NEWS: Denny and Dunipace (Scotland, UK)

It will be a different kind of post, because today I have some great news to share!

Weeks ago, I wrote about my proposals to the flag of Denny and Dunipace, and noticed that a proposal very similar to my design was among the finalists.

What I didn't know is that that finalist design was a merge between my own design and the one by a Spanish man named Fernando Álvarez Martín. And it won! Therefore I'm technically co-author of first town flag of Scotland!

That's the winner design:

For comparison, one of my proposals was like this:

(I currently don't know Fernando's exact proposal. If I obtain it, I'll submit it here.)

I'm very excited! Firstly, because I'm very proud about contributing someway to the final design. Secondly, because it's an important precedent to other Scottish towns adopting their own cool flags, specially due to support by the Flag Institute and the Court of Lord Lyon.

Comments are welcome!

Greetings to Denny and Dunipace, from Brazil.

Denny and Dunipace (Scotland, UK)

Denny and Dunipace is holding a contest to decide its new flag (more info here). I've submitted two entries, that didn't made the final list (even though similar entries did), but I'll show them here just for entertainment.

The burgh used to have a beautiful coat of arms, before it was incorporated into Falkirk, even though it's too busy for a flag:

My first entry adapted it into a more flag-friendly design:

The entry was followed by this rationale:

The flag resembles burgh seal and coat of arms. It contains a landscape, with river Carron and the bridge joining Denny and Dunipace. The white color remarks the important treaties signed in this place. The bar engrailed represents the connection with the Sinclair.

My second entry was less derivative but, I have to admit, more generic:


It was an improvement over a previous design, that took "twin towns" too literally:


I've submitted it with the following rationale:

The flag shows River Carron, with Dunipace in north bank and Denny in south. The white color remark the important treaties signed in this place. The black color represents coal and iron. Apart from Denny and Dunipace, the two fortified buildings can represent the forts on its banks dividing Roman and Picts — "Carron" may come from Latin "caer avon", i.e. "river of the forts".

None of them made the final, but designing them was nonetheless some fun.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
To know the finalists, click here.

Caithness (Scotland, United Kingdom)

Caithness is near to become the first mainland Scottish historic county (Orkney and Shetland already did it) to adopt its own flag. Today's post is for raise the awareness about this possibility.

Although it's not so common a post about the theme, I have made, along the years, many flags for Scottish localities. My favorite proposal for Caithness, that Meiriongwril has "resurrected" in Flags Forum, is a simple banner of arms:


A sailing ship has been a symbol of Caithness since the times of Norse mormaers. The raven is took from the "raven banner" conjecturally flown in Viking ships.

For a most laboured flag, I looked for the coat of arms of the Earl of Caithness:


This kind of ship in first and fourth quarters is more similar to most of the presentations of Mormaership of Caithness' coat of arms. Using the same background, and putting the previous flag on first quarter, we obtain the following result:


Whatsoever, doing this post was funny.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
You can read more the chances of Caithness gaining a flag here.

Isle of Arran (Scotland, United Kingdom)

Some islands and regions of Scotland seems to be gaining their own unofficial flags in last years. Looking at them, I noticed that the Isle of Arran, the biggest on the Firth of Clyde, is flagless.

The isle has a long and interesting history, much of which I wanted to represent in the flag, following:


A black saltire on white was the arms of the 5th Lord Maxwell, regent of the island (practically, a monarch) for five years in early 16th century. The saltire was turned in a Nordic cross, as the island was ruled by the Kingdom of Norway during the Viking Age. On the canton, a black lymphad with red flags, heraldic augmentation gained by the earls (now, dukes) of Hamilton when they became earls of Arran.

As far as I know, the black Nordic cross on white is currently unused by any entity, at least in United Kingdom.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
No, this post in not intentionally related to Scottish refendum.

Clackmannanshire (Scotland, UK)

Hi, readers! This week I'll be travelling and, as a precaution about internet availability, it's a pre-programmed post. I'm sorry if this post is shorter than usual.

The Association of British Counties (ABC) is a non-profit organization that has, among other goals, spread the flag usage in all British historical (or traditional) counties. One of its blogs, related to flags, was expanded on last weeks, and, for my surprise, one of the new proposals appearing on it was made by me, for a flag of Clackmannanshire.

My inspiration for them was the coat of arms of the county, that contains some interesting symbolisms. The gauntlets, related to a local legend related to Robert the Bruce, is present in all flags:

Proposal #1	Proposal # 2
Proposal # 3	Proposal # 4

The flag being proposed on that blog is the #3. A very detailed rationale of that flag, well-exposed by Jason Saber, can be seen here. It's not my only proposal on that blog, and, on a better occasion, I can present some others.

Unfortunately, the adoption of flags on Scotland isn't a simple process, as it depends of a grant by Lord Lyon King of Arms, what can be expensive.

Comments are welcome.

Sorry for the shortness of this post. Next week, the blog return with normal posts.

Northern Isles (United Kingdom)

Sometime ago, me and guys at Flags Forum were discussing about a flag for Northern Isles (the traditional name of Orkney and Shetland counties union). In 2014, there'll be a referendum for Scotland independence, but for Shetland and Orkney islanders, it's indifferent be ruled from London or Edinburgh. So, depending if they will leave Union together with Scotland or stay in it, they could need a flag.

Firstly, let's see Orkney and Shetland flags:

Orkney (Since 2007)	Orkney (Previous flag)	Shetland

My first design was a mix of both counties' flags, this way:

After that, Sammy came with a different way of mix them, therefore I replied with this, with a frontier between Shetland and Orkney flags:

It's OK for me, but some forum members said it had too many colors, so discussion came to other destination: try to emulate Scottish flag, but distinguishing it for show islands unique Nordic identity. Sammy came with three designs, being this two my favorite of them:

with Pictish cross	with shield knot

The two flag above are Sammy's designs.

Meinsauer, another forum member, came with a interesting model using a sun cross:
The flag above is Meinsauer's design.

It's OK, but it's still to similar to Scottish flag. So I used a strategy used before by Nova Scotia: invert blue and white. So I came with them (red is a color well-associated with Nordic countries, for me):

I desisted of using sun cross, because it's, unfortunately, associated with Nazi groups. Therefore, I made a vast search to symbols that represent Nordic heritage in Shetland and Orkney, so I found this Viking ship image in a commemorative badge (400 years of Shetland devolution to Scotland). It resulted in this:

I think this is very appropriated, because it harmonizes Scottish and Nordic heritages, and does anyone dislike cool ships? I'd like, also, to show a flag that Meinsauer did inspired in aforementioned flag.

Meinsauer, another forum member, came with a interesting model using a sun cross:
The flag above is Meinsauer's design.

This is it! Sorry if this post is a bit long.

I'd like to know your opinion about this post, any of the flags in this, or my blog in general. Please, comment.
NOTE: All these flag, except where mentioned differently, are mine. To read a interesting post about this same question, visit Sammy's blog. To see complete discusson, visit Flags Forum.