The St Frideswide Cross

The St Frideswide Cross: The Oxfordshire Association proposal for an Oxfordshire flag.

The ‘St Frideswide Cross’ Oxfordshire flag proposal consists of a straightforward cross design in white with alternating blue and green quartering. The template used has the virtues of simplicity, clarity, and contiguity with both the predominant historic style of European flags and the emerging trend in English county flag configuration. The colour scheme carries symbolic meaning whilst observing the vexillological and heraldic ‘rule of tincture’. The white cross may be taken as emblematic of the saintly character of Frideswide (c650-727), our traditional local heroine, whilst also paying homage to the crossroads of Carfax, the ancient junction at the beating heart of the county. The blue and green meanwhile are colours long associated with Oxfordshire, prominently appearing on the County Council’s armorial bearings and in Oxfordshire regimental history. These two colours may also be taken to present a pigmentary representation of the essential communal dynamic in our county’s chief city between ‘town’/county (pastoral green) and ‘gown’ (Oxford blue). To the poetic mind, it may also evoke Oxfordshire sky/river and field/moor. Incidentally, the use of green also mirrors its use by Oxfordshire County Council in its current logo and publications.

More information can be found on the Oxfordshire Association website.