Oostkamp is an village and municipality that also comprises the villages of Ruddervoorde, Waardamme en Hertsberge and smaller hamlets of Moerbrugge, Steenbrugge, Erkegem and Baliebruge. The municipality can be found in the Belgian province of West Flanders south of Bruges and the population is around 23 thousand. Bruges was once an important city and now its very touristic and the Bruges nobility and elite escaped the bustling town to their castles and mansions in the Oostkamp municipality. There are 20 of them and almost every castle is private property and not visitable. But most of the outstanding buildings are visible from the public road. The name Oostkamp has nothing to do with an certain location of camp in the east. The name is evolved from de medieval name "Orscamp" and that meant "place of horses", "orse" is also old-English for horse. So lets take an look at the flag.
The flag has an red background with an diagonal white stripe. Six duck-like creatures without duckbills and legs are called in heraldry an martlet. An martlet is derived from the bird species the martin, family of the swallows. Knights that participated in the crusades were allowed to use martlets in their arms. So they think one of the Bruges nobility owned land in the Oostkamp area and that nobel arms is use in the municipality's flag and arms now. The noble family of Gruuthuse is one of the biggest contender in this case. So this flag is an use of medieval symbols, kinda works for me.
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