The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known as former postal counties,Royal Mail Programmers' Guide, Edition 7, version 5.0, Royal Mail Group Ltd, 2009, p.65 were postal subdivisions in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996. The purpose of the postal county – as opposed to any other kind of county – was to aid the sorting of mail by differentiating between similar post towns. Since 1996 this has been done by using the outward code (first half) of the postcode instead. For operational reasons, the former postal counties, although broadly based on the counties of the United Kingdom, did not match up with their boundaries; in some cases there were significant differences. The boundaries changed over time as post towns were created or amended.
According to the Royal Mail, the former postal county data no longer forms part of postal addresses. It was removed from the Postcode Address File database in 2000 and does not form part of its code of practice for changing addresses. Despite this, county data is routinely sold to companies, ostensibly to let them cleanse their own address data. As the former postal county data was the last to be in routine use, some organisations have continued to use this obsolete data as part of postal addresses. In 2009, the Royal Mail code of practice consultation included discussion of the possible replacement of the currently supplied "alias data" with an up-to-date county information data field.Postcomm, Review of Royal Mail's Postcode Address File Code of Practice Consultation , 28 May 2009 In 2010, the regulator advised Royal Mail to cease supply of county data altogether, and a timetable was put in place for this to occur between 2013 and 2016.
Origins In the 19th century and early 20th centuries, the Post Office required the name of the post town to be included in addresses, but advised against including the name of the county. The exception was if a post town's name was not unique, in which case the county name was to be included in the address in order to distinguish between post towns of the same name.
Sometime between 1920 and 1934 the Post Office changed its advice on counties. It recommended instead that the name of the county in which the post town lay should be included in most cases, with the exception of certain large towns and cities and those which gave their name to the county.
Differences As the name of the county to be used in the postal address was derived from the post town, there were various scenarios where there were differences between the postal county and the geographic or administrative counties:
Places part of a post town in another county First, many of the approximately 1,500 post towns straddled county boundaries, and the postal addresses of all places in such areas included the postal county of the post town, regardless of their actual location. In a written answer in the House of Lords in 1963, Lord Chesham, Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Transport estimated that about 7% of towns and villages with a post office lay in a postal county different from their geographical county. He went to explain that:
Examples, usually consisting of small villages near to county boundaries, included:
Geographic locality Geographic county Post town Former postal countyChenies Buckinghamshire RICKMANSWORTH HertfordshireChirbury Shropshire (England) MONTGOMERY Powys (Wales)Hinwick and Podington Bedfordshire WELLINGBOROUGH NorthamptonshireMelbournResidents in postcode row , BBC News, 27 June 2002 Cambridgeshire ROYSTON HertfordshirePitstone Buckinghamshire LEIGHTON BUZZARD BedfordshireShirebrook Derbyshire MANSFIELD NottinghamshireTatsfield Surrey WESTERHAM KentUgley and Molehill Green Essex BISHOP'S STORTFORD Hertfordshire Woodcote and Sonning Common Oxfordshire READING Berkshire
There were additional examples resulting from the 1974 reorganisation of local government: Geographic locality Ceremonial county Post town Former postal countyBirtley Tyne and Wear CHESTER LE STREET County DurhamColeshill and Water Orton Warwickshire BIRMINGHAM West MidlandsBecause the post town was a special post town, the postal county was not required.Seaton Delaval Northumberland WHITLEY BAY Tyne and WearThe postal county was Northumberland before 1974.Sedgefield County Durham STOCKTON-ON-TEES ClevelandStokesley and Great Ayton North Yorkshire MIDDLESBROUGH Cleveland
The postal counties were subject to change over time as post towns near to county boundaries were amended. For example, Chinley in Derbyshire had a postal address of "Stockport, Cheshire" which was later updated to "High Peak, Derbyshire" when a new post town was created.
London
Second, the London postal district, which formed a special post town, did not conform to any administrative boundaries. The postal district was created in 1858 and has periodically been revised. However, at no point has its boundary coincided with either the metropolis (later County of London) of 1855–1965, which was somewhat smaller, or the Greater London area created in 1965, which was much bigger. Addresses in the London post town, an area of HMSO, The Inner London Letter Post, (1980) (or 40% of Greater London), did not include a county; however, the rest of Greater London (60% of its area) formed parts of other post towns in the postal counties of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Hertfordshire. For example, Wembley Stadium had a postal address of Wembley, Middlesex rather than London. Some London boroughs were split between multiple postal counties: for example Barnet had sections in the London postal district (e.g. Golders Green) and in the Middlesex and Hertfordshire postal counties (e.g. Edgware and East Barnet); with the NW7 postcode district touching the Greater London boundary to divide the three sections. Sewardstone, in the Epping Forest district of Essex, is the only locality outside Greater London to be included in the London postal district (E4).
Changes to administrative county boundaries Third, the Royal Mail adopted some, but not all, of the local government reforms of 1965 and 1974/5. This caused postal counties in some areas to reflect boundary changes, while in other areas they did not. Although the Post Office did not follow the changes of the London Government Act 1963 with respect to the outer London suburbs, it did reflect the move of Potters Bar from Middlesex to Hertfordshire. In contrast, Middlesex remained part of the postal address for Staines, Sunbury and Ashford, which had transferred to Surrey. The 1960s saw an increase in the number of addresses the Post Office delivered to, but a decrease in the volume of mail sent, which caused a significant drop in revenue and a proportionate increase in operational costs.Corby, M., The postal business, 1969–79, (1979) Furthermore, retaining the existing postal county boundaries was explained as largely due to cost reasons. The Times pointed out that this might cause confusion, noting that in future "children will no doubt wonder why their address should refer to a county in which they have never lived", but that "some people […] want the name of Middlesex preserved because of its historical associations".
The Local Government Act 1972 redrew the administrative county map of England and Wales outside Greater London. The Post Office was considering its policy in January 1973, and in November 1973 noted that "Greater Manchester" would be unlikely to be adopted because of confusion of the Manchester post town, but that Avon was likely to be introduced. When the local government changes came into force, the Post Office announced that the new counties would form part of postal addresses from 1 July 1974, and should be used as "soon as possible". Old counties could, however, still be used until 1 July 1975. It was stated that the rule applied to: "...addresses throughout England and Wales outside Greater London with the exception of Greater Manchester and Hereford and Worcester where addresses remain unchanged. In Humberside it is necessary to show whether an address is in North Humberside or South Humberside. Addresses in certain post-towns have not, in the past, included a county name; these addresses are unchanged, but the postcode should be shown. Addresses in Greater London are also unchanged as are addresses in any place where the new county bears the same name as the former one." The postal counties listed in 1961 that did not continue after the reforms were Cumberland, Rutland, Sussex, Westmorland and Yorkshire.
In Scotland, counties were entirely abolished for local government purposes in May 1975. The matter of postal counties was raised in the House of Lords in April 1975. Lord Beswick, Minister of State at the Department of Industry, stated that "the Post Office is consulting its customers in Scotland about the possible use of new postal addresses for Scotland based on the new local government Regions and Island Areas". In the event, the postal counties were not changed. Thus Alva, despite being in the Central Region after 1975, was still postally in Clackmannanshire. Gordon Oakes, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment, explained the policy in a written answer to a question in parliament, shortly after the changes were brought in:House of Commons Hansard, Written Answers, 4 July 1974, col.278
Special post towns The postal county was omitted for addresses within 125 post towns. These were mainly either larger towns and cities or places where the county name was derived from the post town. These post towns were:
ABERDEEN ANTRIM ARMAGH AYR BANFF BATH BEDFORD BELFAST BERWICK-UPON-TWEED BIRMINGHAM BLACKBURN BLACKPOOL BOLTON BOURNEMOUTH BRIGHTON BRISTOL BROMLEY BUCKINGHAM CAMBRIDGE CARDIFF CARLISLE CHELMSFORD CHESTER CLACKMANNAN CLACTON-ON-SEA COLCHESTER COVENTRY CREWE CROYDON DARTFORD DERBY DUMBARTON DUMFRIES DUNDEE DURHAM EDINBURGH EXETER FALKIRK GLASGOW GLOUCESTER HEREFORD HERTFORD HOUNSLOW HUDDERSFIELD HULL INVERNESS IPSWICH ISLE OF ARRAN ISLE OF BARRA ISLE OF BENBECULA ISLE OF BUTE ISLE OF CANNA ISLE OF COLL ISLE OF COLONSAY ISLE OF CUMBRAE ISLE OF EIGG ISLE OF GIGHA ISLE OF HARRIS ISLE OF IONA ISLE OF ISLAY ISLE OF JURA ISLE OF LEWIS ISLE OF MULL ISLE OF NORTH UIST ISLE OF RUM ISLE OF SCALPAY ISLE OF SKYE ISLE OF SOUTH UIST ISLE OF TIREE ISLES OF SCILLY KINROSS KIRKCUDBRIGHT LANARK LANCASTER LEEDS LEICESTER LINCOLN LIVERPOOL LONDON LONDONDERRY LUTON MANCHESTER MILTON KEYNES NAIRN NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE NORTHAMPTON NORWICH NOTTINGHAM OLDHAM ORKNEY OXFORD PEEBLES PERTH PETERBOROUGH PLYMOUTH PORTSMOUTH PRESTON READING REDHILL RENFREW ROMFORD SALFORD SALISBURY SELKIRK SHEFFIELD SHETLAND SHREWSBURY SLOUGH SOUTHAMPTON SOUTHEND-ON-SEA STAFFORD STIRLING STOKE-ON-TRENT SUNDERLAND SWANSEA SWINDON TORQUAY TWICKENHAM WALSALL WARRINGTON WARWICK WATFORD WOLVERHAMPTON WORCESTER YORK
The post towns of BRECON, CAERNARVON, CARDIGAN, CARMARTHEN, DENBIGH, FLINT, HUNTINGDON, MONMOUTH, MONTGOMERY and PEMBROKE also qualified as special post towns until 1974 as the name of the county was derived from the town. Following the Local Government Act 1972, addresses in these post towns required the new postal county.
Postal counties in operation from 1974 to 1996 listed with official abbreviations, if any
England Postal counties broadly matched the county boundaries established in 1974, unless noted otherwise under "geographic coverage".