^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Wales: Church in Wales

Cymru

Zeljko Heimer, 4 September 2001

Church in Wales
Alternate 1:2 version
Dewi Sant (St. David's Cross: Anglican Church)

Church in Wales

A different flag is used by the Church in Wales: a white flag with a black cross, and a gold Celtic cross emblem inside the cross. It is described as being in accordance with the Grant of Arms of 9 December 1954; a white field charged with a royal blue St George's cross, and in the centre thereof a Celtic Cross in gold. It was to replace the flag which had been in use since 1936; a black cross on a golden field said to have been taken from the arms of the manors of Llawhaden and Pebidiog (anciently known as Dewisland), of which the early Bishops of St David's were barons.
David Prothero, 3 September 2001

Alternate 1:2 version of the flag

Blas Delgado Ortiz, 30 December 2001

Based on a recent photo this flag appears to be 2:1, in contrast to the one shown above by Zeljko Heimer. Also, all the spaces inside the emblem appears golden, instead of some blue in the background, and it is smaller than previously depicted. The crosses' arms inside each four squares seem to be trefoils.

Blas Delgado Ortiz, 30 December 2001

Dewi Sant (Saint David's Cross)

by António Martins-Tuvalkin, 18 August 2001

The gold cross on black of St David has, as far as I know, never had an official status in Wales. The nearest to it was that it was used by Anglican churches in Wales before disestablishment in 1921. I have never seen it flying - the nearest was a banner of the arms of the diocese of St David's which flew from my college on St David's day. The only written reference for the gold-and-black flag I have seen is in Carr (1961).
Roy Stilling, 21 November 1995

According to Carr (1961), Flags of the World, a black cross on gold was used by Welsh Anglican churches until 1954. '[It] is said to have been taken from the arms of the manors of Llawhaden and Pebidiog (anciently known as Dewisland [NB: Dewi Sant is the Welsh for St David]), of which the early bishops of St David's were barons' (p66). This, of course, is the reverse of the gold cross on black flag previously mentioned.

However, the arms of the bishopric of St David's are a gold cross on black, like the flag mentioned, but with four outline black cinquefoils in the arms of the cross. I spent three years in Wales at university and I too never saw a cruciform flag being flown instead of the Red Dragon. However, on St David's Day (1st March), my college - St David's University College, Lampeter (Coleg Prifysgol Dewi Sant, Llanbedr Pont Steffan for any Welsh-speakers) - flew a banner of the arms of St David's.
Roy Stilling, 3 September 1996