English Counties, The Real Counties
Created | Updated Jan 21, 2014
Origins of the County
The origin of the term county is found in the Charlemagne region of eighth Century France as comté a term that defined a divided portion of land that fell under the auspices of a count, a companion of the king. The count had responsibility for the legal, military and administrative governance of his area of authority or ‘county’ subject to the inspection of officials of the King’s court.
In England the term shire dates back over one thousand years and originated in the Anglo-Saxon communities of the fifth century. The word shire meant a portion or sheared off piece of land and simply defined a geographical or administrative area governed from a settlement of some strategic or economic importance. This system of local government control had similarities with the system as in France. Though the title of count never evolved in England, the shire came under the authority of the ealderman or alderman who similarly to the French system were royal officials through whom the crown maintained a stronghold.
The establishment of the thirty nine historic English counties which were later to become recognised developed during the tenth and eleventh centuries and originated by two means, either as lands of an ancient kingdom or tribe or as the lands gathered around a key strategic settlement. A number of kingdoms had already been in existence for many years notably Sussex, Norfolk and Northumberland for example and following their unity under the English Crown, they assumed the role of a county. Following the Norman Conquest of the eleventh century the shire system was retained, however the functions of the ealdorman were taken over by the shire-reeve or sheriff, who was directly appointed by the king. Today in some county areas, the High Sheriff still holds a ceremonial role in his county area whilst in other counties the Lord Lieutenant has evolved and similarly acts as a representative of the monarch in that county.
Six further counties were established following the Norman Conquest and the terms shire and county became synonymous terms. The power of the sheriff was greatly strengthened over time and by the fourteenth century, county courts composed of justices of the peace or magistrates had developed in order to aid the sheriff in administering the county, acting as executor of the king’s will and collector of the royal revenue. The crown appointed the magistrates whom gradually became the main administrators of the counties. Each county also became the constituency for the elections of county members to parliament.
The Historic English Counties
Over time, thirty-nine counties were established in England. Most of these same counties continue to be recognised today despite later Acts of Parliament, notably in 1888 which introduced the concept of an administrative county, a local authority area which whist initially being synonymous with the historical counties have over time due to successive boundary and political changes caused significant confusion over what is and is not a county or which settlement belongs to what true county. The boundaries of those initial counties are essentially based on geographical features such as hills, mountains, rivers and streams and ancient settlements that exerted power and influence to the area around it.
Those settlements, to which in most cases the area of jurisdiction thus became synonymous, developed as the seats of the courts and thus became the county town. Similarly of those ancient kingdoms prior to the establishment of a united kingdom under one crown, the capital became the designated county town. As the power and prosperity of towns changed over time, in some cases the county town also differed.
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall (Kernow)
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devonshire
Dorsetshire
Durham
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Middlesex
Monmouthshire*
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutlandshire
Shropshire (Salop)
Staffordshire
Somersetshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire
Monmouthshire*
This particular county located between Gloucestershire in England and Glamorganshire in Wales is somewhat of an anomaly. Wales was claimed by the English under Edward I in 1282 and was officially brought under English administration by Royal assent in 1536 during the reign of Henry VIII. The shire system of government was thus introduced to the principality, administered by sheriffs and justices of the peace. Welsh customs and the traditional powers of the Marcher Lords were abolished and the Welsh language suppressed to restrict the quasi-independence of Wales, which had been under the absolute power of the English since the early part of the fifteenth century. The seven shires of Brecon, Denbigh, Glamorgan, Pembroke, Radnor, Montgomery and Monmouth were created whilst Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire and Merionethshire were re-enfranchised as shires under English administration.
The Act of Union was completed in 1543 whereby Monmouthshire was actually recognised officially as an English county even though it was still regarded as part of Wales for ecclesiastical purposes. Whilst recognised as the fortieth English county, the re-emergence of Welsh identity in later centuries (Cardiff only officially being recognised as the capital city of Wales in 1955), Monmouthshire became officially a part of Wales for most parliamentary and administrative purposes. The incorporation of Monmouthshire as an English county has been deemed to be an historical mistake.
Detached Parts of Counties
Owing to the gradual way the counties became established, numerous anomalies developed owing to land ownership issues and areas of land that had been awarded to certain noblemen. Many of those historical counties comprised lands that were entirely surrounded by another neighbouring county and were detached as ‘islands’ from the main county unit that would have administered them. Most small detached parts of counties were however incorporated into the county which surrounded them in 1844, following the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1843. Other detached areas were also tidied up in 1930 and 1931. Some detached areas however notably the northern portion of Worcestershire containing the town and later county borough of Dudley, which was entirely surrounded by Staffordshire and the Furness peninsular of Lancashire remained in the administrative sense until 1974. Certain areas owing to the alteration of boundaries have undergone numerous changes, some towns having been located in several different historic counties at different times.
The Nineteenth Century
The ancient system of county government, comprising centrally appointed justices of the peace who held legislative, judicial, and executive powers, had become quite inadequate by the time Victoria became queen, however the traditional system remained in place until the late nineteenth century. The industrialisation of England and the phenomenal increases in population, the expansion of government services, the extension of the suffrage and redistribution of wealth and populations necessitated the need for a new system of local government to act as the principal form of local administration, politics and law and to become more democratic and efficient. Elected boards controlled most public services that had become available, such as education, welfare, heath and sanitary works. These boards tended to represent a particular town area or in order to deliver a more effective and cost efficient service, formed joint boards with neighbouring areas.
In 1888 The Local Government Act replaced rule through the courts and boards with the formation of county councils. The sheriffs retained their judicial power as magistrates but the new authorities were based on democratically elected members being chosen to representing wards within the new council areas for a fixed term of three years. The councillors were elected aldermen and were responsible for appointing and fixing the salaries of their officers and employees for the provision of services such as education, county roads, libraries, planning, welfare services, policing, fire services and licensing.
Forty eight new county councils were created and came into being in England in 1889 following the Act and in the main were based on and mirrored the ancient county boundaries, though there were only thirty nine historic English counties, with the exception of some minor alterations to boundaries over time particularly where detached areas of counties existed and where a town or settlement had grown over two or more historical county boundaries. Once again each county was administered from the county town or eventually purpose built administrative headquarters.
Several new authorities were formed based on the geographical county following the jurisdiction and history of their county courts. Thus Yorkshire was divided into the three “riding” authorities, Lincolnshire into three parts with Suffolk, Sussex Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire split into two separate administrative areas.
Following the 1888 Act, the London Government Act of 1889 saw the creation of a new county of London that came into force in 1890. Despite campaigns to keep the Isle of Wight a part of the county of Hampshire, this historical county was split into two with the creation of the Isle of Wight County Council.
English Administrative County Councils
Established under the 1888 Local Government Act and 1889 London Government Act
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
East Riding (Yorkshire)
East Suffolk
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Holland (Lincolnshire)
Huntingdonshire
Isle of Ely (Cambridgeshire)
Isle of Wight
Kent
Kesteven (Lincolnshire)
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lindsey (Lincolnshire)
London
Middlesex
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
North Riding (Yorkshire)
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Soke of Peterborough (Northamptonshire)
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Surrey
Warwickshire
Westmorland
West Suffolk
West Sussex
West Riding (Yorkshire)
Worcestershire
County Boroughs and Municipal Boroughs
Following the 1888 Act, the larger towns within the county were sub divided into districts. These were defined as either county boroughs or municipal boroughs depending on their size. The former comprised the larger primarily industrial towns of over 50,000 inhabitants, which were given the exact same powers as the county council and were independent from the county they were geographically located within. 59 county boroughs were created following the Act. Each county borough was responsible for its own administration and the delivery of local services.
The non county boroughs or municipal boroughs (metropolitan boroughs in London following the London Government Act of 1889) for which any town with a population between 20,000 and 50,000 was entitled to become created a second tier of local government under the auspices of the county council which were entitled to a certain level of autonomy in the services they provided dependant on their size.
Some municipal boroughs did exist with populations in excess of 50,000 however lacked the status of a county borough possibly owing to their rapid growth or relatively inability to function outside the control of the county. Mainly however much of the administration of the smaller boroughs remained until the 1974 shake up, the responsibility of the administrative county.
In 1894, the Parish Council Acts saw the formation of urban and rural district councils, which as another form of second tier government also provided a limited amount of services to their inhabitants. Urban districts differed from the municipal borough in terms of status because they did not have the honour of having a charter of incorporation. Similarly the range of functions differed with size.
Each district has an elected council and collected income for services through levying a ‘rate’ to cover both its own expenditure and that of the county as a whole. The rural district maintained the parish that held on to a limited amount of self-government and provided services such as street lighting and which had an additional rate to cover their own charges. In all there were initially 270 municipal borough councils, 535 urban district councils and 472 rural district councils in England and Wales. Several of the smaller councils were merged with each other over time or were upgraded from urban districts to municipal boroughs or in some cases even county boroughs.
There were many boundary changes to the county boundaries between 1888 and 1923 to accommodate demographic changes to existing towns and cities. A number of new county boroughs were created namely Oxford in 1889 and the London county boroughs of Croydon, East Ham and West Ham. The county borough of Hanley was merged with the smaller councils in the North Staffordshire area to create the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910 when it also acquired city status by royal assent and the county borough of Doncaster was created in 1927. In all there were 109 extensions to the county boroughs absorbing land and population and therefore rate revenue from the counties.
By 1923 there were 20 new county boroughs added to the original 59 (63 including Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfill, Newport and Swansea in Wales), in 1888, thus with Doncaster, by the late 1920’s there were 79 county boroughs in England. The 1923 Onslow Report resulted in the 1926 Local Government Act (London Boroughs and Adjustments) that ruled that local authorities could only become county boroughs if their population exceeded 75,000 inhabitants.
Boundaries continued to change to absorb newly expanding suburbs. County boroughs grew at a loss to county councils. New county boroughs became generally discouraged and their formation was not allowed on local initiatives. The 1945 Local Government (Boundary Commission) Act made new county boroughs only possible for those towns with populations over 100,000 but this was repealed in 1949 back to 75,000. There were no new creations between 1927 and 1958.
The 1963 London Government Act saw the abolition of the county councils of Middlesex and London. Parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Kent and the metropolitan boroughs, several urban districts and the three county boroughs of Croydon, East Ham and West Ham were replaced with a two-tier structure under a Greater London Council and 32 London boroughs. The ancient City of London continued to function as it had always as a unitary corporation along its medieval boundaries. The GLC and its lower tier London boroughs came into being on the 1 May 1965.
In the remainder of England, a 1958 Act took the county borough minimum population figure back up to 100,000 and designated several urban areas as conurbations defined as areas of several local government units with high population densities and expanses of urban development where a number of towns had become linked by factors such as common industrial or business interests or a common centre for shopping or education. These conurbations in England were Tyneside, West Yorkshire, South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire (Selnec), Merseyside and the West Midlands. Also between 1958 and 1968, the County Boroughs of Luton, Solihull, and Torbay were designated. Thus with the abolition of the three London County Boroughs, there remained a total of 79 County Boroughs in England in 1968. The county borough of Smethwick was expanded to create Warley county borough and Middlesbrough merged with a number of its smaller neighbours to create Teeside county borough also in 1968
Since 1958, along with London and Middlesex county councils being abolished to form the Greater London Council, Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely were merged as were Huntingdonshire with the former Northamptonshire Soke of Peterborough.
Anomalies
There were a number of historical anomalies to the county system. Bristol had been given the right to call itself a county in its own right in 1393 by the charter of Edward III. Until such time, the city which dominated the banks of the River Avon lay in Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. By 1888, the City and County of Bristol had been designated as a county borough thus for administrative purposes falling outside the county structure. However the majority of mapmakers and for geographical purposes, Bristol was deemed to be wholly within Gloucestershire thus enabling the county to cross the river into Somerset. Based on the above arguments, historically the city despite its common links under a city county borough authority would have remained part of two individual counties.
This principle similarly applies to those administrative counties which were created under the 1888 Act, whereby York and Lincoln, though county boroughs were not placed similarly within a recognised county created for administrative purposed, though still existed as self governing units within Yorkshire and Lincolnshire respectively despite no such county council existing. Similarly Teeside county borough created in 1968 did not enable the county of Yorkshire to cross the Tees into Durham, though maps do depict the new enlarged authority as falling entirely within Yorkshire when it was simply split between the two.
Finally Monmouthshire was recognised until 1974 as a part of England. Wales had been absorbed politically into England since the 1300s. However this issue was deemed to have been a historical mistake and thus Wales as a country though at the time with no sovereign rights officially reclaimed the said county which was renamed Gwent until 1996 before splitting for administrative reasons into a number of Welsh unitary authorities. Monmouthshire inclusive of Newport still remains a dormant true county however despite media and mapmakers and local authorities.
20th Century Review and Reform
Following intensive review, the biggest change to local government in nearly 90 years took place following the 1972 Local Government Act. On the 1st April 1974, the whole local government system was totally transformed. 46 new county councils occupied the whole of England. The county boroughs were abolished and reformed as a lower tier authority or absorbed with other districts to form 296 district councils. Many of the original county councils had major boundary changes to accommodate changes in population and geography or were reshaped to make them more rational.
Although the geographical county and the administrative county were two separate entities, one based on centuries of history and the latter based on acts of parliament, the county had become confused with being purely that created under law and not those geographical areas once held under the sheriff which had never been formed by parliamentary act. Thus over time lands of counties which had always been in existence were transferred altered and absorbed beginning in the nineteenth century but with haste following the 1972 Act. Although it was seen by government that the true county should never lose its identity, subsequent county councils removed boundary signs replacing them with their own, the media and map makers alike only recognised the artificial county areas as decreed by who governed over them not how nature and ancient tribal law dictated.
Prior to 1974 the boundaries of the traditional counties of Britain continued to be shown on Ordnance Survey maps in spite of the fact that some areas of the county, e.g. the County Boroughs, were no longer administered by the County Council.
After 1974 Ordnance Survey chose to show only the boundaries of the new administrative counties, which led people to believe that the traditional county boundaries no longer existed. Nothing could be further from the truth, because in 1974 the government issued a statement confirming that the creation of new administrative counties had not abolished traditional counties nor changed their boundaries, they continue to exist; unlike several of the new administrative counties created in 1974 which have since been abolished.
Some counties merged to form new ones namely Hereford and Worcester and other county councils namely Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Rutland and Westmorland totally disappeared off the maps as did seemingly 1000 years of county history. In addition to the existing county changes, four new counties were formed namely Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria and Humberside.
The larger cities lost their county borough status and in 1974 followed suit with the recently formed Greater London to form metropolitan counties. There were six in all; Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire which were subdivided into 36 metropolitan districts. In 1986, the metropolitan counties and the Greater London Council were abolished owing in the most part to bitter rivalry between the power hungry, generally Labour controlled metropolitan county councils and the Conservative government and the 36 metropolitan districts along with the 32 London Boroughs all became single tier authorities whilst the two tier system remained elsewhere in England.
1974 Local Government Reorganisation (1972 Local Government Act)
On the basis that the existence of a county is reliant upon the existence of a system of local administration, the composition of upper tier local authorities following the 1972 Local Government Act was thus:
Avon
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cleveland
Cornwall
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
Hereford & Worcester
Hertfordshire
Humberside
Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Merseyside
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
North Yorkshire
Norfolk
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Shropshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Tyne & Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
West Sussex
West Yorkshire
Wiltshire
County Confusion
The Vanishing County, Counties on the Move and the New “County”
Whilst as discussed above many boundary anomalies over time were tidied up and most of the detached parts of counties were incorporated into the county that surrounded them, this was carried out under Act of Parliament for administrative purposes. It is at this point where the confusion over county identity and rightful county of origin begins.
Whilst many would argue that a county is based on ancient historical and geographical factors and should not be altered, abolished or enable new so-called “counties” to be founded, others will argue that counties are dynamic and change as their populations and political structures and ideas change over time, having their boundaries redrawn and rationalised accordingly.
It is however a matter of debate that in order to accommodate the needs of local governance and in the provision of services whether under Act of Parliament, some counties which for hundreds of years have been identified as part of the fabric of England and as a place of origin, a historical centre of local administration and ceremony can simply be abolished and disappear off the face of the map.
The Local Government Act of 1992 did see the apparent re-instatement of those historic counties such as Rutland, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Whilst a County Council or any other form of local government can be created, altered and abolished to meet with demographics and make administration more financially viable, a county in its own right cannot and should not simply be abolished and then be allowed to reappear because the national government say so.
The confusion all stems from the ambiguous term the “county”. This portion of land remained the standard recognised area of ones birth and residence and indeed administration for hundreds of years. Since the 1843 Act it could be argued that the confusion begun most of those detached areas were absorbed. The 1888 Act saw the establishment of the County Council which remained almost synonymous with the historical county with the exception of subtle changes whereby any town which was situated within more than one county owing to natural, uncontrolled urban growth that town should be placed in the county which contained the greatest proportion of the population. Tamworth had spread over the boundary from Warwickshire into Staffordshire, therefore was incorporated wholly into Staffordshire. Likewise, Todmorden which was divided between both Lancashire and Yorkshire and was transferred to Yorkshire under the rule of the West Riding County Council.
From those minor boundary changes, several others occurred into the twentieth century as towns grew and boundaries shifted. The next significant changes to the County boundaries occurred in 1965 following the 1963 Local Government Act in which the county council, though not county of Middlesex was abolished along with the 1888 London County Council and the administrative Greater London County Council was formed absorbing towns within Hertfordshire, Surrey, Essex and Kent. In addition Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough County Councils merged, taking in part of the Isle of Ely, whilst the rest of the Isle of Ely County Council merged with Cambridgeshire County Council. Here we see the territories of not just Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire but also Northamptonshire, which is the historical county home of the city of Peterborough affected by changes to Local Government.
The most controversial piece of legislation to affect the already altered boundaries was the 1972 Act. This single piece of legislation in popular terms caused the wipe out of a thousand years of county evolution in place of what has now become an ever changing shift in boundaries and status for those thirty-nine counties. From the 1st April 1974, Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria and Humberside were born, linking towns together that until then had no other association with each other, other than as groupings of smaller municipalities and certainly had no identity of which to claim. With the exception of Cumbria which initially saw the mergers of Cumberland and Westmorland with the Furness part of Lancashire, the other unpopular administrative counties were abolished some 22 years later. The same Act also great swathes of conurbations pushed together into similar fake counties; Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, South and West Yorkshire, West Midlands. In one night, people assumed that they could no longer claim they were from Birmingham, Warwickshire (or Worcesteshire as the suburbs spread and the boundary of Warwickshire duly moved) but the West Midlands.
Indeed despite the Government claiming that “The new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change, despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties”, the removal of old and erection of new sign posts, the use of administrative areas by the media, plus services to all being provided by a COUNTY council rather than a regional or administrative council, the assumption was that, Westmorland, Cumberland, Huntingdonshire and Rutland had disappeared (though locally the latter two remained as new district councils but not widely recognised elsewhere in the country) The assumption was that Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead no longer fell under Durham or Northumberland and the assumption was that the residents of Barnoldswick and Earby lived in Lancashire where as on the 31 January 1974, they lived in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
This therefore suggests that we need to go back to 1843 and that the detached portions of counties should still be recognised and that a simple act of parliament can not just place one settlement from one county and place it into another. On this basis where can we draw the line? Is it reasonable for one person to say they are from Merseyside whilst another is from Lancashire? Huntingdonshire remains in spirit, abolished as a County Council in 1974 following its merger with the Soke of Peterborough County Council in 1965 but only survives, once again de-merged from Peterborough as a lower tier of government under Cambridgeshire County Council.
Historic Westmorland is simply not recognised by national media, national, map makers or even local government’s themselves as either a unit of any form of government or a county in its own right. In the case of Westmorland whilst it is argued that Cumbria as a geographical area may be older and indeed recognised before the foundation of Westmorland and indeed Cumberland, Cumbria had never in history be deemed to be a county in the true sense of the word until the establishment of Cumbria County Council 1974 but had existed as a kingdom or tribal land. It is Cumberland along with Westmorland that around 1000 years ago came to be recognised as true English counties.
On the other hand, counties such as Middlesex and those Lancashire towns which are now administered as part of the conurbation and former metropolitan “county” as Greater Manchester continue to be recognised albeit not officially.
Since the 1992 Act, the concept of a unitary authority was born, similar in structure to the pre 1974 county boroughs. Whilst under the old structure, from an administrative point of view the likes of Bath, Nottingham and Bolton were administered completely separately from the county council which surrounded them, those same boroughs were still recognised as a part of Somerset, Nottinghamshire and the Lancashire respectively. Since the unitary authorities have been established from 1995 to 1998, once again map makers, the media and the authorities themselves appear to have created further but smaller “counties” the most bizarre being Bath and North East Somerset. Some would argue that even the likes of Blackburn are no longer part of Lancashire just because Lancashire County Council has not administered that area since 1998. However although Berkshire no longer exists as an administrative unit, the county is still more widely recognised as an entity than those unitary authorities of West Berkshire, Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead and Bracknell Forest. Unfortunately however Slough is deemed to be part of the 1974 Berkshire, rather than being transferred to Buckinghamshire, its host county prior to that date.
Happily some institutions are now being recognise once more the historic counties and their boundaries, the Royal Mail accepting such counties provided they are accompanied by a post code. Cricket still have teams for Middlesex, a united Sussex, The worse travesty of all is the fact that the most historic and dignified member of a county , the high sheriff or lord lieutenant works within the boundaries of post 1974 and post 1995-98 county lines.
Where can we draw the line? Where do we go back to in order to seek recognition of the historic counties, 1888 as the Association of English Counties suggest or 1844 and the maps of Thomas Moule before any noticeable or at least recorded change took place at all?
As for regional government and current consultations to abolish the remaining two tier structure in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber Regions, does this hold any hope for the restoration of the historic county boundaries, to exist for ceremonial purposes and to give individuals a sense of belonging regardless of the now regular changes that take place to the authorities who empty our bins, educate our children or allow us to build two storey side extensions.
The origin of the term county is found in the Charlemagne region of eighth Century France as comté a term that defined a divided portion of land that fell under the auspices of a count, a companion of the king. The count had responsibility for the legal, military and administrative governance of his area of authority or ‘county’ subject to the inspection of officials of the King’s court.
In England the term shire dates back over one thousand years and originated in the Anglo-Saxon communities of the fifth century. The word shire meant a portion or sheared off piece of land and simply defined a geographical or administrative area governed from a settlement of some strategic or economic importance. This system of local government control had similarities with the system as in France. Though the title of count never evolved in England, the shire came under the authority of the ealderman or alderman who similarly to the French system were royal officials through whom the crown maintained a stronghold.
The establishment of the thirty nine historic English counties which were later to become recognised developed during the tenth and eleventh centuries and originated by two means, either as lands of an ancient kingdom or tribe or as the lands gathered around a key strategic settlement. A number of kingdoms had already been in existence for many years notably Sussex, Norfolk and Northumberland for example and following their unity under the English Crown, they assumed the role of a county. Following the Norman Conquest of the eleventh century the shire system was retained, however the functions of the ealdorman were taken over by the shire-reeve or sheriff, who was directly appointed by the king. Today in some county areas, the High Sheriff still holds a ceremonial role in his county area whilst in other counties the Lord Lieutenant has evolved and similarly acts as a representative of the monarch in that county.
Six further counties were established following the Norman Conquest and the terms shire and county became synonymous terms. The power of the sheriff was greatly strengthened over time and by the fourteenth century, county courts composed of justices of the peace or magistrates had developed in order to aid the sheriff in administering the county, acting as executor of the king’s will and collector of the royal revenue. The crown appointed the magistrates whom gradually became the main administrators of the counties. Each county also became the constituency for the elections of county members to parliament.
The Historic English Counties
Over time, thirty-nine counties were established in England. Most of these same counties continue to be recognised today despite later Acts of Parliament, notably in 1888 which introduced the concept of an administrative county, a local authority area which whist initially being synonymous with the historical counties have over time due to successive boundary and political changes caused significant confusion over what is and is not a county or which settlement belongs to what true county. The boundaries of those initial counties are essentially based on geographical features such as hills, mountains, rivers and streams and ancient settlements that exerted power and influence to the area around it.
Those settlements, to which in most cases the area of jurisdiction thus became synonymous, developed as the seats of the courts and thus became the county town. Similarly of those ancient kingdoms prior to the establishment of a united kingdom under one crown, the capital became the designated county town. As the power and prosperity of towns changed over time, in some cases the county town also differed.
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall (Kernow)
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devonshire
Dorsetshire
Durham
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Middlesex
Monmouthshire*
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutlandshire
Shropshire (Salop)
Staffordshire
Somersetshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire
Monmouthshire*
This particular county located between Gloucestershire in England and Glamorganshire in Wales is somewhat of an anomaly. Wales was claimed by the English under Edward I in 1282 and was officially brought under English administration by Royal assent in 1536 during the reign of Henry VIII. The shire system of government was thus introduced to the principality, administered by sheriffs and justices of the peace. Welsh customs and the traditional powers of the Marcher Lords were abolished and the Welsh language suppressed to restrict the quasi-independence of Wales, which had been under the absolute power of the English since the early part of the fifteenth century. The seven shires of Brecon, Denbigh, Glamorgan, Pembroke, Radnor, Montgomery and Monmouth were created whilst Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire and Merionethshire were re-enfranchised as shires under English administration.
The Act of Union was completed in 1543 whereby Monmouthshire was actually recognised officially as an English county even though it was still regarded as part of Wales for ecclesiastical purposes. Whilst recognised as the fortieth English county, the re-emergence of Welsh identity in later centuries (Cardiff only officially being recognised as the capital city of Wales in 1955), Monmouthshire became officially a part of Wales for most parliamentary and administrative purposes. The incorporation of Monmouthshire as an English county has been deemed to be an historical mistake.
Detached Parts of Counties
Owing to the gradual way the counties became established, numerous anomalies developed owing to land ownership issues and areas of land that had been awarded to certain noblemen. Many of those historical counties comprised lands that were entirely surrounded by another neighbouring county and were detached as ‘islands’ from the main county unit that would have administered them. Most small detached parts of counties were however incorporated into the county which surrounded them in 1844, following the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1843. Other detached areas were also tidied up in 1930 and 1931. Some detached areas however notably the northern portion of Worcestershire containing the town and later county borough of Dudley, which was entirely surrounded by Staffordshire and the Furness peninsular of Lancashire remained in the administrative sense until 1974. Certain areas owing to the alteration of boundaries have undergone numerous changes, some towns having been located in several different historic counties at different times.
The Nineteenth Century
The ancient system of county government, comprising centrally appointed justices of the peace who held legislative, judicial, and executive powers, had become quite inadequate by the time Victoria became queen, however the traditional system remained in place until the late nineteenth century. The industrialisation of England and the phenomenal increases in population, the expansion of government services, the extension of the suffrage and redistribution of wealth and populations necessitated the need for a new system of local government to act as the principal form of local administration, politics and law and to become more democratic and efficient. Elected boards controlled most public services that had become available, such as education, welfare, heath and sanitary works. These boards tended to represent a particular town area or in order to deliver a more effective and cost efficient service, formed joint boards with neighbouring areas.
In 1888 The Local Government Act replaced rule through the courts and boards with the formation of county councils. The sheriffs retained their judicial power as magistrates but the new authorities were based on democratically elected members being chosen to representing wards within the new council areas for a fixed term of three years. The councillors were elected aldermen and were responsible for appointing and fixing the salaries of their officers and employees for the provision of services such as education, county roads, libraries, planning, welfare services, policing, fire services and licensing.
Forty eight new county councils were created and came into being in England in 1889 following the Act and in the main were based on and mirrored the ancient county boundaries, though there were only thirty nine historic English counties, with the exception of some minor alterations to boundaries over time particularly where detached areas of counties existed and where a town or settlement had grown over two or more historical county boundaries. Once again each county was administered from the county town or eventually purpose built administrative headquarters.
Several new authorities were formed based on the geographical county following the jurisdiction and history of their county courts. Thus Yorkshire was divided into the three “riding” authorities, Lincolnshire into three parts with Suffolk, Sussex Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire split into two separate administrative areas.
Following the 1888 Act, the London Government Act of 1889 saw the creation of a new county of London that came into force in 1890. Despite campaigns to keep the Isle of Wight a part of the county of Hampshire, this historical county was split into two with the creation of the Isle of Wight County Council.
English Administrative County Councils
Established under the 1888 Local Government Act and 1889 London Government Act
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
East Riding (Yorkshire)
East Suffolk
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Holland (Lincolnshire)
Huntingdonshire
Isle of Ely (Cambridgeshire)
Isle of Wight
Kent
Kesteven (Lincolnshire)
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lindsey (Lincolnshire)
London
Middlesex
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
North Riding (Yorkshire)
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Soke of Peterborough (Northamptonshire)
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Surrey
Warwickshire
Westmorland
West Suffolk
West Sussex
West Riding (Yorkshire)
Worcestershire
County Boroughs and Municipal Boroughs
Following the 1888 Act, the larger towns within the county were sub divided into districts. These were defined as either county boroughs or municipal boroughs depending on their size. The former comprised the larger primarily industrial towns of over 50,000 inhabitants, which were given the exact same powers as the county council and were independent from the county they were geographically located within. 59 county boroughs were created following the Act. Each county borough was responsible for its own administration and the delivery of local services.
The non county boroughs or municipal boroughs (metropolitan boroughs in London following the London Government Act of 1889) for which any town with a population between 20,000 and 50,000 was entitled to become created a second tier of local government under the auspices of the county council which were entitled to a certain level of autonomy in the services they provided dependant on their size.
Some municipal boroughs did exist with populations in excess of 50,000 however lacked the status of a county borough possibly owing to their rapid growth or relatively inability to function outside the control of the county. Mainly however much of the administration of the smaller boroughs remained until the 1974 shake up, the responsibility of the administrative county.
In 1894, the Parish Council Acts saw the formation of urban and rural district councils, which as another form of second tier government also provided a limited amount of services to their inhabitants. Urban districts differed from the municipal borough in terms of status because they did not have the honour of having a charter of incorporation. Similarly the range of functions differed with size.
Each district has an elected council and collected income for services through levying a ‘rate’ to cover both its own expenditure and that of the county as a whole. The rural district maintained the parish that held on to a limited amount of self-government and provided services such as street lighting and which had an additional rate to cover their own charges. In all there were initially 270 municipal borough councils, 535 urban district councils and 472 rural district councils in England and Wales. Several of the smaller councils were merged with each other over time or were upgraded from urban districts to municipal boroughs or in some cases even county boroughs.
There were many boundary changes to the county boundaries between 1888 and 1923 to accommodate demographic changes to existing towns and cities. A number of new county boroughs were created namely Oxford in 1889 and the London county boroughs of Croydon, East Ham and West Ham. The county borough of Hanley was merged with the smaller councils in the North Staffordshire area to create the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910 when it also acquired city status by royal assent and the county borough of Doncaster was created in 1927. In all there were 109 extensions to the county boroughs absorbing land and population and therefore rate revenue from the counties.
By 1923 there were 20 new county boroughs added to the original 59 (63 including Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfill, Newport and Swansea in Wales), in 1888, thus with Doncaster, by the late 1920’s there were 79 county boroughs in England. The 1923 Onslow Report resulted in the 1926 Local Government Act (London Boroughs and Adjustments) that ruled that local authorities could only become county boroughs if their population exceeded 75,000 inhabitants.
Boundaries continued to change to absorb newly expanding suburbs. County boroughs grew at a loss to county councils. New county boroughs became generally discouraged and their formation was not allowed on local initiatives. The 1945 Local Government (Boundary Commission) Act made new county boroughs only possible for those towns with populations over 100,000 but this was repealed in 1949 back to 75,000. There were no new creations between 1927 and 1958.
The 1963 London Government Act saw the abolition of the county councils of Middlesex and London. Parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Kent and the metropolitan boroughs, several urban districts and the three county boroughs of Croydon, East Ham and West Ham were replaced with a two-tier structure under a Greater London Council and 32 London boroughs. The ancient City of London continued to function as it had always as a unitary corporation along its medieval boundaries. The GLC and its lower tier London boroughs came into being on the 1 May 1965.
In the remainder of England, a 1958 Act took the county borough minimum population figure back up to 100,000 and designated several urban areas as conurbations defined as areas of several local government units with high population densities and expanses of urban development where a number of towns had become linked by factors such as common industrial or business interests or a common centre for shopping or education. These conurbations in England were Tyneside, West Yorkshire, South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire (Selnec), Merseyside and the West Midlands. Also between 1958 and 1968, the County Boroughs of Luton, Solihull, and Torbay were designated. Thus with the abolition of the three London County Boroughs, there remained a total of 79 County Boroughs in England in 1968. The county borough of Smethwick was expanded to create Warley county borough and Middlesbrough merged with a number of its smaller neighbours to create Teeside county borough also in 1968
Since 1958, along with London and Middlesex county councils being abolished to form the Greater London Council, Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely were merged as were Huntingdonshire with the former Northamptonshire Soke of Peterborough.
Anomalies
There were a number of historical anomalies to the county system. Bristol had been given the right to call itself a county in its own right in 1393 by the charter of Edward III. Until such time, the city which dominated the banks of the River Avon lay in Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. By 1888, the City and County of Bristol had been designated as a county borough thus for administrative purposes falling outside the county structure. However the majority of mapmakers and for geographical purposes, Bristol was deemed to be wholly within Gloucestershire thus enabling the county to cross the river into Somerset. Based on the above arguments, historically the city despite its common links under a city county borough authority would have remained part of two individual counties.
This principle similarly applies to those administrative counties which were created under the 1888 Act, whereby York and Lincoln, though county boroughs were not placed similarly within a recognised county created for administrative purposed, though still existed as self governing units within Yorkshire and Lincolnshire respectively despite no such county council existing. Similarly Teeside county borough created in 1968 did not enable the county of Yorkshire to cross the Tees into Durham, though maps do depict the new enlarged authority as falling entirely within Yorkshire when it was simply split between the two.
Finally Monmouthshire was recognised until 1974 as a part of England. Wales had been absorbed politically into England since the 1300s. However this issue was deemed to have been a historical mistake and thus Wales as a country though at the time with no sovereign rights officially reclaimed the said county which was renamed Gwent until 1996 before splitting for administrative reasons into a number of Welsh unitary authorities. Monmouthshire inclusive of Newport still remains a dormant true county however despite media and mapmakers and local authorities.
20th Century Review and Reform
Following intensive review, the biggest change to local government in nearly 90 years took place following the 1972 Local Government Act. On the 1st April 1974, the whole local government system was totally transformed. 46 new county councils occupied the whole of England. The county boroughs were abolished and reformed as a lower tier authority or absorbed with other districts to form 296 district councils. Many of the original county councils had major boundary changes to accommodate changes in population and geography or were reshaped to make them more rational.
Although the geographical county and the administrative county were two separate entities, one based on centuries of history and the latter based on acts of parliament, the county had become confused with being purely that created under law and not those geographical areas once held under the sheriff which had never been formed by parliamentary act. Thus over time lands of counties which had always been in existence were transferred altered and absorbed beginning in the nineteenth century but with haste following the 1972 Act. Although it was seen by government that the true county should never lose its identity, subsequent county councils removed boundary signs replacing them with their own, the media and map makers alike only recognised the artificial county areas as decreed by who governed over them not how nature and ancient tribal law dictated.
Prior to 1974 the boundaries of the traditional counties of Britain continued to be shown on Ordnance Survey maps in spite of the fact that some areas of the county, e.g. the County Boroughs, were no longer administered by the County Council.
After 1974 Ordnance Survey chose to show only the boundaries of the new administrative counties, which led people to believe that the traditional county boundaries no longer existed. Nothing could be further from the truth, because in 1974 the government issued a statement confirming that the creation of new administrative counties had not abolished traditional counties nor changed their boundaries, they continue to exist; unlike several of the new administrative counties created in 1974 which have since been abolished.
Some counties merged to form new ones namely Hereford and Worcester and other county councils namely Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Rutland and Westmorland totally disappeared off the maps as did seemingly 1000 years of county history. In addition to the existing county changes, four new counties were formed namely Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria and Humberside.
The larger cities lost their county borough status and in 1974 followed suit with the recently formed Greater London to form metropolitan counties. There were six in all; Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire which were subdivided into 36 metropolitan districts. In 1986, the metropolitan counties and the Greater London Council were abolished owing in the most part to bitter rivalry between the power hungry, generally Labour controlled metropolitan county councils and the Conservative government and the 36 metropolitan districts along with the 32 London Boroughs all became single tier authorities whilst the two tier system remained elsewhere in England.
1974 Local Government Reorganisation (1972 Local Government Act)
On the basis that the existence of a county is reliant upon the existence of a system of local administration, the composition of upper tier local authorities following the 1972 Local Government Act was thus:
Avon
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cleveland
Cornwall
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
Hereford & Worcester
Hertfordshire
Humberside
Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Merseyside
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
North Yorkshire
Norfolk
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Shropshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Tyne & Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
West Sussex
West Yorkshire
Wiltshire
County Confusion
The Vanishing County, Counties on the Move and the New “County”
Whilst as discussed above many boundary anomalies over time were tidied up and most of the detached parts of counties were incorporated into the county that surrounded them, this was carried out under Act of Parliament for administrative purposes. It is at this point where the confusion over county identity and rightful county of origin begins.
Whilst many would argue that a county is based on ancient historical and geographical factors and should not be altered, abolished or enable new so-called “counties” to be founded, others will argue that counties are dynamic and change as their populations and political structures and ideas change over time, having their boundaries redrawn and rationalised accordingly.
It is however a matter of debate that in order to accommodate the needs of local governance and in the provision of services whether under Act of Parliament, some counties which for hundreds of years have been identified as part of the fabric of England and as a place of origin, a historical centre of local administration and ceremony can simply be abolished and disappear off the face of the map.
The Local Government Act of 1992 did see the apparent re-instatement of those historic counties such as Rutland, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Whilst a County Council or any other form of local government can be created, altered and abolished to meet with demographics and make administration more financially viable, a county in its own right cannot and should not simply be abolished and then be allowed to reappear because the national government say so.
The confusion all stems from the ambiguous term the “county”. This portion of land remained the standard recognised area of ones birth and residence and indeed administration for hundreds of years. Since the 1843 Act it could be argued that the confusion begun most of those detached areas were absorbed. The 1888 Act saw the establishment of the County Council which remained almost synonymous with the historical county with the exception of subtle changes whereby any town which was situated within more than one county owing to natural, uncontrolled urban growth that town should be placed in the county which contained the greatest proportion of the population. Tamworth had spread over the boundary from Warwickshire into Staffordshire, therefore was incorporated wholly into Staffordshire. Likewise, Todmorden which was divided between both Lancashire and Yorkshire and was transferred to Yorkshire under the rule of the West Riding County Council.
From those minor boundary changes, several others occurred into the twentieth century as towns grew and boundaries shifted. The next significant changes to the County boundaries occurred in 1965 following the 1963 Local Government Act in which the county council, though not county of Middlesex was abolished along with the 1888 London County Council and the administrative Greater London County Council was formed absorbing towns within Hertfordshire, Surrey, Essex and Kent. In addition Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough County Councils merged, taking in part of the Isle of Ely, whilst the rest of the Isle of Ely County Council merged with Cambridgeshire County Council. Here we see the territories of not just Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire but also Northamptonshire, which is the historical county home of the city of Peterborough affected by changes to Local Government.
The most controversial piece of legislation to affect the already altered boundaries was the 1972 Act. This single piece of legislation in popular terms caused the wipe out of a thousand years of county evolution in place of what has now become an ever changing shift in boundaries and status for those thirty-nine counties. From the 1st April 1974, Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria and Humberside were born, linking towns together that until then had no other association with each other, other than as groupings of smaller municipalities and certainly had no identity of which to claim. With the exception of Cumbria which initially saw the mergers of Cumberland and Westmorland with the Furness part of Lancashire, the other unpopular administrative counties were abolished some 22 years later. The same Act also great swathes of conurbations pushed together into similar fake counties; Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, South and West Yorkshire, West Midlands. In one night, people assumed that they could no longer claim they were from Birmingham, Warwickshire (or Worcesteshire as the suburbs spread and the boundary of Warwickshire duly moved) but the West Midlands.
Indeed despite the Government claiming that “The new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change, despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties”, the removal of old and erection of new sign posts, the use of administrative areas by the media, plus services to all being provided by a COUNTY council rather than a regional or administrative council, the assumption was that, Westmorland, Cumberland, Huntingdonshire and Rutland had disappeared (though locally the latter two remained as new district councils but not widely recognised elsewhere in the country) The assumption was that Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead no longer fell under Durham or Northumberland and the assumption was that the residents of Barnoldswick and Earby lived in Lancashire where as on the 31 January 1974, they lived in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
This therefore suggests that we need to go back to 1843 and that the detached portions of counties should still be recognised and that a simple act of parliament can not just place one settlement from one county and place it into another. On this basis where can we draw the line? Is it reasonable for one person to say they are from Merseyside whilst another is from Lancashire? Huntingdonshire remains in spirit, abolished as a County Council in 1974 following its merger with the Soke of Peterborough County Council in 1965 but only survives, once again de-merged from Peterborough as a lower tier of government under Cambridgeshire County Council.
Historic Westmorland is simply not recognised by national media, national, map makers or even local government’s themselves as either a unit of any form of government or a county in its own right. In the case of Westmorland whilst it is argued that Cumbria as a geographical area may be older and indeed recognised before the foundation of Westmorland and indeed Cumberland, Cumbria had never in history be deemed to be a county in the true sense of the word until the establishment of Cumbria County Council 1974 but had existed as a kingdom or tribal land. It is Cumberland along with Westmorland that around 1000 years ago came to be recognised as true English counties.
On the other hand, counties such as Middlesex and those Lancashire towns which are now administered as part of the conurbation and former metropolitan “county” as Greater Manchester continue to be recognised albeit not officially.
Since the 1992 Act, the concept of a unitary authority was born, similar in structure to the pre 1974 county boroughs. Whilst under the old structure, from an administrative point of view the likes of Bath, Nottingham and Bolton were administered completely separately from the county council which surrounded them, those same boroughs were still recognised as a part of Somerset, Nottinghamshire and the Lancashire respectively. Since the unitary authorities have been established from 1995 to 1998, once again map makers, the media and the authorities themselves appear to have created further but smaller “counties” the most bizarre being Bath and North East Somerset. Some would argue that even the likes of Blackburn are no longer part of Lancashire just because Lancashire County Council has not administered that area since 1998. However although Berkshire no longer exists as an administrative unit, the county is still more widely recognised as an entity than those unitary authorities of West Berkshire, Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead and Bracknell Forest. Unfortunately however Slough is deemed to be part of the 1974 Berkshire, rather than being transferred to Buckinghamshire, its host county prior to that date.
Happily some institutions are now being recognise once more the historic counties and their boundaries, the Royal Mail accepting such counties provided they are accompanied by a post code. Cricket still have teams for Middlesex, a united Sussex, The worse travesty of all is the fact that the most historic and dignified member of a county , the high sheriff or lord lieutenant works within the boundaries of post 1974 and post 1995-98 county lines.
Where can we draw the line? Where do we go back to in order to seek recognition of the historic counties, 1888 as the Association of English Counties suggest or 1844 and the maps of Thomas Moule before any noticeable or at least recorded change took place at all?
As for regional government and current consultations to abolish the remaining two tier structure in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber Regions, does this hold any hope for the restoration of the historic county boundaries, to exist for ceremonial purposes and to give individuals a sense of belonging regardless of the now regular changes that take place to the authorities who empty our bins, educate our children or allow us to build two storey side extensions.
