The View From Here — 4 August 2025
Introduction
In London, Parliament Square is across the road from the Houses of Parliament. The square itself is used for all sorts of events when not overrun with tourists.
On this picture we see many tourists, a statue of a famous person and several flags flying on the special Historic County Flags day (yes there is such a day!).
It all started with the historic county of Devon being commemorated when its own flag was created in 2002. This triggered a movement for each historic county to have flag created for it.
Of the 86 counties, 53 now have a flag. In total, there are 13 counties in Wales, 39 in England and 34 in Scotland. Many of these counties have been in existence for nearly a thousand years.
Yet this flag-flying day is brand new!
The background
In 2012, there was a rule change announced, which allowed county flags to be flown without planning permission. Who would have thought you needed planning permission to fly a flag?
Then in 2014, planning rules were changed so boundary signs, which marked traditional English counties, could be put up.