I decided to attempt after the positive reception that my Halesowen and Black Country flags had received. It’s development has been an interesting one, having had such a lengthy gestation. The funny thing it’s not that this flag was difficult to design really, rather it’s been a case of every iteration of the design has left me thinking that it is good but needs a few tweaks and I’d then have to go away and mull things over for a while.

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I found myself facing a bit of a dilemma when designing my proposal for a Walsall tartan. I really liked the blue and red quartering on the flag and felt that if this could be done right it would make a lovely tartan. However red is Walsall’s representative colour and I was also drawn towards that being the main colour for the plaid. Resolving this was the problem I faced. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve already looked at names for flags derived from local and patron saints, this week I’ll move onto looking at names derived from the physical characteristics of the place. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m very happy to show for the first time on the internet the Pelsall flag!

Pelsall

Now I must be very vocal in saying that this is indeed a very beautiful flag and… I didn’t design it. That honour goes to a former local of that beautiful little village – David Pugh. Whilst it is not heraldic in style the design really is a beautiful piece of artwork showcasing elements of Pelsall’s surrounding features like the bridge and canal.

Pelsall’s flag wasn’t the Black Country’s first, that honour belongs to Sedgley, however it was the second and the rarer of the two. In 2006 the flag was torn from its pole and stolen by thieves, and not seen again.

After becoming so involved in flag design recently, I decided to turn flag detective! I found an article online that described the flag and its theft. From that I got in contact with a councillor, Gary Perry, who had been interviewed about the crime. Gary was able to supply me with the artwork, he has also expressed a desire to fly the flag again which is great news and I hope to keep everyone here updated.

Now, onto a flag that I have designed to finish off this week’s blog – Rowley Regis. This was a flag that I was determined would look good, because not only is Rowley near to Halesowen, sharing some common heritage, but my family has some association with the town as well.

Rowley Regis

As usual I looked at using the coat of arms that the town has, though this was far too complex to readily translate into a flag design. So I started by keeping the vertical red stripes either side of the ermine band, the ermine being a symbol of the Earls of Dudley. One of the most unique and interesting things about Rowley is the addition of ‘Regis’ to its name to denote royal land. I wanted to make a highlight of this in the design and that gave me the idea of using the four lions from the coat of arms. However, this would be quite a lot for a small flag design, so I thought it might be better to use just one large lion passant; the type that is on on the Royal English coat of arms; as a centre piece for the design. Finally, upon the beasts shoulder is a blue fleur-de-lys, which refers to the local landowners, Halesowen Abbey, and features on the towns crest.

The result is another good looking flag for another proud town!

Note: This and all Black Country Flag posts are written by Phillip Tibbetts

The two flags that I show you today are ones that I am really very proud of. One is a great example of how I use existing heraldic symbols and the other I think is a similarly good example of the development of such symbols for a town that previously had none. Read the rest of this entry »