@greatbritisharchitecture: Happy St George Day (April 23rd) It’s often remarked that there’s nothing more English than a St George’s Cross Flag gentle flapping in the summers breeze on a church tower in the countryside. However, it’s not very English at all, but perhaps that’s what makes it English! There’s an irony to the fact that St George’s Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate Englishness but its central figure never set foot on the green English pastures. Today England is an incredibly multicultural place and over the centuries so many different cultural groups have been assimilated into what we today would call an “English or British” nation. So, in some sense, he’s a pretty good patron saint! St George was made our national patron saint at a time when England was changing, no longer were we an inward looking insular nation, but we’d become the regional hegemon, taking over our nearest neighbours and on the verge of dominating our historic rival. Therefore, St Edmund was no longer appropriate as an emblem of the nation, basically a humble and defeated king wasn’t a good rallying point for armies about to seize greatness!

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Wednesday 23 April 2025 07:16:36 GMT