Saltire Scotland - The Scottish Flag Trust

07/12/2025

"It makes a vital contribution to our cultural heritage and to tourism locally, with visitors from around the world travelling to Athelstaneford to learn more about the Saltire."

01/12/2025

30/11/2025

30/11/2025

Representatives of Scotland's different faith groups gathered for a an inter-faith dedicaiton, with the First Minister John Swinney and Douglas Alexandar MP for Saint Andrew's Day as the new Saltire at the birthplace of Scotland's Flag was raised for Saint Andrew's Day.

30/11/2025

30/11/2025

On St Andrew's Day, the Princess Royal has been announced as patron of an appeal to create a new Saltire monument

30/11/2025

PLANS for a new monument dedicated to Scotland’s national flag at its founding place have been revealed.

The appeal comes 60 years after the unveiling of the national memorial in the village of Athelstaneford, East Lothian, where the flag was founded, as campaigners say the current monument is in “serious structural decline”.

PLANS for a new monument dedicated to Scotland’s national flag at its founding place have been revealed ...

10/11/2025

In 1963 the local Minister in Athelstaneford received a letter from Rognvald Livingston (pictured) which was to bring thousands of visitors to the village over the next 60 years.

"One day in the year 1963, a letter came through my letter-box bearing the Aberdeen postmark. It came from a person called Rognvald Livingstone, at that moment a complete stranger to me. The letter informed me that he had recently retired from Banking service in India, and that while he was resident in Lucknow, the Scottish Flag was raised and lowered daily, which action gave him great pleasure and thrilled him immensely. On returning to his native Aberdeen, he was dismayed that nothing of this kind happened in his own country, and that nothing had been done to commemorate the origin of the Scottish Flag. In view of the fact that I was Minister of the Parish where the National Flag originated, was it not incumbent on me to attempt to perpetuate this all-important event in our Scottish History? So saying, he proposed that I should take steps to set up a Saltire Memorial.

Well, it was a daunting enough proposal, and one fraught with innumerable difficulties. However, the appeal did not fall upon deaf ears. Realising that this was a task utterly beyond one person's capabilities, I did the wisest thing.

I approached the local schoolmaster, Mr. R.H.Ross, and the Earl of Wemyss and March, and we three became the Committee who carried through this great project to a most satisfactory conclusion.

After consultation with him we invited Dr. Eric Stevenson, Architect, to suggest a suitable design for this Memorial, which he did to great effect. This took the form of a Plinth on which was set a Pictorial Plaque showing two armies respectively elated and affrighted by the vision in the sky, and also showing the victors as taller men than their defeated opponents who are seen in a state of considerable disarray.

The next step was to invite sponsors for the project and these included the then Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Countess of Errol, the Earl of Dundee,— and the Lord Lyon King of Arms. This was followed by an Appeal for funds and we received donations from all over the world.
It was all very exciting and although we had our setbacks and disappointments we finally won through to the great day, Tuesday 30th November 1965, when the Memorial was unveiled by Lieutenant General Sir George C. Gordon Lennox, K.B.E., C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O., G.O.C.-in-C., Scottish Command attended by a detachment of The Royal Scots, the First Regiment to carry the Saltire into battle and whose first Colonel, by a strange coincidence, happened to have been born in the village of Athelstaneford.

Above that Memorial commemorating the battle of long ago is a tall mast and at its head a Flag flies against the Lothian sky, like the sign the warriors beheld when Scotland was shaping to be a Kingdom, on that day when they “saw against a blue sky a great white cross like St. Andrew’s, and in its image made a banner which became the Flag of Scotland.”

Alexander Downie Thomson, Minister Emeritus, Athelstaneford Parish Church.

02/10/2025

Happy International Vexillology Day 🎌

In the same spirit & theme as my post on International Heraldry Day, I thought it would be particularly appropriate to share my current thinking on how the Scottish Saltire would look had it been realised as a Japanese monshō 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇯🇵

The legend of the Saltire's origin is of course as two crossed clouds in the sky. Here I have attempted to depict that as 'two swirls of cloud crossing each other'.

Here two monshō styled 'kumo' clouds are shaped into the form of an intertwined 'futatsu-domoe' swirls. This of course sees them cross in a broadly X shape in the centre.

The background is in a shade utilised by Japanese sky blue 'sorario' coloured flags, like Shiga Prefecture (which happens to correspond closely to Air Force Blue).

Order of the Scottish Samurai JET AA Scotland The Japan Society of Scotland Embassy of Japan in the UK Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh Saltire Scotland - The Scottish Flag Trust

01/12/2024

Thanks to Unicorn and March Heralds leading our procession on Saint Andrew's Day. And a special thank you to The Court of the Lord Lyon as a whole for sponsoring the 'Register of Arms' roundel on our new timeline (pictured).

On St Andrew's Day, Unicorn and March attended the Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian at the Annual Saltire Service at Athelstaneford.

30/11/2024

Happy St Andrew's Day. For a unique Scottish gift, sponsor the Saltire flying at the birthplace of Scotland's flag. Sponsors receive a certificate and have the flag flown in their honour. Sponsor for yourself, as a gift or in memory of someone special and help keep the Saltire flying. https://saltire.scot/sponsor