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The Saint Alban's Cross is a yellow saltire on a blue field (azure a saltire or). It is found in several flags, notably that of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, previously a Benedictine monastery, and the city of St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK.
It is the heraldic emblem attributed to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. A saltire is attributed to Mercia in College of Arms Ms. L.14, dating from the reign of Henry III (d. 1272). The arms were subsequently used by the Abbey of St Albans. With the dissolution of the Abbey and the incorporation of the borough of St Albans the device was used on the town's corporate seal and was officially recorded as the arms of the town at an heraldic visitation in 1634. Display of the "Saint Alban's Cross" in flags is modern. Such flags are flown from Tamworth Castle. The flag was flown outside Birmingham Council House during 2009 while the Staffordshire Hoard was on display in the city. The design is also shown in street signs in Tamworth, the "ancient capital of Mercia".
It is possible that the colours of the cross and connection with Saint Alban is partly through a link with Saint Andrew; a chapel of Saint Andrew was from an early period attached to the Abbey of Saint Alban, and this may be part of the origin of the design.
See also
References
- "CIVIC HERALDRY OF ENGLAND AND WALES - HERTFORDSHIRE". www.civicheraldry.co.uk.
- Middlesex & Hertfordshire Notes and Queries, v. 3 (1897), p. 96.
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