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The English county of Somerset in southwestern England has no official flag. A campaign had been running between 2006-2009 for a flag for the whole of the ceremonial county, which included the non-metropolitan county of Somerset and the unitary authorities of North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset.[1] Currently Somerset County Council has its own coat of arms[2] and the unitary authorities have identifying logos.[3][4] The Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Elizabeth, Lady Gass, had shown her support as has David Heath MP and the local TV, radio and newspapers.
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Late in 2005 enquiries were made as to the potential usage of Somerset County Council's logo[5] as a flag of the ceremonial county either in its current form or in a modified form without the mace (the symbol of the Council's authority). The response was that the people of Somerset could fly the Council's flag to show their support for both their council and county. This seemed to imply that North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset were not included as Somerset in the eyes of Somerset County Council. Strong support for a flag subsequently came from David Heath, Lady Gass, as well as coverage from the Western Daily Press, Somerset County Gazette,[6] and BBC Somerset[7] in addition to Orchard FM and Ivel FM.
Somerset County Council was awarded its coat of arms by the College of Heralds in 1911. The blazon or heraldic description of Somerset County Council's coat of arms is "Or, a Dragon Rampant Gules holding in the claws a Mace erect Azure". Meaning a red upright dragon on a gold background holding an upright blue mace. It has superficial similarities to the gold wyvern on a red background traditionally associated with Wessex (of which Somerset was part). Post 1974 with the loss of northern Somerset to the county of Avon and then post 1996 with the end of Avon and the creation of the unitary authorities, Somerset County Council does not control the whole of Somerset. This means that the coat of arms not only do not represent the whole county, but are not for public use. The logo that is based on the coat of arms is available for sale,[8] but technically as it bears the mace it still represents the County Council. A commercial version of this armorial banner still currently exists, on a white background with 'Somerset' stenciled on the top of the flag. It exists as the only uniformly used version of a Somerset flag.
In 2006, resident Ed Woods set up a website proposing a flag for the entire county of Somerset. This version entailed a red wyvern on a yellow background with no mace. However, as of December 2009, the website and campaign appear to have ceased.
