View source for Counties of England

{{Short description|Geographic divisions of England}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox subdivision type
| name = Counties of England
| alt_name = [[Shire]]s
| alt_name1 = 
| alt_name2 = 
| alt_name3 = 
| alt_name4 = 
| map = {{image array
| perrow = 2
| width = 200
| height = 200
| font-size = 100%
| image1 = English ceremonial counties 1998.svg
| caption1 = Ceremonial counties
| image2 = English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties coloured map 2023.svg
| caption2 = Local government counties{{efn|name="Exceptions"}}
| image3 = English counties 1851 with ridings.svg
| caption3 = Historic counties
 }}
| category = [[County|Counties]]
| territory = [[England]]
| upper_unit = [[Regions of England]]
| start_date = {{ubli|[[Lieutenancies Act 1997|1996]]–1998 (ceremonial)|[[Local Government Act 1972|1974]]–[[2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England|2023]] (local govt)|[[Historic counties of England|Middle Ages]] (historic)}}
| type = [[Ceremonial counties of England|Ceremonial]] (48)
| type1 = {{tree list}}
*Local government (84){{efn|name="Exceptions"}}
**[[Metropolitan county|Metropolitan]] (6)
**[[Non-metropolitan county|Non-metropolitan]] (78)
{{tree list/end}}
| type2 = [[Historic counties of England|Historic]] (39)
}}
{{Politics of England}}

The '''counties of England''' are a type of [[subdivision of England]]. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 [[ceremonial counties]] used for the purposes of [[Lord-lieutenant|lieutenancy]]; the 84 [[Metropolitan county|metropolitan]] and [[Non-metropolitan county|non-metropolitan]] counties for [[Local government in England|local government]];{{efn|name="Exceptions"|The metropolitan county councils were [[Local Government Act 1985|abolished in 1986]] and their powers transferred to the [[metropolitan boroughs]], but the counties themselves were not abolished. [[Unitary authorities of England|Unitary authorities]] hold the status of a combined non-metropolitan county and district. The exception is [[Berkshire]] where the county council was abolished and its powers transferred to new unitary authorities, but its districts were not granted the status of non-metropolitan counties, thus retaining the Royal County of Berkshire. Greater London was designated an 'administrative area' rather than a county under the [[London Government Act 1963]], although it does contain the two ceremonial counties of [[Greater London]] and the [[City of London]].}} and the 39 [[Historic counties of England|historic counties]].  In most cases a ceremonial county shares its name with a local government county, but often covering a wider area.{{efn|Each ceremonial county except two ([[Cheshire]] and [[Cumbria]]) shares its name with a metropolitan or non-metropolitan county.  All 6 metropolitan counties and 13 of the non-metropolitan counties cover the same areas as the corresponding ceremonial counties.  But 22 of the ceremonial counties cover larger areas than the eponymous non-metropolitan counties, because parts of the wider counties are served by separate [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authorities]].}}
  
The [[historic counties of England]] were mostly formed as [[shire]]s or divisions of the earlier [[Heptarchy|kingdoms]], which gradually united by the 10th century to become England. The counties were initially used primarily for the administration of justice, overseen by a [[High sheriff|sheriff]]. They subsequently gained other roles, notably serving as [[county constituency|constituencies]] and as areas for organising the [[militia]], which was the responsibility of the [[lord-lieutenant]]. The county [[magistrate]]s also gradually took on some administrative functions.

[[Administrative counties of England|Administrative counties]] with elected county councils were created in 1889, taking over the administrative functions of the magistrates. The functions and territories of the counties have evolved since then, with significant amendments on several occasions, notably in 1889, 1965 and 1974.

Following the 1974 reforms, England (outside [[Greater London]] and the [[Isles of Scilly]]) had a two-tier structure of upper-tier county councils and lower-tier district councils, with each county being designated as either a [[metropolitan county]] or a [[non-metropolitan county]]. From 1995 onwards numerous [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authorities]] have been established in the non-metropolitan counties, usually by creating a non-metropolitan county containing a single district and having one council perform both county and district functions. Since 1996 there have been two legal definitions of county: the counties as defined in local government legislation, and the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy (the latter being informally known as ceremonial counties).

The local government counties today cover England except for Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. There are six metropolitan counties and 78 non-metropolitan counties. Of the non-metropolitan counties, 21 are governed in a two-tier arrangement with an upper-tier [[county council]] and a number of lower-tier [[Districts of England|district councils]], 56 are governed by a unitary authority performing both county and district functions, and one ([[Berkshire]]) is governed by six unitary authorities whilst remaining legally one county.

For the purposes of lieutenancy England (including Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) is divided into 48 counties, which are defined as groups of one or more local government counties.{{efn|With the exception of the non-metropolitan county of [[Borough of Stockton-on-Tees|Stockton-on-Tees]], which straddles the two ceremonial counties of [[County Durham]] and [[North Yorkshire]].}}

Counties are also frequently used for non-administrative purposes, including culture, tourism and sport, with many organisations, clubs and leagues being organised on a county basis. For the purpose of sorting and delivering mail, England was divided into [[Postal counties of the United Kingdom|postal counties]] until 1996; they were then abandoned by [[Royal Mail]] in favour of [[postcodes in the United Kingdom|postcodes]].

==History==

===Origins===
{{main|Historic counties of England}}
[[File:English counties 1851 (named).svg|thumb|500px|The [[historic counties of England]] as they were in 1851, excluding [[Monmouthshire]] which was sometimes deemed part of England rather than Wales prior to 1974]]

Most of the historic English counties were established between the 7th and 11th centuries.<ref name=aspects>{{ cite book | publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office | title=Aspects of Britain: Local Government | year=1996}}</ref> Counties were initially used for the administration of justice and organisation of the militia, all overseen by a sheriff. The sheriff was usually appointed by the monarch but in some cases, known as the [[county palatine|counties palatine]], the right to appoint sheriffs rested elsewhere; for example with the [[Bishop of Durham]] for [[County Durham]], and with the [[Earl of Chester]] for [[Cheshire]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Sidney |last2=Webb |first2=Beatrice Potter |title=English local government, from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act |date=1906 |publisher=Longmans, Green |location=London |pages=287, 310–318|url=https://archive.org/details/englishlocalgove01webbuoft/page/286/mode/2up |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Records of the Palatine of Durham |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C91 |website=The National Archives |access-date=16 March 2024}}</ref>

A county's magistrates sat four times a year as the [[quarter sessions]]. For more serious cases judges visited each county twice a year for the [[assizes]]. In some larger counties the practice arose of holding the quarter sessions separately for subdivisions of the county, including the [[Riding (division)|Ridings]] of [[Yorkshire]], the [[Parts of Lincolnshire]] and the [[East Sussex|Eastern]] and [[West Sussex|Western]] divisions of [[Sussex]]. The quarter sessions were also gradually given various civil functions, such as providing asylums, maintaining main roads and bridges, and the regulation of alehouses.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Landau |first1=Norma |title=The Justices of the Peace 1679–1760 |date=2023 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520312340 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqXeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

When [[Parliament of England|parliament]]s began to be called from the 13th century onwards, the counties formed part of the system for electing [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|members of parliament]]. Certain towns and cities were [[parliamentary borough]]s sending their own representatives, and the remainder of each county served as a [[county constituency]], with the MPs for such constituencies being known as [[knights of the shire]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume II |date=1991 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0861931270 |page=xvi}}</ref>

From [[Tudor period|Tudor]] times onwards a [[lord-lieutenant]] was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the functions previously held by the sheriff.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anson |first1=William R. |title=The Law and Custom of the Constitution: Part 2 |date=1892 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=236 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-41AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA236 |access-date=22 March 2024}}</ref> Some larger towns and cities were made self-governing [[county corporate|counties corporate]], starting with [[London]] in {{circa|1132}},{{efn|The charter of [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] which gave London the right to appoint its own sheriffs is undated, but the evidence suggests it was issued between 1130 and 1133, with sometime around Easter 1132 considered the most likely date.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tatlock |first1=J. S. P. |title=The Date of Henry I's Charter to London |journal=Speculum |date=October 1936 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=461–469 |doi=10.2307/2848538 |jstor=2848538 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2848538 |access-date=17 March 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref>}} with the right to hold their own courts and appoint their own sheriffs. The counties corporate continued to be deemed part of the wider county for the purposes of lieutenancy, with the exception of London which had its own lieutenants. The Ridings of Yorkshire had their own lieutenants from 1660 onwards. Sometimes smaller counties shared either a sheriff or lieutenant; the same person was usually appointed to be lieutenant of both [[Cumberland]] and [[Westmorland]] until 1876, whilst [[Cambridgeshire]] and [[Huntingdonshire]] shared a sheriff until 1965.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Sidney |last2=Webb |first2=Beatrice Potter |title=English local government, from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act |date=1906 |publisher=Longmans, Green |location=London |pages=284–286 |url=https://archive.org/details/englishlocalgove01webbuoft/page/284/mode/2up |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref><ref name=statutesatlarge>{{cite book |title=The Statutes at Large |date=1798 |page=426 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Imy3W_M5mtIC&pg=PA426 |access-date=18 February 2024 |chapter=Militia Act 1796 (37 Geo. 3 c. 3)|publisher=M. Baskett }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Militia Act |date=1882 |page=21 |publisher=Sweet & Maxwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4pCAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA21 |access-date=18 February 2024}}</ref>

The counties' role as constituencies effectively ceased following the [[Reform Act 1832]] and the associated [[Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832]]. Most counties were divided into smaller constituencies, with the group of constituencies within each county being termed the 'parliamentary county'.<ref>{{cite book |title=Parliamentary Boundaries Act |date=1832 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uq0uAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA300 |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref>

County boundaries were sometimes adjusted, for example by some of the [[Inclosure Acts]] of the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 |date=1959 |publisher=Victoria County History |location=London |pages=324–333 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol6/pp324-333 |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref> County and other boundaries were not centrally recorded with any accuracy before the 19th century, but were instead known by local knowledge and custom. When the [[Ordnance Survey]] started producing large scale maps, they had to undertake extensive research with locals to establish where exactly the boundaries were. Boundaries were recorded by the Ordnance Survey gradually in a process which started in 1841 and was not fully completed until 1888.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fletcher |first1=David |title=The Ordnance Survey's Nineteenth Century Boundary Survey: Context, Characteristics and Impact |journal=Imago Mundi |date=1999 |volume=51 |pages=131–146 |doi=10.1080/03085699908592906 |jstor=1151445 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1151445 |access-date=18 March 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Many counties had detached [[exclave]]s, away from the main body of the county. Most exclaves were eliminated by boundary adjustments under the [[Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844]].<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844|year=1844|chapter=61|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

The [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]] created [[poor law union]]s, which were defined as groups of [[civil parish|parishes]] and frequently crossed county boundaries. Parishes were typically assigned to a union centred on a nearby town, whether or not that town was in the same county. The unions were administered by elected [[board of guardians|boards of guardians]], and formed the basis for the [[registration district]]s created in 1837. Each union as a whole was assigned to a [[registration county]], which therefore differed in places from the legal counties. The registration counties were used for census reporting from 1851 to 1911.<ref>{{cite web |title=Poor Law / Registration County |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/types/type/PR_CNTY |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref> The unions also formed the basis for the [[sanitary district]]s created in 1872, which took on various local government functions.<ref>{{cite book |title=Guardians as Rural Sanitary Authorities: Powers and Duties under Public Health Act, 1872, and Sewage Utilization Acts |date=1872 |publisher=Knight & Co |location=London |page=2 |url={{GBurl|6KPLya-ng5MC}} |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref>

The county of [[Westmorland]] was formed in 1227.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 2 |date=1991 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0861931270 |page=756}}</ref> From then until 1889 there were generally agreed to be 39 counties in England, although there were some [[Liberty (division)|liberties]] such as the [[Liberty of Ripon]] which were independent from their host counties for judicial purposes. The [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542]] formally absorbed [[Wales]] into the kingdom of England and completed its division into [[Historic counties of Wales|13 counties]] on the English model. Contemporary lists after that sometimes included [[Monmouthshire]] as a 40th English county, on account of its assizes being included in the [[Circuit court|Oxford circuit]] rather than one of the [[Court of Great Sessions in Wales|Welsh circuits]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cockburn |first1=J. S. |title=A History of English Assizes, 1558–1714 |date=1972 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521084490 |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBU9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA23 |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Sidney |last2=Webb |first2=Beatrice Potter |title=English local government, from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act |date=1906 |page=310 |url=https://archive.org/details/englishlocalgove01webbuoft/page/310/mode/2up |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref> The 39 historic counties were:<ref name=statutesatlarge/>
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Bedfordshire]]
*[[Berkshire]]
*[[Buckinghamshire]]
*[[Cambridgeshire]]
*[[Cheshire]]
*[[Cornwall]]
*[[Cumberland]]
*[[Derbyshire]]
*[[Devon]]
*[[Dorset]]
*[[County Durham|Durham]]
*[[Essex]]
*[[Gloucestershire]]
*[[Hampshire]]
*[[Herefordshire]]
*[[Hertfordshire]]
*[[Huntingdonshire]]
*[[Kent]]
*[[Lancashire]]
*[[Leicestershire]]
*[[Lincolnshire]]
*[[Middlesex]]
*[[Norfolk]]
*[[Northamptonshire]]
*[[Northumberland]]
*[[Nottinghamshire]]
*[[Oxfordshire]]
*[[Rutland]]
*[[Shropshire]]
*[[Somerset]]
*[[Staffordshire]]
*[[Suffolk]]
*[[Surrey]]
*[[Sussex]]
*[[Warwickshire]]
*[[Westmorland]]
*[[Wiltshire]]
*[[Worcestershire]]
*[[Yorkshire]]
{{div col end}}

===Creation of county councils===
[[File:Staffordshire Shire Hall.jpg|thumb|Many counties had a central courthouse from which they were administered, which often became the first meeting place for the county councils created in 1889, such as [[Shire Hall, Stafford]].]]

By the late 19th century, there was increasing pressure to reform the structure of English counties; [[municipal borough|borough]] councils and boards of guardians were elected, but there were no elections for county-level authorities. Some urban areas had also grown across county boundaries, creating problems in how they were administered. The [[Local Government Act 1888]] sought to address these issues. It established elected county councils, which came into being in 1889 and took over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions.<ref>B. Keith-Lucas, ''Government of the County in England'', The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1. (March 1956), pp. 44–55.</ref>

Some towns and cities were considered large enough to run their own county-level services and so were made [[county borough]]s, independent from the new county councils. [[Urban sanitary district]]s which straddled county boundaries were placed entirely in one county. A new [[County of London]] was created covering the area which had been administered by the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] since 1856, which covered the City of London and parts of [[Middlesex]], [[Surrey]] and [[Kent]]. In those counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, separate county councils were created for each part.<ref name=Thomson>{{cite book | author=Thomson, D. | title=England in the Nineteenth Century (1815–1914) | year=1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pulling |first1=Alexander |title=A Handbook for County Authorities |date=1889 |page=3 |publisher=W. Clowes and Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2JHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

The area controlled by a county council was termed an [[administrative county]]. The 1888 Act also adjusted the county boundaries for all other purposes, including judicial functions, sheriffs and lieutenants, to match groups of the administrative counties and county boroughs. As such, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Sussex retained a single sheriff and lieutenant each, despite being split between multiple administrative counties. Yorkshire kept a single sheriff, whilst each of its ridings retained a separate lieutenant and formed their own administrative counties.<ref name=bryne>{{ cite book | author=Bryne, T. | title=Local Government in Britain | year=1994 }}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1888|year=1888|chapter=41|access-date=17 March 2024}} Section 59</ref> In 1890 the [[Isle of Wight]] was made an administrative county whilst remaining part of [[Hampshire]] for other purposes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government Board's Provisional Order Confirmation (No. 2) Act 1889 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Vict/52-53/177/contents/enacted |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref>

Constituencies were not changed by the 1888 Act and so the parliamentary counties continued to be defined as they had been when the constituencies were last [[Redistribution of Seats Act 1885|reviewed in 1885]], by reference to the counties as they had then existed.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stanford's Parliamentary County Atlas |date=1885 |publisher=Edward Stanford |location=London |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWEGAAAAMAAJ |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref> This led to a mismatch in some areas between the parliamentary counties and the counties as had been adjusted for all other purposes. This lasted until the constituencies were next [[Representation of the People Act 1918|reviewed in 1918]], when they were realigned to nest within the newer versions of the counties.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Representation of the People Act 1918|year=1918|chapter=64|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the wider version of the county, including any associated county boroughs or parts which had been made administrative counties.<ref>Section 100</ref> The informal term 'geographical county' was also used on Ordnance Survey maps to distinguish the wider version of the county from the administrative counties.<ref>{{cite web |title=Administrative Areas Series |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/196758374 |website=Ordnance Survey |publisher=National Library of Scotland |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Harley |first1=John Brian |title=Ordnance Survey Maps: A descriptive manual |date=1975 |publisher=Ordnance Survey |page=82 |isbn=978-0-319-00000-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PTBBvU9_y2wC&q=%22ordnance+survey%22+%22geographical+county%22 |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

There were various adjustments to county boundaries after 1889. There were numerous changes following the [[Local Government Act 1894]], which converted [[rural sanitary district]]s into [[rural district]]s and established [[Parish council (England)|parish councils]], but said that districts and parishes were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. The number of county boroughs gradually increased, and boundaries were occasionally adjusted to accommodate urban areas which were developing across county boundaries. In 1931 the boundaries between Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire were adjusted to transfer 26 parishes between the three counties, largely to eliminate the [[List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844 - 1974|remaining exclaves]] not addressed in 1844.<ref>Provisional Order Confirmation (Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) Act</ref>

The functions of county councils gradually grew. Notable expansions in their responsibilities included taking over education from the abolished [[School boards in England and Wales|school boards]] in 1902,<ref>{{cite web |title=Education Act 1902 |url=https://education-uk.org/documents/acts/1902-education-act.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318063003/https://education-uk.org/documents/acts/1902-education-act.html |archive-date=18 March 2024 |access-date=26 March 2024 |website=Education in the UK}}</ref> and taking over the assistance of the poor from the abolished boards of guardians in 1930.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1929|year=1929|chapter=17|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

===Reforms===
[[File:English counties 1974 (named).svg|thumb|Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties established in 1974]]

A [[Local Government Boundary Commission (1945–1949)|Local Government Boundary Commission]] was set up in 1945 which reviewed the structure of local government and recommended a significant overhaul, including extensive changes to counties and county boroughs. The commission was wound up in 1949 when the government decided not to pursue these proposals.<ref name="Bevan PQ">''[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1949/mar/25/local-government-boundary-commission#S5CV0463P0_19490325_CWA_25 Hansard]'', House of Commons 5th series, vol 463, col ''74''.</ref>

A [[Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London]] was established in 1957 and a [[Local Government Commission for England (1958–1967)|Local Government Commission for England]] in 1958 to recommend new local government structures. The major outcomes of the work of the commissions came in 1965. The County of London was abolished and was replaced by the [[Greater London]] administrative area, which also included most of the remaining part of Middlesex (which was abolished as an administrative county) and areas formerly part of Surrey, Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire. Huntingdonshire was merged with the [[Soke of Peterborough]] to form [[Huntingdon and Peterborough]], and the original administrative county of Cambridgeshire was merged with the [[Isle of Ely]] to form [[Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely]].<ref name="hansard">{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1964/mar/09/local-government-east-midlands |title=Local Government (East Midlands) HC Deb 09 March 1964 vol 691 cc170-211 |access-date=5 June 2008 |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=9 March 1964 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626023600/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1964/mar/09/local-government-east-midlands |archive-date=26 June 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A Royal Commission on Local Government in England was set up in 1966 and produced the [[Redcliffe-Maud Report]] in 1969, which recommended the complete redrawing of local government areas in England, replacing the existing counties and districts and having most local government functions exercised by all-purpose unitary authorities. Following the change in government at the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]], the incoming [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] administration of [[Edward Heath]] abandoned the Redcliffe-Maud proposals, having campaigned against them as part of their election manifesto.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1970 Conservative Party Manifesto|url=http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/1970/1970-conservative-manifesto.shtml|access-date=2020-10-18|website=conservativemanifesto.com}}</ref>

Instead, the Heath government produced the [[Local Government Act 1972]] which reorganised local government from 1 April 1974 into a two-tier structure of counties and districts across the whole of England apart from the Isles of Scilly and Greater London (which retained its two-tier structure of the [[Greater London Council]] and [[London boroughs]] which had been introduced in 1965). The administrative counties and county boroughs were all abolished, and the lower tier of district councils was reorganised.<ref name=kingdom>{{cite book |last=Kingdom|first=John |title= Government and Politics in Britain |year=1991 }}</ref><ref name=maud>{{cite book |author=Redcliffe-Maud & Wood, B. |title=English Local Government Reformed |year=1974 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sandford |first1=Mark |title=Long shadows: 50 years of the Local Government Act 1972 |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/long-shadows-50-years-of-the-local-government-act-1972/ |website=House of Commons Library |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=20 March 2024 |date=26 October 2022}}</ref>

The Heath government also reformed the judicial functions which had been organised by geographical counties; the [[Courts Act 1971]] abolished the quarter sessions and assizes with effect from 1972.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Courts Act 1971|year=1971|chapter=23|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>{{efn|Despite the name, [[County Court (England and Wales)|county courts]] were not arranged by counties but by separately defined county court districts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Udall |first1=Henry |title=The New County Courts Act |date=1846 |publisher=V. and R. Stevens, and G. S. Norton |location=London |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXhjAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA3 |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>}} The sheriffs and lieutenants continued to exist, but both roles had lost powers to become largely ceremonial by the time of the 1970s reforms. As such, following the loss of judicial functions in 1972, the counties' roles were the administrative functions of local government, plus the limited ceremonial roles of the sheriffs and lieutenants. As part of the reforms under the Local Government Act 1972 the post of sheriff was renamed '[[high sheriff]]', and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new counties created in 1974.<ref name=1972section216>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|section=216|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

Whilst the administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished in 1974, the wider geographical or historic counties were not explicitly abolished by the 1972 Act, albeit they were left with no administrative or ceremonial functions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Celebrating the historic counties of England |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/celebrating-the-historic-counties-of-england/celebrating-the-historic-counties-of-england |website=Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government |access-date=18 March 2024 |date=16 July 2019}}</ref>

Following the 1974 reforms there were 45 counties, six of which were classed as metropolitan counties, covering the larger urban areas:
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Greater Manchester]]
*[[Merseyside]]
*[[South Yorkshire]]
*[[Tyne and Wear]]
*[[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]]
*[[West Yorkshire]]
{{div col end}}

The other 39 counties were classed as non-metropolitan counties:
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Avon (county)|Avon]]
*Bedfordshire
*Berkshire
*Buckinghamshire
*Cambridgeshire
*Cheshire
*[[Cleveland (county)|Cleveland]]
*Cornwall
*[[Cumbria]]
*Derbyshire
*Devon
*Dorset
*Durham
*[[East Sussex]]
*Essex
*Gloucestershire
*Hampshire
*[[Hereford and Worcester]]
*Hertfordshire
*[[Humberside]]
*Isle of Wight
*Kent
*Lancashire
*Leicestershire
*Lincolnshire
*Norfolk
*[[North Yorkshire]]
*Northamptonshire
*Northumberland
*Nottinghamshire
*Oxfordshire
*Shropshire
*Somerset
*Staffordshire
*Suffolk
*Surrey
*Warwickshire
*[[West Sussex]]
*Wiltshire
{{div col end}}
Most of the non-metropolitan counties retained the names of historic counties and were defined by reference to the administrative and geographical counties which preceded them, retaining the same or similar boundaries where practicable. Whilst the Heath government had rejected the more radical Radcliffe-Maud proposals, they did still make adjustments to boundaries where they concluded they were necessary to better align with functional economic areas. For example, the north-western part of [[Berkshire]] was transferred to [[Oxfordshire]] on account of being separated from the rest of Berkshire by the [[Berkshire Downs]] hills and having better connections to the city of [[Oxford]] than to Berkshire's largest town and administrative centre of [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]]. Similarly, [[Gatwick Airport]] was transferred from [[Surrey]] to [[West Sussex]] so that it could be in the same county as [[Crawley]], the adjoining [[New towns in the United Kingdom|new town]].<ref name=hampton>{{ cite book | author=Hampton, W. | title=Local Government and Urban Politics | year=1991 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government |title=England's traditional counties |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/englands-traditional-counties |publisher=HM Government |access-date=28 July 2018 |date=1 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Current and historic counties |url=https://communities.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Compare/storytelling_compare/index.html?appid=7b0e661ef66b4a7aacb5a9acf55108ac |publisher=Department for Communities and Local Government |access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref>

Four of the non-metropolitan counties established in 1974 were given names that had not previously been used for counties: [[Avon (county)|Avon]], [[Cleveland (county)|Cleveland]], [[Cumbria]], and [[Humberside]]. Another was a merger of two former counties and combined both their names: [[Hereford and Worcester]]. The pre-1974 counties of Cumberland, Rutland, Westmorland, and Huntingdon and Peterborough were considered too small to function efficiently as separate counties, and did not have their names taken forward by new counties. Cumberland and Westmorland were both incorporated into Cumbria (alongside parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire). Huntingdon and [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]] became lower-tier districts within Cambridgeshire, and Rutland was made a district of Leicestershire.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref>

===Further changes===
{{Image frame
| width=220
| caption=Evolution of the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties
| align=right
| innerstyle=font-size: 92%; background:#FBFBFB;
| content={{switcher
  | default = 8
  | [[File:English counties 1974.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 1974 to 31 March 1996
  | 1974–1996
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 1996.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 1996 to 31 March 1997
  | 1996–1997
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 1997.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998
  | 1997–1998
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 1998.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 1998 to 31 March 2009
  | 1998–2009
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 2009.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 2009 to 31 March 2019
  | 2009–2019
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties coloured map 2019.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 2019 to 31 March 2021
  | 2019–2021
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties coloured map 2021.svg|220px]]<br />1 April 2021 to 31 March 2023
  | 2021–2023
  | [[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties coloured map 2023.svg|220px]]<br />from 1 April 2023
  | 2023–
  }}
}}
{{further|Local Government Commission for England (1992)}}

The metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986 after just 12 years in operation. The Greater London Council was abolished at the same time. The metropolitan counties and Greater London continued to legally exist as geographic areas and retained their high sheriffs and lieutenants despite the loss of their upper-tier councils. The lower-tier [[metropolitan borough]]s and London boroughs took on the functions of the abolished councils, with some functions (such as emergency services, civil defence and public transport) being delivered through joint committees.<ref name=1985act>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1985|year=1985|chapter=51|access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

Further [[1990s UK local government reform|reform in the 1990s]] allowed the creation of non-metropolitan counties containing a single district, where one council performed both county and district functions. These became informally known as [[unitary authorities of England|unitary authorities]].<ref name=politics_uk>{{ cite book |title=Politics UK |year=2004 |publisher=Pearson |edition=5th |last1=Jones |first1=Bill |last2=Kavanagh |first2=Dennis |last3=Moran |first3=Michael |last4=Norton |first4=Philip |isbn=0582423333}}</ref> The first was the Isle of Wight, where the two districts were abolished and the county council took over their functions in 1995.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Isle of Wight (Structural Change) Order 1994|year=1994|number=1210}}</ref>

In 1996, Avon, Cleveland and Humberside were abolished after just 22 years in existence. None of those three had attracted much public loyalty, and there had been campaigns to abolish them, especially in the case of Humberside.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government Reorganisation (Humberside), 26 May 1994 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1994-05-26/debates/c140b038-b418-4cc4-8547-9a6fc563fb4a/LocalGovernmentReorganisation(Humberside) |website=Hansard |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref> Those three counties were split into unitary authorities, each of which was legally a new non-metropolitan county and a district covering the same area, with the district council also performing county functions. Rather than appoint lieutenants and high sheriffs for these new counties created in 1996, it was decided to resurrect the pre-1974 practice of defining counties for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty separately from the local government counties.<ref name=1995regs>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government Changes for England (Miscellaneous Provision) Regulations 1995|year=1995|number=1748|access-date=6 March 2024}}</ref><ref name=1997act>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Lieutenancies Act 1997|year=1997|chapter=23|access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

Several other unitary authorities were created between 1996 and 1998. Many of these were districts based on larger towns and cities, including several places that had been county boroughs prior to 1974. Being made unitary authorities therefore effectively restored the pre-1974 powers in such cases. Whilst these unitary authorities are legally all non-metropolitan counties, they are rarely referred to as counties other than in the context of local government law.

The pre-1974 counties of Rutland, Herefordshire and Worcestershire also regained their independence. Rutland was made a unitary authority in 1997,<ref name=LeicestershireandRutland>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Leicestershire (City of Leicester and District of Rutland) (Structural Change) Order 1996|year=1996|number=507|access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref> and in 1998 Herefordshire was made a unitary authority and Worcestershire was re-established as a two-tier county.<ref name=HerefordandWorcester>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996|year=1996|number=1867|access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref> [[Berkshire County Council]] was abolished in 1998 and the county's six districts became unitary authorities, but unusually the non-metropolitan county of Berkshire was not abolished. The six Berkshire unitary authorities are the only ones not to also be non-metropolitan counties.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996|year=1996|number=1879|access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

Further [[2009 structural changes to local government in England|reforms in 2009]] and between [[2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England|2019 and 2023]] saw more unitary authorities created within the non-metropolitan counties. Since the most recent changes in 2023, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly has been divided into 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government purposes. The 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy have been unchanged since 1998.

== Local government ==
[[File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties numbered map 2023.svg|thumb|400px|Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England (from 2023)]]

Since the latest changes in 2023 there have been 84 counties for local government purposes, which are categorised as metropolitan or non-metropolitan counties. The non-metropolitan counties may governed by one or two tiers of councils. Those which are governed by one tier (unitary authorities) may either be governed by a county council which also performs the functions of a district, or a district council which also performs the functions of a county. The effect is the same, with only marginal differences in terminology; district councils are elected by wards, county councils by [[Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom|electoral divisions]]. The local government counties are listed below, with the numbers corresponding to the adjoining map.<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

===Metropolitan counties===
There have been no county councils since 1986; these are governed by the metropolitan borough councils with some joint committees. Most now form part or all of a [[combined authority]].
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Greater Manchester]] (27)
*[[Merseyside]] (28)
*[[South Yorkshire]] (24)
*[[Tyne and Wear]] (2)
*[[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] (37)
*[[West Yorkshire]] (9)
{{div col end}}

===Non-metropolitan counties===
;Two tiers
''Upper-tier county council and multiple lower-tier district councils:''
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Cambridgeshire]] (45)
*[[Derbyshire]] (25)
*[[Devon]] (81)
*[[East Sussex]] (70)
*[[Essex]] (48)
*[[Gloucestershire]] (58)
*[[Hampshire]] (74)
*[[Hertfordshire]] (51)
*[[Kent]] (69)
*[[Lancashire]] (6)
*[[Leicestershire]] (39)
*[[Lincolnshire]] (21)
*[[Norfolk]] (46)
*[[Nottinghamshire]] (22)
*[[Oxfordshire]] (57)
*[[Staffordshire]] (35)
*[[Suffolk]] (47)
*[[Surrey]] (73)
*[[Warwickshire]] (38)
*[[West Sussex]] (72)
*[[Worcestershire]] (59)
{{div col end}}

;One tier
''County council serving as unitary authority:''
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* [[Cornwall]] (84)
* [[County Durham (district)|Durham]] (3)
* [[Isle of Wight]] (77)
* [[North Yorkshire (district)|North Yorkshire]] (10)
* [[Northumberland]] (1)
* [[Shropshire (district)|Shropshire]] (33)
* [[Somerset]] (80)
* [[Wiltshire (district)|Wiltshire]] (65)
}}

''District council serving as unitary authority:''
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* [[Bath and North East Somerset]] (64)
* [[Borough of Bedford|Bedford]] (52)
* [[Blackburn with Darwen]] (8)
* [[Borough of Blackpool|Blackpool]] (7)
* [[Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole]] (79)
* [[Brighton and Hove]] (71)
* [[Bristol]] (62)
* [[Buckinghamshire (district)|Buckinghamshire]] (56)
* [[Central Bedfordshire]] (53)
* [[Cheshire East]] (32)
* [[Cheshire West and Chester]] (31)
* [[Cumberland (unitary authority)|Cumberland]] (5)
* [[Borough of Darlington|Darlington]] (11)
* [[Derby]] (26)
* [[Dorset (district)|Dorset]] (78)
* [[East Riding of Yorkshire]] (17)
* [[Borough of Halton|Halton]] (29)
* [[Borough of Hartlepool|Hartlepool]] (14)
* [[Herefordshire]] (60)
* [[Kingston upon Hull]] (18)
* [[Leicester]] (40)
* [[Luton]] (54)
* [[Medway]] (68)
* [[Borough of Middlesbrough|Middlesbrough]] (13)
* [[City of Milton Keynes|Milton Keynes]] (55)
* [[North East Lincolnshire]] (20)
* [[North Lincolnshire]] (19)
* [[North Northamptonshire]] (43)
* [[North Somerset]] (63)
* [[Nottingham]] (23)
* [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]] (44)
* [[Plymouth]] (83)
* [[Portsmouth]] (76)
* [[Redcar and Cleveland]] (15)
* [[Rutland]] (41)
* [[South Gloucestershire]] (61)
* [[Southampton]] (75)
* [[City of Southend-on-Sea|Southend-on-Sea]] (49)
* [[Borough of Stockton-on-Tees|Stockton-on-Tees]] (12)
* [[Stoke-on-Trent]] (36)
* [[Borough of Swindon|Swindon]] (66)
* [[Telford and Wrekin]] (34)
* [[Thurrock]] (50)
* [[Torbay]] (82)
* [[Borough of Warrington|Warrington]] (30)
* [[West Northamptonshire]] (42)
* [[Westmorland and Furness]] (4)
* [[City of York|York]] (16)
}}

''No county council but multiple districts serving as unitary authorities:''
*[[Berkshire]] (67) (unitary districts being [[Bracknell Forest]], [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]], [[Slough]], [[West Berkshire]], [[Windsor and Maidenhead]], and [[Borough of Wokingham|Wokingham]])

===Exceptions===
Greater London and the Isles of Scilly do not form part of any county for the purposes of local government legislation.

;Greater London
Greater London was created in 1965 by the [[London Government Act 1963]] as a ''[[sui generis]]'' administrative area, with the [[Greater London Council]] functioning as an upper-tier authority.<ref>Bryne, T., ''Local Government in Britain'' (1994)</ref> It consists of the [[City of London]] plus 32 [[London borough]]s. It was left unaltered by the 1972 Act. The Greater London Council was abolished along with the metropolitan county councils in 1986.<ref name=1985act/>

Since 2000, Greater London has had an elected [[London Assembly|Assembly]] and [[Mayor of London|Mayor]] responsible for strategic local government.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Greater London Authority Act 1999|year=1999|chapter=29|access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref> Whilst not a county in terms of local government legislation, Greater London is deemed to comprise two counties for the purposes of lieutenancy: the City of London (covering the 'square mile' at the centre of the conurbation) and a Greater London lieutenancy county covering the rest of the area, being the 32 London boroughs.<ref name=1997act/>

;Isles of Scilly
The [[Council of the Isles of Scilly]] was formed in 1890 as a ''[[sui generis]]'' county council.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government Board's Provisional Order Confirmation (No. 6) Act 1889 |website=Council of the Isles of Scilly |url=https://www.scilly.gov.uk/sites/default/files/document/council/1890%20Act.pdf}}</ref> It was given the "powers, duties and liabilities" of a [[county council]] in 1930.<ref>{{cite web |title=Isles of Scilly Order 1930 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksro/1930/216/contents/made |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref> Some functions, such as health and economic development, are shared with [[Cornwall Council]]. For lieutenancy purposes the islands form part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall.<ref name=1972section216/>

==Ceremonial counties==
{{main|Ceremonial counties of England}}
From 1974 to 1996 the local government counties were also used for the purposes of lieutenancy, with the exceptions that the Isles of Scilly were deemed part of Cornwall for lieutenancy purposes,<ref name=1972section216/> and Greater London was deemed to be two lieutenancy counties (the City of London and the rest of Greater London) under the [[Administration of Justice Act 1964]].<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Administration of Justice Act 1964|year=1964|chapter=42|access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref>

{{image frame
|content = {{England Ceremonial Counties Labelled Map|Londonprefix = Greater|LondonLabel = Gr. London|WMsuffix = (county)}}
|caption = [[Ceremonial counties of England]]
}}

As unitary authorities began to be created in the mid 1990s it was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from the local government counties in some cases. This was effectively reverting to the pre-1974 approach, when lieutenancy areas had covered multiple county boroughs and administrative counties. Regulations came into effect in 1996 introducing a new definition of the counties for lieutenancy purposes, being either the local government counties or specified groups of them. On the abolition of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside in 1996 the regulations split the area of Avon for the purposes of lieutenancy between Gloucestershire, Somerset and Bristol (a change from the pre-1974 position when Bristol had been part of the Gloucestershire lieutenancy). Cleveland was split between North Yorkshire and County Durham, and Humberside was split between Lincolnshire and a new 'East Riding of Yorkshire' lieutenancy county.<ref name=1995regs/>

The regulations were then consolidated into the [[Lieutenancies Act 1997]]. When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas.<ref name=HerefordandWorcester/><ref name=LeicestershireandRutland/> The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although the definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997.<ref name=1997act/>

In legislation the lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996.<ref>{{cite web |title=Leicestershire (City of Leicester and District of Rutland) (Structural Change) Order 1996: House of Lords debate 28 February 1996 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1996/feb/28/leicestershire-city-of-leicester-and |website=Hansard |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref> Since the adoption of different definitions of the counties for local government and lieutenancy purposes in 1996 there have been a growing number of instances where a local government county shares a name with a larger ceremonial county. For example the local government (non-metropolitan) county of Gloucestershire is the area administered by [[Gloucestershire County Council]], but the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire additionally includes the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire.<ref name=1995regs/>

The ceremonial counties and their definitions by reference to local government areas (metropolitan counties, non-metropolitan counties, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) are as follows:<ref name=1997act/>
{| class="wikitable"
!Ceremonial county!!Local government areas
|-
|[[Bedfordshire]] || [[Borough of Bedford|Bedford]], [[Central Bedfordshire]], [[Luton]]
|-
|[[Berkshire]] || Berkshire
|-
|[[Bristol]] || Bristol
|-
|[[Buckinghamshire]] || [[Buckinghamshire (district)|Buckinghamshire]], [[City of Milton Keynes|Milton Keynes]]
|-
|[[Cambridgeshire]] || Cambridgeshire, [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]]
|-
|[[Cheshire]] || [[Cheshire East]], [[Cheshire West and Chester]], [[Borough of Halton|Halton]], [[Borough of Warrington|Warrington]]
|-
|[[City of London]] || City of London
|-
|[[Cornwall]] || [[Cornwall]], [[Isles of Scilly]]
|-
|[[Cumbria]] || [[Cumberland (unitary authority)|Cumberland]], [[Westmorland and Furness]]
|-
|[[Derbyshire]] || Derbyshire, [[Derby]]
|-
|[[Devon]] || Devon, [[Plymouth]], [[Torbay]]
|-
|[[Dorset]] || [[Dorset (district)|Dorset]], [[Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole]]
|-
|[[County Durham|Durham]] || [[County Durham (district)|Durham]],{{efn|Like most unitary authorities, Durham is legally a non-metropolitan county and a district covering the same area, with just one council. Unusually, they have different names; the county is just called 'Durham' but the district is called 'County Durham' (which is how the area is often described in everyday language, to distinguish it from the city of [[Durham, England|Durham]]). There is no district council, with [[Durham County Council]] serving as unitary authority. The ceremonial county is also legally just called 'Durham'.}} [[Borough of Darlington|Darlington]], [[Borough of Hartlepool|Hartlepool]], [[Borough of Stockton-on-Tees|Stockton-on-Tees]] (north of the [[River Tees]])
|-
|[[East Riding of Yorkshire]] || East Riding of Yorkshire, [[Kingston upon Hull]]
|-
|[[East Sussex]] || East Sussex, [[Brighton and Hove]]
|-
|[[Essex]] || Essex, [[City of Southend-on-Sea|Southend-on-Sea]], [[Thurrock]]
|-
|[[Gloucestershire]] || Gloucestershire, [[South Gloucestershire]]
|-
|[[Greater London]] || Greater London except City of London
|-
|[[Greater Manchester]] || Greater Manchester
|-
|[[Hampshire]] || Hampshire, [[Portsmouth]], [[Southampton]]
|-
|[[Herefordshire]] || Herefordshire
|-
|[[Hertfordshire]] || Hertfordshire
|-
|[[Isle of Wight]] || Isle of Wight
|-
|[[Kent]] || Kent, [[Medway]]
|-
|[[Lancashire]] || Lancashire, [[Blackburn with Darwen]], [[Borough of Blackpool|Blackpool]]
|-
|[[Leicestershire]] || Leicestershire, [[Leicester]]
|-
|[[Lincolnshire]] || Lincolnshire, [[North East Lincolnshire]], [[North Lincolnshire]]
|-
|[[Merseyside]] || Merseyside
|-
|[[Norfolk]] || Norfolk
|-
|[[North Yorkshire]] || [[North Yorkshire (district)|North Yorkshire]], [[Borough of Middlesbrough|Middlesbrough]], [[Redcar and Cleveland]], Stockton-on-Tees (south of River Tees), [[City of York|York]]
|-
|[[Northamptonshire]] || [[North Northamptonshire]], [[West Northamptonshire]]
|-
|[[Northumberland]] || Northumberland
|-
|[[Nottinghamshire]] || Nottinghamshire, [[Nottingham]]
|-
|[[Oxfordshire]] || Oxfordshire
|-
|[[Rutland]] || Rutland
|-
|[[Shropshire]] || [[Shropshire (district)|Shropshire]], [[Telford and Wrekin]]
|-
|[[Somerset]] || Somerset, [[Bath and North East Somerset]], [[North Somerset]]
|-
|[[South Yorkshire]] || South Yorkshire
|-
|[[Staffordshire]] || Staffordshire, [[Stoke-on-Trent]]
|-
|[[Suffolk]] || Suffolk
|-
|[[Surrey]] || Surrey
|-
|[[Tyne and Wear]] || Tyne and Wear
|-
|[[Warwickshire]] || Warwickshire
|-
|[[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] || West Midlands
|-
|[[West Yorkshire]] || West Yorkshire
|-
|[[West Sussex]] || West Sussex
|-
|[[Wiltshire]] || [[Wiltshire (district)|Wiltshire]], [[Borough of Swindon|Swindon]]
|-
|[[Worcestershire]] || Worcestershire
|}

==Culture==
[[File:County flags at Parliament Square July 23rd 2019.jpg|thumb|County flags at [[Parliament Square]], opposite the [[United Kingdom Parliament]] in [[Westminster]], London]]

There is no well-established series of official symbols or flags covering all the counties. From 1889 the newly created county councils could apply to the [[College of Arms]] for [[coat of arms|coats of arms]], often incorporating traditional symbols associated with the county. This practice continued as new county councils were created in 1965 and 1974. Such armorial bearings were granted to the council rather than the geographic area of the counties themselves. Some have therefore become obsolete if the council they were granted to no longer exists. A recent [[List of British flags#Counties, regions and cities|series of flags]], with varying levels of official adoption, have been established in many of the counties by competition or public poll. [[List of county days in England|County days]] are a recent innovation in some areas.<ref>{{cite web |title=County flags to fly at Department for Communities and Local Government |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/county-flags-to-fly-at-department-for-communities-and-local-government |website=gov.uk |access-date=21 March 2024 |date=10 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ockso |first1=Glen |title=So long, Eric Pickles, and thanks for all the flags |url=https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2015/may/13/so-long-eric-pickles-and-thanks-for-all-the-flags |access-date=21 March 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=13 May 2015}}</ref>

There are 17 [[County cricket|first-class men's county cricket]] teams that are based on historical English counties. These compete in the [[County Championship]] and in the other top-level domestic competitions organised by the [[England and Wales Cricket Board]] along with the 18th first-class cricket county - [[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan]] in Wales. There are also 19 [[Minor counties of English and Welsh cricket|English minor county teams]] which, along with [[Wales Minor Counties Cricket Club|a Wales Minor Counties side]], compete for the [[Minor Counties Championship]].<ref>{{cite web |title=County Championship |url=https://www.ecb.co.uk/county-championship |website=England and Wales Cricket Board |access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref>

The [[County Football Association]]s are roughly based on English counties, with exceptions such as the combinations of [[Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Football Association|Berkshire and Buckinghamshire]] and [[Leicestershire & Rutland County Football Association|Leicestershire and Rutland]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The County Football Associations |url=https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/who-we-are/county-fas |website=The Football Association |access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref>

==Postal counties==
{{main|Postal counties of the United Kingdom}}
The [[Royal Mail]] has always required postal addresses to include the name of certain towns, known as [[post town]]s, to assist with efficiently directing the mail.<ref>{{cite web |title=Postcode Address File Code of Practice |url=https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/paf_code_of_practice_june_10.pdf |publisher=Royal Mail |access-date=21 March 2024 |date=May 2010}}</ref> Historically they also required the name of the county in which that post town lay to be included as part of the address (except in some cases where the county name was considered superfluous, for example because the county took its name from the post town). There was also a series of official county name abbreviations sanctioned for postal use. For many rural areas and villages the post town to which they were assigned lay in a different county, and so in many places a correct postal address included the name of a county where the specific address was not located. For example the village of [[Easton on the Hill]] in [[Northamptonshire]] had to include [[Stamford, Lincolnshire]] in its address. The postal counties therefore included the same set of towns as the geographical counties, but had quite different boundaries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Thelma J. |title=Secretarial Procedures |date=1996 |publisher=Nelson Thornes |isbn=9780748727919 |page=233 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Rrko7V365EC&pg=PA233 |access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref>

The Royal Mail was unable to follow the changes to county boundaries in 1965 and 1974 due to cost constraints and because several new counties had names that were too similar to post towns. The main differences were that Hereford and Worcester, Greater Manchester and Greater London could not be adopted as postal counties and that Humberside had to be split into [[North Humberside]] and [[South Humberside]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Local Government in England and Wales: A guide to the new system |date=1974 |publisher=Department of the Environment |page=185 |isbn=978-0-11-750847-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCQoAQAAMAAJ&q=%22south+humberside%22+%22postal+county%22 |access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref>

The use of postal counties was abandoned by the Royal Mail in 1996 after [[Postcodes in the United Kingdom|postcodes]] had become sufficiently well-established.

==See also==
* {{section link|List of counties of the United Kingdom|England}}
* [[List of ceremonial counties of England]] by population
* [[List of two-tier counties of England]] by population
* [[List of county councils in England]]
* [[Historic counties of England#List of counties|List of historic counties of England]]
* [[Settlements in ceremonial counties of England by population|List of the most populated settlements by county]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{England topics}}
{{Subdivisions of England}}
{{England counties}}
{{Administrative geography of the United Kingdom}}
{{Articles on second-level administrative divisions of European countries}}

[[Category:Counties of England| ]]
[[Category:Politics of England]]