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Pembrokeshire (Wales)

image by Jason Saber, 8 October 2013

Description of the flag
- Pembrokeshire flag competition
Caldey Island flag report

See also:

Description of the flag

A banner for Pembrokeshire is displayed on www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk, where the flag shown above can be seen as part of the banner.
Valentin Poposki, 7 November 2005

Note that the banner in the photo has on it the Pembrokeshire flag, though the rose seems different in detail, but I wouldn't ascribe any significance to that. I can confirm that the flag existed and was informally used when I was on holiday in Pembrokeshire a few years ago.
André Coutanche, 7 November 2005

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 October 2019

The very first flag of the county was slightly different from the current version.
Description of flag:
The flag is blue, parted by a yellow centred cross. In centre on a green pentagon is a heraldic rose, quartered of red and white, barbed white. The petals and barbs are not painted but punched instead and the form of the barbs was different. The pentagon and thus the rose were bigger than in the current version.
In the town hall of Pembroke there is a commemorative framed picture, including a photo of the county flag and the following text, which was compiled by George Lewis.

“The Flag of Pembrokeshire
The flag was devised in 1988 by a team of four people, James Brock, Marjorie Jacobs, Dewi Pritchard and Peter Stock.
The design of the flag is based on the following:
A background of four blue rectangles, three of them represent the Sea, which surrounds Pembrokeshire on three sides, while the remaining rectangle represents the Blue Stones of the Preseli Hills, used in the construction of Stonehenge. The Yellow Cross of St. David represents the North of the County and Pembrokeshire beaches and Daffodils, while The Tudor Rose represents the South of the County and the association with the Royal Dynasty, founded by King Henry the Seventh, who was born in Pembroke Castle. The Green, surrounding the Tudor Rose, represents the Landscape of Pembrokeshire.
The flag was officially Recognized and Dedicated at a Ceremony in Pembroke Castle in August 1988.
Standard bearer Michael Davies, escorted by James Brock and Peter Stock, marched to the band of the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards and placed the newly created flag on an arrangement of drums of the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, where a Consecration Field Service was conducted by The Reverend Alan Thomas.”
Pembroke Town itself had no proper flag in 2014.
Source: I spotted this image in the town hall of Pembroke on 9 September 2014
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 October 2019

Pembrokeshire flag competition

Pembrokeshire had a contest for a county flag. See article at http://www.pembrokeshiretv.com/content/templates/v6-article.asp?articleid=1281.
Valentin Poposki, 1 February 2006

The web site points out elsewhere that Pembrokeshire already has a flag [shown above] and this is a completely unofficial competition. They are also asking for information on an earlier Pembrokeshire flag.
Colin Dobson, 1 February 2006

Caldey Island flag report

image by Jaume Ollé, 11 June 2010

Source: unknown.

A blue flag with a golden fish over a golden sword. Caldey Island lies off the south coast of Pembroke, near Tenby. It seems to be a printed image from a bookplate. Is it of a Cistercian order? See http://www.caldey-island.co.uk/cp%20big4.jpg (image linked from http://www.caldey-island.co.uk) where the a shield bears this design.
Rob Raeside, 2 July 2010

No complementary information was provided by the Catalan vexillologist Fernando Berguillos, and I found the drawings when I come at home for the weekend, without time for contact it.
Jaume Ollé, 12 Jun 2010

Surely it must be what the Order deems to be the Caldey Abbey coat of arms (whatever 'coat of arms' means in this ecclesiastical context, and by whatever authority a coat of arms might be granted). In the context of that chart, it's clear that the shields relate to specific Cistercian foundations. The Welsh motto which appears below the shield might just be translated something along the lines of 'Spreading Praise through the Islands' (my extremely limited Welsh plus some hopeful googling).

So it's probably the coat of arms of Caldey Abbey. Whether or not it results in a Banner of Arms for the Abbey is unknown - we have no evidence for it. We have even less reason to regard it as the flag of Caldey Island.
André Coutanche, 12 July 2010

A group of Renaissance re-enactors seems to have adopted Caldey as the focus of their storylines. They have a logo based on the arms in question at their website. See http://www.thelivingmoon.com/01library/05research/01con/04ca/caldey.html. Perhaps an actual banner may have been made as a prop for their reenactments?

Also a boat charter firm uses the same logo on their webpage advertising Caldey trips. See http://www.whitewatercharters.co.uk/wildlife-trips-caldey-island.htm. So perhaps there is some local sentiment linking the arms as representative of the whole island?
Ned Smith, 12 July 2010

I got a reply from caldey-island.co.uk:
Thanks for your enquiry. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a flag for Caldey, either official or unofficial. Boats plying to the island usually fly the Union Flag and/or the Welsh Dragon. A design combining the Christian symbols of the fish and the cross has been used as a symbol of the island during the 20th century, and is still used as such, but to my knowledge it has never been used on a flag. It is also quite different from the image you refer to. I attach a picture of the Caldey symbol for your information.
John Cattini, Caldey Island
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 3 May 2011