![\"Surrey\"](\"http:\/\/flags.abcounties.com\/files\/2012\/01\/Surrey2.gif\")
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As with many county emblems, the Surrey checks originated with local aristocracy \u2013 in this case the de Warenne family, themselves originally from Normandy. This was the first dynasty to hold the Earldom of Surrey after its creation by William I in 1088AD. The de Warenne checks<\/p>\n
are first recorded in the \u2018Glover\u2019s Roll of arms” dating from around 1253-58 although they may have been based on an earlier depiction, in a roll now lost, dating circa 1240 which would make it one of the earliest rolls of arms and thus the checked arms, one of the first instances of formal heraldry. The arms are described in the Glover’s Roll as \u201cLe Counte de Garenne escheque d’or & d’Azur\u201d \u2013 \u201cThe Count [Earl] of Warenne, checks of gold and blue\u2019, Garenne being an earlier form of the name Warenne.<\/p>\n The pedigree of the Surrey checks therefore appears to be one of the oldest of all county emblems. By 1415AD the de Warenne line had become extinct but it seems it was not too long before the de Warenne checks were wielded to represent the county whose earls they had been. In the very year that the last of the House of Warenne died, Michael Drayton, in his 1627 work, ‘The Battaile of Agincourt’ records that the men of Surrey carried a banner of gold and blue checks into the Battle of Agincourt in honour of the 1st Earl of Surrey,<\/p>\n \u201cThe men of Surrey, checky blue and gold, which for brave Warenne their first earl they wore\u201d<\/p>\n A near two decades before Drayton\u2019s poem was published the de Warenne checks had appeared on John Speed\u2019s map of Surrey<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By the nineteenth century the association of the checks with the county seems to have been consolidated. They were adopted for example, as the emblem of the Surrey Arch\u00e6ological Society and in 1863 the Borough of Reigate was founded and adopted for itself a device which pointedly includes the Earl of Surrey\u2019s checks<\/p>\n . The formal relationship of the checks to the county itself was cemented when Surrey County Council, which had come into being in 1889, adopted a seal for use on official documentation which included the de Warenne checks at the apex<\/p>\n The seal is described\u00a0in the 1894 work “The Book of Public Arms” by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies and M. E. B. Crookes;<\/p>\n \u00a0 The seal incorporating the de Warenne checks was subsequently used to represent Surrey in a general sense as shown by its inclusion on this 1907 Surrey cricket postcard where it appears in the top right<\/p>\n and again in this 1934 Surrey Beekeepers Association medal\u00a0where it is also seen at the top<\/p>\n 1934 was the year that\u00a0a formal award of arms\u00a0was made to the county council, which included the de\u00a0Warenne colours of yellow and blue\u00a0in a vaguely chequered arrangement<\/p>\n It is conjectured that the arms did not feature\u00a0the\u00a0de Warenne checks more unequivocally\u00a0because when the county council was set up in 1888 it lost administrative\u00a0control over much of the county and accordingly the\u00a0College of Arms specifically designed the new arms\u00a0to reflect the fact that the council’s remit was a new one, which\u00a0did not extend across\u00a0the whole of Surrey – implying that had the council been given control of the entirety of the territory of Surrey it would naturally have received arms\u00a0incorporating the Surrey checks\u00a0in a more definitive arrangement! Rather confirming this conjecture is the abundance of the blue and yellow checks amongst the arms of the county’s towns<\/p>\n Reigate Borough Council (in use 1951-1974)<\/p>\n Reigate and Banstead Borough Council\u00a0\u00a0(in use since 1975)<\/p>\n Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough Council\u00a0\u00a01965)<\/p>\n Wandsworth Borough Council (in use since 1965)<\/p>\n \u00a0 Wimbledon Borough Council (in use 1906-1965)<\/p>\n Beddington and Wallington Borough Council\u00a0\u00a0(in use 1937-1965)<\/p>\n Dorking Borough Council (in use 1954-1974)<\/p>\n Cranleigh Parish Council (in use since 2007)<\/p>\n Mole Valley\u00a0District Council (in use since 1975)<\/p>\n \u00a0colours taken\u00a0from the de\u00a0Warrene checks.<\/p>\n Surrey Heath Borough\u00a0Council (in use since 1974)<\/p>\n colours taken\u00a0from the de Warrene checks.<\/p>\n Elmbridge Borough Council (in use since 1976)<\/p>\n colours taken from the de Warrene checks.<\/p>\n Other examples of the association of the county of Surrey with the chequered yellow and blue emblem are;<\/p>\n its\u00a0appearance, embossed\u00a0on the front cover of the ‘Little Guide’ to Surrey by J. Charles-Cox, Methuen & Co Ltd,\u00a01952,<\/p>\n ; this 1925 volume on the county, “Unknown Surrey” by Donald Maxwell, clearly adorned with the Surrey checks in exactly the same manner that Kent related items might bear that county’s white horse, or a Sussex\u00a0publication, its gold martlets<\/p>\n ; the appearance of the checks on this 1937\u00a0medal issued by the Surrey Rifle Association<\/p>\n and their continued inclusion\u00a0in the association’s logo<\/p>\n ; use of the chequered pattern by Surrey Cricket club over the years, such as this 1965 publication<\/p>\n ; the appearance of the checks on the badges of two Surrey bowling clubs, at left below\u00a0the county bowling\u00a0association and at right the Surrey indoor bowling association<\/p>\n ; the incorporation of the de Warenne checks in the arms of the University of Surrey<\/p>\n ; and in the modern era, great use of the checks as a clear expression of Surrey identity\u00a0by the Surrey County Amateur Swimming Association<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Surrey checks are also used as the school badge by Wallington County Grammar School<\/p>\n \u00a0 and form part of the badge of Wallington High School For Girls<\/p>\n In light of this\u00a0overwhelming\u00a0weight of evidence, initiated by some extensive historical research into the subject carried out by Philip Tibbetts, the chequered banner of de Warenne was\u00a0unambiguously and demonstrably\u00a0shown to be\u00a0the only and obvious flag for Surrey. On July 23rd 2014, Historic County Flags Day, a number of Surrey county\u00a0bodies flew\u00a0the de Warenne banner in support of the campaign to establish the design as the county flag. The groups flying the flag included;<\/p>\n the Richmond Society who flew the De Warenne banner from St Mary Magdalene Church in Richmond<\/p>\n \u00a0Caterham Valley Parish Council who\u00a0displayed the de Warenne checks at Soper Hall, the council headquarters.<\/p>\n Godalming Town Council raised the flag, displayed here by the town\u2019s Deputy Town Clerk<\/p>\n Cranleigh Parish Council arranged to fly the de Warenne flag from\u00a0a flagpole, near the War Memorial in the town\u2019s High Street – Vice Chairman of Cranleigh Parish Council, Councillor Brian Cheesman, is seen at right below, raising the flag.<\/p>\n \u00a0 and the Mayor of Haslemere,\u00a0also hoisted the de Warenne\u00a0checks<\/p>\n Registration of the\u00a0flag was also supported by<\/p>\n The flag was thus registered on September 11th 2014 on the basis of, \u00a0its ancient linkage with the county; its widespread deployment in the arms, badges and insignia of a number of county organisations; it’s unequivocal extensive support by a variety of county organisations either by written declaration or practical usage of the flag.<\/p>\n The campaign for registration of the de Warenne checks was based on this Facebookpage\u00a0 https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/flagofsurrey<\/a>\u00a0which now continues to promote the flag.<\/p>\n Thanks to Philip Tibbetts and Brady Ells for their extensive research in this area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As with many county emblems, the Surrey checks originated with local aristocracy \u2013 in this case the de Warenne family, themselves originally from Normandy. This was the first dynasty to hold the Earldom of Surrey after its creation by William I in 1088AD. The de … Continue reading ![\"de](\"http:\/\/flags.abcounties.com\/files\/2012\/01\/de-Warenne-arms.jpg\")
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