I wrote this page before I found out that Milton Keynes City Council has held a flag design contest for children and already selected their new flag. This page is for the historic record.
Congratulations Milton Keynes on your new City status. All self respecting cities need a flag. London, Coventry, St Albans all have really good ones. You should have one too.
Having worked in Milton Keynes for over a decade, I was surprised to learn that Milton Keynes don’t have a flag. I was attending an event organised by a local group and they were using the “swan” flag of Buckinghamshire. This prompted me to set to work on a design.
I propose that Milton Keynes formally adopt this flag and wave it with pride. I will cheerfully gift all rights to the design to the City of Milton Keynes if they wish to adopt it as their official city flag.
Symbolism
The Cross of St George
The boldest element of the flag is the Cross of St. George, the flag of England. Milton Keynes is a part of England and found right around the middle.
The centre of the cross gives way to a circle, representing the grid system and roundabouts that Milton Keynes is famous for.
The Cubic Curve
The curve represents mathematics – the contribution of the Milton Keynes area to the war effort. The operation at Bletchley Park is credited with stopping the second world war by many years and became the foundation of the computer revolution, where Milton Keynes continues to play an integral part.
The curve itself is a formula that represents the year 1967, marking the year Milton Keynes was founded.
y = 1x³ + 9x² + 6x + 7
The Concrete Cow
The canton of the flag has a cow spot, representing the famous concrete cows. The spot itself comes from one of the cows themselves. I visited the site to look for a good spot that would fit and selected this one, inverting black and white to better fit the design.
Is this a joke?
No. I am quite serious. If you think symbolism that includes the roundabouts and concrete cows are mocking the City of Milton Keynes, remember that this is what made your city great. The grid system was built so that the sun would rise along the streets on the summer solstice as if the whole city is a Neolithic monument. That is so incredibly cool!
The cows are cool! Your local roller-derby team is named after the cows. Does London have concrete cows? No, they do not! (I think.) Be proud of your quirkiness.
“Milton Keynes has its own flag? What, a concrete cow and a roundabout?”
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
About Me
I’m Bill (P. Godfrey) and I’m a bit of an amateur vexillologist. (That’s the study of flags.)
I’ve been working for a Milton Keynes based technology company for a little over fifteen years. As I spend so much time there I joined and participate in a few local groups and societies.
There’s more about me and some of my writing on my website.