The Potteries Flag

With the Black Country flying a flag for "independence" and Brummies following suit with a flag of their own, why not one for the Potteries? After all, our heritage is every bit as worthy as theirs.


(Click flag for SVG version)

As a Potteries ex-pat, I launched potteriesflag.co.uk to see whether the Potteries-pride from my childhood is alive and well. I suppose I'm just seeking assurance that I'm not the only one left who's still comfortable to announce "I'm from the Potteries... where the mugs come from".

I've long since felt that the National Media is never quite sure how to categorise us. It seems we're too far North to be Midlanders, too far South to be Northerners, at a time when Staffordshire seems all too keen to disown us. More often than not we were just overlooked.

Beyond a radius of 25 miles from Stan Matthews' statue, your average man-in-the-street couldn't tell you whether The Potteries comprise 5 or 6 towns and, at best, wouldn't be able to name more than 4 of them. He may recall that Stokie Arnold Bennett once wrote a cliffhanger for TV back in the 1970's and that the location of Port Vale's ground was the answer to a pub quiz question that he once got wrong. As for a town called Stoke, in a city called Stoke (on Trent), in a county called Stoke (on Trent).... I'd be prepared to forgive him that one.

Well perhaps now is a good time to fly the flag, raise our profile, and say :-

Before I go any further, let me just say that, at the outset, I trawled the Internet to see if a Potteries flag already existed but, to date, I've been unable find one. If, however, one does exist, let me be the first to apologise and emphasise that what follows is in no way intended to steal anyone's thunder. Likewise, I'm not professing that mine should be the definitive Potteries flag, as I'm sure some of you will/have come up with equally as good and even better ideas and designs. I'm saying that IF the Potteries don't already have a flag then, here is my "sixpenneth" to get the ball rolling.

As will have become apparent, I don't have a background in graphic art, nor do I claim the design to be all-my-own-work. I was, however, attracted to the idea of encapsulating the essence of the Potteries within a unique emblem. In the process which followed, I canvassed opinions from all and sundry, absorbing suggestions, advice and criticism as I went along. I hoped to create something which, even at a glance, would instantly convey "The Potteries" to all who saw it.

Built on a bedrock of coal and clay, for hundreds of years the Potteries manufactured the Nation's ceramics fired in the heat of a thousand kilns and, at its height, was a world-leader in its field. It was this fine heritage I hoped to capture.

Flag specification