The historic counties of England were subdivisions that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Celts and the Danes and Norse in the North. They are alternatively known as ancient counties, traditional counties, former counties or simply as counties. In the centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889,Vision of Britain — Type details for ancient county. Retrieved 19 October 2006, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following.
Unlike the partly self-governing boroughs that covered urban areas, the counties of medieval England existed primarily as a means of enforcing central government power, enabling monarchs to exercise control over local areas through their chosen representatives – originally sheriffs and later the lord-lieutenants – and their subordinate justices of the peace. Counties were used initially for the administration of justice, collection of taxes and organisation of the military, and later for local government and electing parliamentary representation. They continue to form the basis of modern local government areas in many parts of the country away from the main urban areas, although the newly created areas sometimes have considerably altered boundaries from the historic counties on which they are based.
Nomenclature
The name of a county often gives a clue to how it was formed, either as a division that took its name from a centre of administration, an ancient kingdom, or an area occupied by an ethnic group. The majority of English counties are in the first category, with the name formed by combining the central town with the suffix -shire, for example Yorkshire. Counties that were originally Anglo-Saxon kingdoms did not feature this formulation (Kent, Sussex, Essex, Middlesex). Some of these names include compass directions. The third category includes counties such as Cornwall and Devon where the name corresponds to the tribes that inhabited the area. County Durham is anomalous in terms of naming and origin, not falling into any of the three categories. Instead, it was a diocese that was turned into the County Palatine of Durham, ruled by the Bishop of Durham. The expected form would otherwise be Durhamshire, but it was rarely used.
There are customary abbreviations for many of the counties. In most cases, these consist of simple truncation, usually with an s at the end signifying -shire, such as Berks for Berkshire or Bucks for Buckinghamshire. Some abbreviations are not obvious, such as Salop for Shropshire, from the Norman-derived word for its county town Shrewsbury; Oxon for Oxfordshire, from Latin (referring to both the county and the city of Oxford); Hants for Hampshire; and Northants for Northamptonshire. Counties can be prefixed with County of in official contexts with any -shire suffix dropped, such as County of Kent or County of York. An exception is made for Berkshire, a county with a -shire suffix which is not named after a town and whose official title has been Royal County of Berkshire since 1967. The -shire suffix was also appended for some counties, such as Devonshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, despite their origin.The 1870s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales used "Devonshire ", "Dorsetshire " and Somerset " as headwords, also mentioning the Somersetshire usage. Retrieved 19 October 2006. For instance, there has been an Earl of Devonshire since 1603, and Duke of Devonshire since 1694.
Definition The county boundaries of England have changed at various points throughout history. For instance, before 1888 some towns and cities had been made counties corporate, and Acts of Parliament had transferred areas between counties to eliminate exclaves. In addition, in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, some functions undertaken by counties elsewhere were taken by lower-order subdivisions. Some county boundaries are also based on natural features which have changed over time.
Due to the varying possible geographic definitions of English counties, the Historic Counties Trust creates a 'historic counties standard' which defines the boundaries historic counties as the boundaries existing immediately before the passing of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. The standard does, however, optionally define the detached parts of counties as either the county they are historically part of or the county they sit within.
History
Origins Great Britain was first divided into administrative areas by the Romans, most likely following major geographical features such as rivers. Before their arrival there were distinct tribal areas, but they were in a constant state of flux as territory was gained and lost. After the demise of Roman Britain around 410 these first divisions of land were generally abandoned, although traditional divisions taking the form of petty kingdoms such as Powys, Dumnonia and Elmet remained in those areas which remained British, such as south west England. The areas that would later form the English counties started to take shape soon afterwards, with the Kingdom of Kent founded by settlers around 445. In southern England more widely, shires emerged from earlier sub-kingdoms as part of the administrative structure of Wessex, which then imposed its system of shires, boroughs (or burhs) and ealdormen on Mercia after it came under West Saxon control during the 10th century. Once the Kingdom of England was united as a whole in 927 it became necessary to subdivide it for administrative convenience and to this end, earldoms were created out of the earlier kingdoms, which were in turn subdivided into shires. The whole kingdom was divided into shires by the time of the Norman Conquest. Robert of Gloucester accounts for thirty-five shires and William of Malmesbury thirty-two, Henry of Huntingdon, thirty-seven.
In Anglo-Saxon times the earl and sheriff were jointly responsible for administering each shire through its shire court. Each earl was responsible for multiple shires, with some fluctuation in which shires belonged to which earldoms during this period. In the years following the Norman Conquest of 1066 the large earldoms of the Anglo-Saxon era were gradually replaced by smaller earldoms corresponding to a single shire. The Norman French term for an earl was a comte or count; whilst in England the title count was not used for the person, the territory they controlled nevertheless became known as a 'county'. As the shires and counties were generally the same areas from the 12th century onwards, the terms shire and county came to be used interchangeably. The earls' role in administering their counties was gradually reduced as the shire court was eclipsed in importance by other courts, notably the assizes and quarter sessions. Later earldoms were created that were not named after a shire, particularly from the 17th century onwards, but by that time the title of earl was honorary, with no effective role in local administration.
Although all of England was divided into shires by the time of the Norman Conquest, some counties were formed later, such as Lancashire in the 12th century. Perhaps because of their differing origins the counties varied considerably in size. The county boundaries were fairly static until the Local Government Act 1888.Vision of Britain — Census Geographies. Retrieved 19 October 2006. Each shire was responsible for gathering taxes for the central government; for local defence; and for justice, through assize courts.
Southern England In southern England the counties were mostly subdivisions of the Kingdom of Wessex, and in many areas represented annexed, previously independent, kingdoms or other tribal territories. Kent derives from the Kingdom of Kent, Surrey from the Anglian word for 'southern region', and Essex, Sussex and Middlesex come from the East Saxons, South Saxons and Middle Saxons. Norfolk and Suffolk were subdivisions representing the "North Folk" and "South Folk" of the Kingdom of East Anglia. Only one county on the south coast of England now usually takes the suffix "-shire": Hampshire, named after the former town of "Hamwic" (sic), the site of which is now a part of the city of Southampton. A "lost" Saxon county was Winchcombeshire which lasted from 1007 to 1017 before being incorporated into Gloucestershire. Dorset and Somerset derive their names from the saete or inhabitants of the areas around the towns of Dorchester and Somerton respectively; the names were first used by the Saxons in the 9th century. Devon and Cornwall were based on the pre-Saxon Celtic tribes known in Latin as the Dumnonii and Cornovii, in the latter case with the suffix , meaning foreigners, added by the Saxons.
Midlands When Wessex annexed Mercia in the 10th century, it subdivided the area into various shires of roughly equal size and tax-raising potential or hidage. These generally took the name of the main town (the county town) of the county, along with "-shire". Examples are Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. In some cases the original names have been worn down: for example, Cheshire was originally "Chestershire".Domesday Explorer — Early administrative units. Retrieved 19 October 2006.
In the east Midlands, it is thought that county boundaries may represent a 9th-century division of the Danelaw between units of the Danish army. The soke of Rutland was originally an exclave of Nottinghamshire, but it eventually became the smallest county. Lincolnshire was the successor to the Kingdom of Lindsey, and took on the territories of Kesteven and Holland when Stamford became the only Danelaw borough to fail to become a county town.Stamford Visitor Information — Timeline. Retrieved 19 October 2006.
Northern England Much of Northumbria was also shired, the best known of these counties being Hallamshire and Cravenshire. The Normans did not use these divisions, and so they are not generally regarded as ancient counties. The huge county of Yorkshire was a successor to the Viking kingdom of York and the Brittonic kingdom of Elmet; at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 it included large areas of what would later become Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland; most of Cumberland and Westmorland were under Scottish rule until 1092. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the harrying of the North, much of the North of England was left depopulated and was included in the returns for Cheshire and Yorkshire in the Domesday Book.Domesday Explorer — County definition. Retrieved 19 October 2006. However, there is some disagreement about the status of some of this land. The area in between the River Ribble and the River Mersey, referred to as in the Domesday Book,Sylvester (1980). p. 14. was included in the returns for Cheshire.Morgan (1978). pp.269c–301c,d. Whether this meant that this land was actually part of Cheshire is however not clear.Harris and Thacker (1987). write on page 252: Phillips and Phillips (2002). pp. 26–31.Crosby, A. (1996). writes on page 31: "The Domesday Survey (1086) included south Lancashire with Cheshire for convenience, but the Mersey, the name of which means 'boundary river' is known to have divided the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia and there is no doubt that this was the real boundary."This means that the map given in this article which depicts the counties at the time of the Domesday Book is misleading in this respect. The Northeast land that later became County Durham and Northumberland, was left unrecorded.