Historic counties of England

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The historic counties of England and Wales, from a map of 1824

The historic counties of England are ancient subdivisions of England.^[1] They were used for various functions for several hundred years^[2] and continue to form, albeit with considerably altered boundaries, the basis of modern local government.^[3][4] They are alternatively known as ancient counties.^[5]

[edit] The counties

The historic counties are as follows:^[6]

Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire (County of Chester) * Cornwall Cumberland Derbyshire Devon Dorset County Durham * Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire † Herefordshire Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Kent Lancashire (County of Lancaster) * Leicestershire		Lincolnshire Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire (County of Salop) Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Sussex Warwickshire Westmorland Wiltshire Worcestershire Yorkshire
* = county palatine | † = also known as the County of Southampton or Southamptonshire | Monmouthshire is not shown

The map omits all exclaves (detached parts) apart from the Furness part of Lancashire south of Cumberland and Westmorland. Monmouthshire was previously considered to be a county of England, but is now generally accepted to be part of Wales.

[edit] Naming and abbreviations

Counties named after towns were often legally known as the "County of" followed by the name of the town — Yorkshire would be referred to as "County of York". This usage was followed even where there was no town by that name, such as the "County of Berks". The modern usage is to use the suffix "-shire" only for counties named after towns, and for those which would otherwise have only one syllable. Kent was a former kingdom of the Jutes, so "Kentshire" was never used. The name of County Durham is anomalous. The expected form would be "Durhamshire", but it is never used. This is ascribed to that county's history as a county palatine ruled by the Bishop of Durham.

In the past, usages such as "Devonshire", "Dorsetshire" and "Somersetshire" were frequent.^[7] There is still a Duke of Devonshire, who is not properly called the Duke of Devon.

Customary abbreviations exist for many of the counties. In most cases these consist of simple truncation, usually with an "s" at the end, such as "Berks." for Berkshire and "Bucks." for Buckinghamshire. Some abbreviations are not obvious, such as "Salop" for Shropshire, "Oxon" for Oxfordshire, "Hants" for Hampshire and "Northants" for Northamptonshire.

[edit] Area

Accurate measurements of the area of counties were not available until the nineteenth century, as a by-product of the Ordnance Survey's boundary survey. The officially recorded areas were adjusted to match the new data at the time of the 1861 census, replacing the less reliable figures previously used by the Registrar General.^[8]

For a list of the historic counties by their area, see:

• List of counties of England by area in 1815
• List of counties of England by area in 1831
• List of ancient counties of England by area in 1891

[edit] Origins

The establishment of counties had begun by the 12th century, although many boundaries date from far earlier, incorporating Saxon and Celtic divisions; however, some borders did not assume their commonly-recognised form until considerably later, in some cases the 16th Century. Because of their differing origins, the counties varied considerably in size. The county boundaries were fairly static between the 16th Century Laws in Wales acts and the Local Government Act 1888.^[9]

[edit] Southern England

In southern England, the counties were subdivisions of the Kingdom of Wessex, and in many areas represented annexed, previously independent, kingdoms or other tribal territories. Kent derives from the Kingdom of Kent, and Essex, Sussex and Middlesex come from the East Saxons, South Saxons and Middle Saxons. Norfolk and Suffolk were subdivisions representing the "North Folk" and "South Folk" of the Kingdom of East Anglia. Only one county on the south coast of England now usually takes the suffix "-shire". Hampshire is named after the former town of "Hamwic" (sic), the site of which is now a part of the city of Southampton.

[edit] Midlands

When Wessex conquered Mercia in the 9th and 10th centuries, it subdivided the area into various shires, which tended to take the name of the main town (the county town) of the county, along with "-shire". Examples of these include Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. In many cases these have since been worn down — for example, Cheshire was originally "Chestershire".^[10] Rutland was an anomalous territory or Soke, associated with Nottinghamshire, that eventually became considered the smallest county.

Lincolnshire was the successor to the Kingdom of Lindsey, and took on the territories of Kesteven and Holland when Stamford became the only Danelaw borough to fail to become a county town.^[11]

The border with Wales was not set until the Laws in Wales Act 1535 — this remains the modern border. In the Domesday Book the border counties had included parts of what would later become Wales — Monmouth, for example, being included in Herefordshire.^[12] The ancient town of Ludlow, now in Shropshire, was included in Herefordshire in Domesday.

[edit] Northern England

Much of Northumbria was also shired, the best known of these counties being Hallamshire and Cravenshire. The Normans did not use these divisions, and so they are not generally included as historic counties. The huge Yorkshire was a successor to the Viking Kingdom of York, and at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 was considered to include what was to become northern Lancashire, and parts of Cumberland, and Westmorland. Most of the later Cumberland and Westmorland was under Scottish rule until 1092. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the harrying of the North, much of the north of the country was left depopulated; at the time of the Domesday Book areas of the northern part of England, as it then existed, were included in the returns for Cheshire and Yorkshire.^[13] However, there is some disagreement about the status of some of this land. The area in between the Ribble and the Mersey rivers (referred to as "Inter Ripam et Mersham" in the Domesday Book)^[14] was included in the returns for Cheshire,^[15] but recent sources report that this did not mean that this land was actually part of Cheshire,^{[16][17][18][19]} though one source implies that it was.^[14] The north-east or Northumbria, land that would later become County Durham and Northumberland, was left unrecorded.

Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, County Durham and Northumberland were established as counties in the 12th century. Lancashire itself can be firmly dated to 1182.^[20] Part of the domain of the Bishops of Durham, Hexhamshire was split off and was considered an independent county until 1572 when it became part of Northumberland.

[edit] Role

By the late Middle Ages, the county was used as the basis of a number of functions.^[2]

[edit] Administration of justice and law enforcement

The Assize Courts used counties, or their major divisions, as a basis for their organisation.^[3] Justices of the peace originating in Norman times as Knights of the Peace,^[21] were appointed in each county. At the head of the legal hierarchy were the High Sheriff and the Custos rotulorum, (or keeper of the rolls), for the county.

Until the nineteenth century law enforcement was mostly carried out at the parish level. With an increasingly mobile population the system became outdated. Following the successful establishment of the Metropolitan Police in London, the County Police Act 1839 empowered justices of the peace to form county constabularies outside of boroughs. The formation of county police forces was made compulsory by the County and Borough Police Act 1856.

[edit] Defence

In the 1540s the office of Lord Lieutenant was instituted. The lieutenants had a military role, previously exercised by the sheriffs, and were made responsible for raising and organising the county militia. The county lieutenancies were subsequently given responsibility for the Volunteer Force. In 1871 the lieutenants lost their position as head of the militia, and the office became largely ceremonial.^[22] The Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the British Army linked the recruiting areas of infantry regiments to the counties.

[edit] Parliamentary representation

Each county sent two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons (apart from the burgesses sent by boroughs within the county). Yorkshire gained two members in 1821 when Grampound was disenfranchised. The Great Reform Act of 1832 reapportioned members throughout the counties, many of which were also split into parliamentary divisions. Constituencies based on the historic county boundaries remained in use until 1918.

[edit] Local government

From the sixteenth century the county was increasingly used as a unit of local government. The Justices of the Peace took on various administrative functions known as "county business". This was transacted at the quarter sessions, summoned four times a year by the lord lieutenant. By the nineteenth century the county magistrates exercised powers over the licensing of alehouses, the construction of bridges, prisons and asylums, superintendence of main roads, public buildings and charitable institutions, and the regulation of weights and measures.^[23] The justices were empowered to levy local taxes to support these activities, and in 1739 these were unified as a single "county rate" under the control of a county treasurer.^[24] In order to build and maintain roads and bridges, a salaried county surveyor was to be appointed.^[25]

By the 1880s it was suggested that it would be more efficient if a wider variety of functions were provided on a county-wide basis.^[26]

[edit] Subdivisions

Yorkshire has three major subdivisions known as the ridings of Yorkshire:

1. North Riding
2. West Riding
3. East Riding

Some of the counties had major subdivisions. Of these, the most significant were the divisions of Yorkshire; the East Riding, West Riding, North Riding and the ainsty of York. Since Yorkshire is so big, its ridings became established as geographic terms quite apart from their original role as administrative divisions. The second largest county, Lincolnshire, was divided into three historic "parts" (intermediate in size between county and wapentake); they were Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven. Other divisions include those of Kent into East Kent and West Kent, and of Sussex into East Sussex and West Sussex.

Several counties had liberties or Sokes within them that were administered separately. Cambridgeshire had the Isle of Ely, and Northamptonshire had the Soke of Peterborough. Such divisions were used by such entities as the Quarter Sessions courts and were inherited by the later administrative county areas which were under the control of county councils.

Most English counties were subdivided into smaller subdivisions called hundreds; Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were divided into wapentakes (a unit of Danish origin); and Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland were divided into wards, areas originally organised for military purposes, and centred on a castle.^[27] Kent and Sussex had an intermediate level between their major subdivisions and their hundreds, known as lathes in Kent and rapes in Sussex. Hundreds or their equivalents are divided into tithings and parishes (the only class of these divisions still used administratively), which in turn were divided into townships and manors. The Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex was further divided into four divisions in the 17th Century which replaced the functions of the hundred. The borough and parish were the principal providers of local services throughout England until the creation of ad-hoc boards and, later, local government districts.

[edit] Change

[edit] Detached parts

This (rather inaccurate) 1814 map shows Dudley in a detached part of Worcestershire surrounded by Staffordshire. Note the detached portion of Shropshire (the parish of Halesowen), just to the south-east and part of Staffordshire (Broome and Clent) to the south-west as well.

The historic counties had many anomalies, and many small exclaves, where a parcel of land would be politically part of one county despite not being physically connected to the rest of the county. The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 modified the counties by abolishing the many enclaves of counties within others, which had already been done for Parliamentary purposes by the Great Reform Act.

Large exclaves affected by the 1844 Act included the County Durham exclaves of Islandshire, Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire, which were incorporated into Northumberland; and the Halesowen exclave of Shropshire, which was incorporated into Worcestershire.

Exclaves which the 1844 Act did not touch include the part of Derbyshire around Donisthorpe, locally in Leicestershire; and most of the larger exclaves of Worcestershire, including the town of Dudley, which remained surrounded by Staffordshire. Additionally the Furness portion of Lancashire remained separated from the rest of Lancashire by a narrow strip of Westmorland — though accessible by the Morecambe Bay tidal flats.

[edit] 1889

When the first county councils were set up in 1889, they covered newly created entities known as administrative counties; which consisted of counties less independent areas known as county boroughs – several historic subdivisions with separate county administrations were also created administrative counties, particularly the separate ridings of Yorkshire.^[28] The Local Government Act 1888 also contained wording to create both a new "administrative county" and "county" of London,^[29] and to ensure the statutory "counties" consisted of agglomerations of administrative counties and county boroughs. These counties were to be used "for all purposes, whether sheriff, lieutenant, custos rotulorum, justices, militia, coroner, or other". In retrospect, these statutory counties can be identified as the predecessors of the ceremonial counties of England. These counties are the ones usually shown on maps of the early to mid 20th century, and largely displaced the historic counties in such uses. The censuses of 1891, 1901 and 1911 provided figures for the "ancient counties".

Several towns are historically divided between counties, including Banbury, Burton upon Trent, Newmarket, Peterborough, Royston, Stamford, Tamworth, Todmorden and Warrington — in Newmarket and Tamworth the county boundary ran right up the middle of the high street, and in Todmorden the boundary is said to run through the town hall. The 1888 Act ensured that every urban sanitary district would be considered to be part of a single county. This principle would be maintained in the 20th century : when county boroughs such as Birmingham, Manchester, Reading, Sheffield, Stockport expanded into neighbouring counties, the area added became associated with another county.

[edit] 1965 and 1974

The historic county boundaries of Warwickshire covered a larger area than the county in 1974 (in green).

On April 1, 1965 a number of changes came into effect. The new administrative area of Greater London was created, resulting in the abolition of the counties of London and Middlesex, at the same time taking in areas from surrounding counties. On the same date the new counties of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely and Huntingdon and Peterborough were formed by the merger of pairs of administrative counties. The new areas were also adopted for lieutenancy and shrievalty purposes.

In 1974 a major local government reform took place, through the Local Government Act 1972. The act abolished administrative counties and county boroughs and divided England (except Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) into counties. These were of two types: "metropolitan" and "non-metropolitan" counties.^{[30] [31]} Apart from local government, the new counties were "substituted for counties of any other description" for judicial, shrievalty, lieutenancy and other purposes.^[32] Several counties, such as Cumberland, Herefordshire, Rutland, Westmorland and Worcestershire vanished from the administrative map, whilst new entities such as Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria and Humberside appeared, in addition to the six new metropolitan counties.^[33]

The built-up areas of conurbations tend to cross historic county boundaries freely.^[34] Examples here include Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch (Dorset and Hampshire) Greater Manchester (Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire), Merseyside (Cheshire and Lancashire), Teesside (Yorkshire and County Durham), Tyneside (County Durham and Northumberland) and West Midlands (Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire). Greater London itself straddles five historic counties — Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey — and the London urban area sprawls into Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. The Local Government Act 1972 sought generally to unite conurbations within a single county, while retaining the historic county boundaries as far as was practicable.^[4]

[edit] Postal counties

In a period of financial crisis,^[35] the Post Office was able to alter many of its postal counties in accordance with the 1965 and 1974 reforms, but not all. The two major exceptions were Greater London and Greater Manchester. Greater London was not adopted in 1965 with the Post Office at the time stating it would have been too expensive, whilst it gave as its reason for not adopting Greater Manchester the ambiguity of the name with the Manchester post town. Perhaps as a result of this, the historic counties appear not to have fallen completely out of use for locating the places in Greater Manchester; along with areas of Greater London that are not part of the London postal district. It is common for people to speak of Uxbridge, Middlesex or Bromley, Kent (which are outside of the London postal district), but much less so to speak of Brixton, Surrey or West Ham, Essex (which are inside it).

In 1996, following further local government reform and the modernisation of its sorting equipment, the Royal Mail ceased to use counties at all in the direction of mail^[36] and instead now use the outward code (first half) of the postcode. The former postal counties were removed in 2000 from its Postcode Address File database and included in an 'alias file',^[37] which is used to cross references postally-not-required details that may be added by users such as former street names or historic, administrative and former postal counties.

[edit] Restoration of historic county boundaries

A review of the structure of local government in England by the Local Government Commission for England led to the restoration of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire as administrative areas in the 1990s: also the abolition of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside, and the restoration of the traditional borders between Somerset and Gloucestershire; Durham and Yorkshire; and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire for ceremonial purposes in these areas. The case of Huntingdonshire was considered twice, but the Commission found that "there was no exceptional county allegiance to Huntingdonshire, as had been perceived in Rutland and Herefordshire".^[38]

The Association of British Counties, and their regional affiliates, such as the Friends of Real Lancashire and the Yorkshire Ridings Society,^[39][40] are pressure groups who assert that, on the basis that they were not formally abolished, the counties continue to exist with their ancient boundaries. They seek to promote greater public awareness of what they term 'traditional counties' and broadly wish to see counties realigned to the historic boundaries.

A direct action group, CountyWatch was formed in 2004 to remove what they consider to be wrongly-placed county boundary signs that do not mark the historic or traditional county boundaries of England and Wales. They have removed, re-sorted or erected a number of what they claim to be "wrongly-sited" county boundary signs in various parts of England. For instance Lancashire, where thirty signs were removed^[41]; the Dorset and Hampshire border;^[42]; Durham^[43] Lincolnshire^[44] and Somerset^[45]. CountyWatch have often been criticised for their actions by the councils who erected the signs. For instance in Lincolnshire, where Lincolnshire County Council attacked the group for taking council property stating that "it will cost the taxpayer to put the signs back up".^[44] Also in Lancashire where the county council also pointed out that it would be the taxpayers who would have to pay for the signs to be re-erected.^[46] Others have praised the group including an article entitled "Defending the land of our fathers", in The Northern Echo newspaper which, in the context of the removal of signs in Durham, praised the group's actions, after Durham council issued a statement that CountyWatch were "nothing more than sheer vandalism, no less mindless or anti-social than smashing bus stops or phone boxes". This followed the removal of signs in Durham. The Northern Echo article however called the council statement, "a trifle wide of the mark" and stated that the cost of re-siting the signs was "paltry," ending the article, "Carry on CountyWatch".^[43]

The only national political party with a manifesto commitment to restore the boundaries and political entities of all historic counties, including Middlesex and Monmouthshire, is the English Democrats Party.^[47]

[edit] Vice counties

The vice counties, used for biological recording since 1852, are largely based on historic county boundaries. They ignore all exclaves and are modified by subdividing large counties and merging smaller areas into neighbouring counties; such as Rutland with Leicestershire and Furness with Westmorland. The static boundaries make Longitudinal study of biodiversity easier. They also cover the rest of Great Britain and Ireland.

[edit] Current use

As of 2008, the historic counties continue to form, with considerably altered boundaries, many of the ceremonial and non-metropolitan counties in England.

†The contemporary counties which Sussex and Yorkshire have to a large degree been divided into continue to use the historic county names with a prefix (such as East Sussex and North Yorkshire).

[edit] Notes and References

[edit] Bibliography

• Crosby, A. (1996). A History of Cheshire. (The Darwen County History Series.) Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0850339324.
• Harris, B. E., and Thacker, A. T. (1987). The Victoria History of the County of Chester. (Volume 1: Physique, Prehistory, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Domesday). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0197227619.
• Morgan, P. (1978). Domesday Book Cheshire: Including Lancashire, Cumbria, and North Wales. Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0850331404.
• Phillips A. D. M., and Phillips, C. B. (2002), A New Historical Atlas of Cheshire. Chester, UK: Cheshire County Council and Cheshire Community Council Publications Trust. ISBN 0904532461.
• Sylvester, D. (1980). A History of Cheshire. (The Darwen County History Series). (2nd Edition.) London and Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0850333849.