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Glasgow, Scotland

image located by Danny Brooks, 26 October 2026
Source: Flags by Mrflag

City of Glasgow
Coat of arms
Glasgow University

City of Glasgow

When I enquired in 2003, I was told the city flies an armorial banner (for which see http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_flourish.htm).
Ian Sumner, 4 December 2008

Glasgow, in western Scotland, has a population of around 650,000. It is Scotland's largest city by population and the third largest city in the United Kingdom.

Glasgow City Council's Flag Flying Protocol refers to a 'Council Flag', which is to fly 'on all days when Full Council sits'. I presume this is the flag referred to by Ian Sumner.

I have found two variants of a Glasgow banner of arms online: one depicted on a flag sold by an online retailer (Glasgow, Lanarkshire Outdoor Quality Flag) and another on Wikimedia.

Danny Brooks, 26 October 2026

Coat of arms

image located by Danny Brooks, 26 October 2026

The city arms can be blazoned:
"Argent, on a mount in base vert an oak tree proper, the stem at the base thereof surmounted by a salmon on its back also proper, with a signet ring in its mouth Or; on the top of the tree a redbreast, and in sinister fess point an ancient hand bell, both also proper."

The design refers to three miracles associated with the city's patron saint, St Mungo: a tree whose branches miraculously burst into flames, allowing Mungo to relight a dead fire; a robin miraculously resurrected by the saint; and a salmon in whose mouth a signet ring belonging to Queen Langeoreth of Strathclyde was found, after a monk caught it on Mungo's instructions. The bell is said to have been given to the Saint by the Pope.

The arms are recalled in a poem:
Here is the tree that never grew
Here is the bird that never flew
Here is the fish that never swam
Here is the bell that never rang.

Quite why the bell never rang, I'm unsure.

Danny Brooks, 26 October 2026

Glasgow University

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeybob/2417602938 located by Jan Mertens, 3 December 2008

This flag shows elements of the arms of the University, albeit a version with the colours simplified, compared to http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/coat-of-arms/. It contains elements of the city's arms - the tree and robin, the salmon and ring, and the bell - but these are arranged differently on the city's arms, see for example http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_flourish.htm.
Ian Sumner, 4 December 2008