County · East Midlands
Few English flags name a legend. Nottinghamshire’s does: on a green field crossed by a white-edged red cross of St George, a white shield carries the green silhouette of Robin Hood, bow drawn. Green for the county’s fields, the cross for England, and at the heart the outlaw of Sherwood Forest — the county’s gift to the world’s imagination.
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| Country | England (United Kingdom) |
|---|---|
| Region | East Midlands |
| County town | Nottingham |
| Emblem | Robin Hood (flag); the oak & the Trent (arms) |
| Flag registered | 20 May 2011 (Flag Institute) |
| Arms granted | 19 July 1937 (County Council) |
Flag of Nottinghamshire — Robin Hood on a green St George’s cross flag
The flag sets a red cross of St George, edged in white, on a green field. Where the arms of the cross meet, a white shield bears a green silhouette of Robin Hood in a shooting stance — taken from James Woodford’s bronze statue of the outlaw that stands beneath the walls of Nottingham Castle.
Each element carries a meaning: green for the county’s fields and forests, the cross of St George for England, and Robin Hood both for Nottingham’s place near the centre of the country and for the county’s most famous son. The flag is a modern one, chosen by the public: it was registered with the Flag Institute on 20 May 2011 after a countywide competition run by BBC Radio Nottingham.
No county is bound so tightly to a legend. Robin Hood — the outlaw who robbed the rich to help the poor, at war with the Sheriff of Nottingham — has been told and retold since the Middle Ages, and his greenwood is Sherwood Forest, the royal hunting forest that once spread across the county’s heart.
Sherwood survives today as a nature reserve, and at its centre stands the Major Oak, a vast ancient tree said by tradition to have sheltered Robin and his band. Whether the outlaw ever lived is beyond proof; but the forest, the castle at Nottingham and the legend together give the county an identity carried on its very flag.
Older than the popular flag are the arms of Nottinghamshire County Council, granted on 19 July 1937. Where the flag speaks of legend, the arms speak of the land itself.
The achievement: on the shield, an oak tree for Sherwood Forest above a wavy bar for the River Trent. The crest is a golden mural crown — a mark of local government — from which rises a wheatsheaf charged with a miner’s shovel, for the county’s farming and coal-mining. The supporters are a black lion and a silver greyhound, drawn from the arms of Nottinghamshire’s great ducal houses.
Between them, flag and arms hold the whole of Nottinghamshire: the oak of Sherwood, the Trent that waters it, the coal that once fired it — and, at the centre of it all, Robin Hood.
The flag of Nottinghamshire is a green field with a white-fimbriated red St George’s cross, defaced at the centre with a white shield bearing a green silhouette of Robin Hood drawing his bow. It was registered by the Flag Institute in 2011 after a public competition.
Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest, is Nottinghamshire’s most famous symbol. The silhouette is taken from James Woodford’s bronze statue near Nottingham Castle, and his central place on the cross reflects Nottingham’s position near the centre of England.
In the arms of Nottinghamshire County Council, the oak tree stands for Sherwood Forest and the wavy line for the River Trent, which runs through the county. The arms were granted in 1937.
The flag was registered with the Flag Institute on 20 May 2011, chosen by public vote in a competition organised by BBC Radio Nottingham.
Nottinghamshire is famous above all for Sherwood Forest and the legend of Robin Hood, for Nottingham Castle and the ancient Major Oak, and historically for its coal-mining heritage.
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on September 20, 2026.