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Durham, County Durham (England)

image by Marcus Schmöger, 24 September 2001

Description of the Flag
Durham University

Description of the Flag

Durham is a city about 30 km south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; it has a really magnificent church (a striking Norman cathedral). The flag is a banner-of-arms and shows a red cross (fimbriated white) on black.
M. Schmöger, 24 September 2001

The City of Durham has a simple and attractive shield which is widely seen on official notices, sign-posts, litter bins and other street furniture, etc. It is a red cross on a black field, fimbriated white. There is at least one place where this appears as a flag, in the market place outside the Council offices. The flag is severely tattered, being little more than half its original length, but it looks as though it is 1:2.

Note that Durham also gives its name to the county of which it is the 'capital'. The county has a coat of arms which incorporates what is known as the 'St Cuthbert's Cross'. This also appears in other coats of arms, but not in any flags or banners of arms which I have seen, with the possible exception of a rather unsatisfactory flag which was flying at Durham Castle, which is now part of the University of Durham. It was a maroon field with a coat of arms, including separate a motto, stuck in the middle of it - not at all heraldic.
André Coutanche, 29 October 2004

Durham University

The University of Durham pages about arms and mottos of the various colleges is at http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/university.calendar/volumei/2004.2005/colleges/arms.pdf and of the University itself is at http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/university.calendar/volumeii/2001.2002/introduction.pdf. This has a photo showing a square green flag with a cross, a lion and an x on it.
Jan Mertens, 20 November 2008

The flag which appears on the Flicker link is generally to be seen hanging vertically and indoors rather than outdoors. There is a large version of the flag in Durham Cathedral; this is the first time I have seen it flying outdoors and horizontally.
Ron Lahav, 21 November 2008