Belfast (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)

Today, I'll try to fix the flag of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland.

This is the current flag of Belfast:


That's not more than a banner of city's coat of arms:


The coat of arms is not the best heraldry, not it's not horrendous, either. The bell seems to be canting (i.e. punning) with city's name. The vair is taken from Chichester's family heraldry, being Arthur Chichester the founder of the town. The ship may refer to the importance of shipbuilding or the etymology of the city (from Gaelic, "mouth of the sandbar") and is decorated with St. Patrick's cross.

But, as a banner of arms, it's not effective, really too busy. My proposal is the following:


Let me explain it...The river refers to city etymology, and its importance as a portuary and shipbuilding city.Besides remarking Chichester's heraldry, the individual parts of a vair are known as "vair bells", thus keeping the pun. With some luck, they can barely remember a sail.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Sorry for being REALLY late... It seems like a (negative) record.

United Kingdom (without Scotland)

The upcoming referendum about Scottish independence, to be held in 18 September 2014, has generated a doubt about a possible "rest of UK" flag. While many people say the UK flag won't change whatever is the result, we should be aware of the hypothesis of Scottish leaving the Union and the flag of the remaining kingdom being changed; if it occurs, what should be the best option?

My proposal is the following:

In the Yes-winning scenario, the remaining UK should be constituted of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the current flag represents the order of the kingdoms joining the Union, the design in the hypothetical could represent all the constituent countries in same way. The yellow cross on black background represents Wales, the red saltire on red stands for Northern Ireland, while the red cross overall represents the England. If Cornwall eventually become a constituent country, part of yellow fimbriation can be turned white. The saltire is completely red, and not counterchanged red and white like in current flag.

At least two other questions about vexillology can be resultant of the hypothetical scenario: the case of the ensigns and the royal standard.

Ensigns: They don't need to be changed. For this occur, it only needs that, while the national flag is changed, the current naval jack is kept. The now-independent countries that still adopt a British ensign (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tuvalu, Cook Islands) can also keep it for historical purposes.

Royal standard: It could be an excellent opportunity to Wales be represented in UK royal standard. However, its inclusion can be ambiguous, as the Prince of Wales uses the "royal" coat of arms of Wales (as used in Wales and in England and Northern Ireland). Other options are quartering England and Northern Ireland, or marshalling them, for example.

As it's a very complex issue, I invite you to leave your opinion on the comments.

This post is about vexillology, not politics. Comment gently, please.

Derry/Londonderry (United Kingdom)

My friend Samuel McKittrick designed a flag to its own city, Londonderry (as unionist usually name it) or Derry (as nationalist usually prefer), the second biggest Northen Irish city (see the post here). It's going to be the first UK City of Culture, in 2013, so it's a good time to build a flag. Just above you can see two flags: the first is the unofficial city council's flag and the second is my favorite Sammy's proposal.

Let's explain them: the first flag depicts the coat of arms, also symbolized in second flag. It depicts a skeleton (or the Death) on a stone with a castle in left. The real origin of the meaning is unknown, but it's popularly said to represent the castle of the 2nd Earl of Ulster, Richard De Burgh (1259-1326), being the skeleton from one of his knights and cousin, starved to death on castle's dungeons. In the chief (top of shield) there's London coat of arms (sometimes with a harp on center), added when city changed its name from Derry to Londonderry.

The field of both flags is a crimson, representing the crimson flag, firstly flown during the Siege of Derry (1689) as symbol of defiance. Sammy's flag contains badge with a oak leaf and a stronghold, taken from a memorial in Guildhall square. The oak represents city's origins and name (Doire means "oak grove" in Irish). The bastion is a reference to the city's insurmountable walled city (hence city's nickname "maiden city").

Based in this flags, I made my own proposal to Derry's/Londonderry's flag:

In the first flag, the coat of arms. I didn't use the London banner of arms to avoid somebody concluding that city has any formal relationship with the English city. The field is crimson, the same shade of flags above. I use the same oak leaves from Doire team in GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association). I'm not still 100% satisfied with the flag, but still think it's reasonable. I tried a half-half version of flag, instead of a "cantoned" one, but that didn't work, for me.

Thanks for reading! Any kind of comment is welcome.

I recommend the visit to Sammy's post about Derry/Londonderry flag: click here.

Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)

The United Kingdom is formed by four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But, before the division of Ireland island between Northern Ireland and independent Republic of Ireland, they were: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Of the four, Northern Ireland is the only without a current official flag.

From 1953 to 1972, they used this flag:

The main problem to re-adopt this flag is that it's very monarchist — look at St. George's cross (symbol of England) and crown. It's hard to be accepted, because there are Northern Irishmen that provide loyalty to British crown, the one that want Northern Ireland to unite with Republic of Ireland and the one that want Ulster independent from the two.

At online Flags Forum (I like to visit it for meet new people interested in flags), I met Sam McKittrick, a Northern Ireland resident discontent with the fact him homeland hasn't a flag, and, with other willing guys, each one proposed ideas. My last proposed flag, based on other guys desires, was this:

The basic element of this flag is the St. Patrick's cross. I chose this one for three reasons (to know more about the Northern Irish flag question, click here):

1. It's politically neutral, supposedly.
2. It represents Northern Irish identity, isn't a generic flag.
3. It's used for centuries. It's easier to somebody use something he knows and regards than something/someone force him to use it.

Originally, I was interested in use a "plan" St. Patrick's saltire, as it was intended to symbolize Northern Ireland in Queen's Diamond Jubilee last week. But Sammy suggested me to use the Red Hand, Northern Ireland more recognized symbol, in it; it's based in Ulster ancient flag. My next design contained a white shield with red hand, but the shield was after colored yellow, more similar with Ulster's flag. Now I want to show it to the bigger number of people, to know their opinion about it. And yours, too!

To express your opinion, you can choose (just now!) between comment or post your opinion on topic (the link is in text).
Thanks to Sammy, Armiger, TheNewTeddy and all other people that opined in that forum topic. Sorry if I forgot someone.