New Caithness flag unveiled by Highland Council

HIGHLAND Council has unveiled the winning design for a new Caithness flag.

The new flag is predominantly black - in a nod to the famous Caithness flagstone - featuring a Nordic cross and the county’s traditional galley ship emblem, celebrating the county’s Viking ties.

The gold and blue, representing the beaches and the sea, recalls the county’s maritime heritage.

The Lord Lyon, Dr Joseph Morrow, unveiled the design at a ceremony in Caithness House, Wick, on Tuesday.

More than 40 per cent of voters chose the Nordic cross design, after a competition was launched last year by Highland Council to select a county flag, with designs submitted from as far afield as Brazil, Australia and the United States.

The final four designs included references to the county’s maritime history and Viking heritage.

One entry featured a Pictish cat design, in a nod to the county’s past, when Picts inhabited Caithness at the start of recorded history.

The Pictish tribe living in the area was known as the Cat or Catt people, hence the ‘Caith’ in Caithness.

Caithness Civic Leader Gail Ross said in June last year: “The flag will be the public symbol of Caithness so I was delighted that so many creative and inspiring designs were submitted.

“As well as entries from our local schools, 10 designs came from America and there were also entries from Brazil, Australia, England and elsewhere in Scotland.”

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