Possibly the oldest of the county flags is that of Cornwall (although many Cornishmen of course would assert that it is in fact a national flag!). This plain white cross on a black field, named the Cross of Saint Piran, has been used since at least the early nineteenth century and possibly long before. The colours are held to derive from the Cornish Saint Piran’s discovery of tin, a white metal, in the black ashes of his fire. Saint Piran is also the patron saint of tin miners and tin was of course a mainstay of the Cornish economy for centuries.