Banffshire and Moray fly their own flags for the first time

Moray and Banffshire now have their own official flags.

Following a competition and public vote to settle on the winning designs, the flags have now been registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon which regulates heraldry in Scotland, as well as the UK Flag Registry.

The Moray flag – designed by a Dallas Primary School pupil in Forres – was officially unveiled at Elgin Town Hall at the weekend while being simultaneously raised at events in Fochabers, Forres, Lossiemouth and Rothes.

The flag is partially green and has a wheat symbol to recognise the area’s rich agriculture. The blue and yellow represents Moray’s coast, sea and sand.

Banffshire’s new flag was flown for the first time at Castle Hill in Cullen, as well as in other communities across the area. It was designed by a pupil at Buckie’s Portessie Primary School.

The golden orange represents the whisky that is made from the region’s waters, the sun is for sunsets and agriculture, white recognises the bridges in the narrow county and blue is for the county’s rivers and sea.

New flag ‘to represent and promote our local identity’

Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire Andrew Simpson said: “I am confident that the new flag for Banffshire can be used to represent and promote our local identity for individuals, businesses, organisations and activities from across historic Banffshire.”

Yesterday I was delighted to attend the reveal and raising of the new county flag for #Banffshire, on Castle Hill in #Cullen.
Was excellent flag flying weather! Just a spot of drizzle before the clouds broke and the sun appeared, creating a rainbow over #CullenBay pic.twitter.com/eE6kNlU8Kt

— David Duguid MP (@david_duguid) October 29, 2023

In April, Aberdeenshire became the seventh county in Scotland to get an official flag after a competition was run by The Press & Journal.

A mix of purple and gold, with a castle in the middle and bearing the image of a crown, it was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire Sandy Mason at Castle Fraser.

Historic County Flag Day

Elsewhere across the north, the northern isles of Orkney and Shetland also have county flags, dating back to 2007 and 1969 respectively.

Caithness’ flag was launched in 2016, whilst their southern neighbours Sutherland unveiled their one in 2018.

Historic County Flag Day takes place on July 23 each year, and next year Banffshire and Moray’s new flag will fly outside of Parliament Square along with those from other counties across the UK.