The Merionethshire flag ( cy, Baner Sir Feirionnydd) is the flag of the historic Welsh county of

Merioneth , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

. It was registered with the

Flag Institute The Flag Institute is a UK membership organisation headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, England, concerned with researching and promoting the use and design of flags. It documents flags in the UK and internationally, maintains a UK Flag Registr ...

as the official flag of the county on 2 January 2015. __TOC__

History

The design is adapted from the seal used by the former county council. This in turn derived from the anachronistic description of a banner borne by the men of Merioneth at the

Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; french: Azincourt ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected English victory against the numerica ...

, in the 17th-century poem of the same name by

Michael Drayton Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London. Early life Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...

. Here he wrote of “three goats dancing "gainst a rising sun"; the shield was blue, the sun golden and the goats white. Speculation regarding this unusual arrangement suggests a connection with

Cader Idris Cadair Idris or Cader Idris is a mountain in the Meirionnydd area of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies at the southern end of the Snowdonia National Park near the town of Dolgellau. The peak, which is one of the most popular in Wales for walkers and hik ...

, where goats browsed and behind which the sun rose. The flag therefore both maintains a theme associated with Merioneth for six centuries and is also a highly distinctive design – no other flag features a sun in this position and the arrangement is uniquely Merioneth.

Notes

References

External links

* Flag Institute – Merionethshire {{Subnational flags of the United Kingdom Merionethshire

Merionethshire , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

History

See also

Notes

References

External links