This is a list of the counties of the United Kingdom. The history of local government in the United Kingdom differs between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the subnational divisions within these which have been called counties have varied over time and by purpose. The county has formed the upper tier of local government over much of the United Kingdom at one time or another,HMSO, Aspects of Britain: Local Government, (1996) and has been used for a variety of other purposes, such as for Lord Lieutenants, land registration and postal delivery. This list of 184 counties is split by constituent country, time period and purpose.
Colour key in tables below
England
Changes between the 1990s and 2009 subdivided the short-lived non-metropolitan counties of Cleveland and Humberside into unitary authorities, but the former county names continue for fire services and police forces (see ). Similarly the short-lived county of Avon provides part of the area and name of Avon and Somerset Police and its area is roughly that of the Avon Fire and Rescue Service.
The historic counties of Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland, Huntingdonshire and Middlesex are the five defunct ceremonial counties which were historically counties. With their abolition as ceremonial counties, Yorkshire is divided for that purpose into the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. Cumberland and Westmorland were combined with a former exclave of Lancashire to form Cumbria, Huntingdonshire merged into Cambridgeshire, and the vastly greater part of Middlesex became part of Greater London.
Contemporary reference to the Isle of Ely and nearby Soke of Peterborough has been very rare since the early 20th century and they have scant public resonance. The counties in italics below are neither ceremonial nor historic.
The list does not include the 61 county boroughs (1889–1974) or the 18 counties corporate (before 1889), each of which was an administrative county for a single town or city, within a larger "county-at-large".
County CurrentceremonialLieutenancies Act 1997 From 1974Local Government Act 1972 Postal1974–1996Royal Mail - PAF Digest Issue 6.0 Since 1996 these have been known as "former postal counties", and need no longer be used in addressing mail. Post Towns created since 1996 are not allocated to a postal county. The PAF also includes an "Alias File" that includes postally not required information including "Traditional County" and "Administrative County" fields. The list is not comprehensive and Royal Mail does not guarantee its accuracy. 1889–1974 Before 1889 Metropolitan Non-metropolitan County Administrative Avon Bath and North East Somerset Bedfordshire Bedford Berkshire The Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996; SI 1996 No. 1879 Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Bournemouth Brighton and Hove Bristol Special post town County borough County corporate Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire 1889–1965 1889–1965 Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely 1965–1974 1965–1974 Central Bedfordshire Cheshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cleveland Cornwall Cumberland Cumbria Darlington Derbyshire Derby Devon Dorset Durham (County Durham) East Suffolk Division East Sussex Division Essex Gloucestershire Greater London CountyFor ceremonial purposes only 1965–1974 Greater Manchester Hampshire Halton Hartlepool Hereford and Worcester Herefordshire Hertfordshire Humberside Huntingdon and Peterborough 1965–1974 1965–1974 Huntingdonshire 1889–1965 1889–1965 Isle of Ely 1889–1965 Division Isle of Wight 1890–1974 Kent Kingston upon Hull Lancashire Leicestershire Leicester Lincolnshire Lincolnshire, Parts of Holland Division Lincolnshire, Parts of Kesteven Division Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey Division London Special post town 1889–1965 1889–1965 The MetropolisThe Metropolis was an ad hoc administrative area covering parts of three counties City of London County corporate Luton Medway Merseyside Middlesbrough Middlesex Milton Keynes Norfolk Northamptonshire North East Lincolnshire North Humberside North Lincolnshire North Northamptonshire North Somerset Northumberland North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Nottingham Oxfordshire Soke of Peterborough 1889–1965 Liberty Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Redcar and Cleveland Rutland 2008+AFD Software - Latest PAF Data News Shropshire Somerset Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Humberside South Gloucestershire South Yorkshire Staffordshire Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Suffolk Surrey Sussex Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Tyne and Wear Warrington Warwickshire West Midlands Westmorland Westmorland and Furness West Northamptonshire West Suffolk Division West Sussex Division West Yorkshire Wiltshire Worcestershire 1998+ Yorkshire Yorkshire, East Riding LAppointed a Lord Lieutenant, but not a county under the Local Government Act 1888 Division Yorkshire, North Riding L Division Yorkshire, West Riding L Division York
Northern Ireland
County CurrentlieutenancyNorthern Ireland (Lieutenancy) Order 1975 (SI 1975 No. 156) Postalbefore 1996 1899–1973 Before 1899 County Administrative Antrim Armagh City of Belfast Special post town CBCounty styled as county borough by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 Part of counties Antrim and Down Down Fermanagh Londonderry City of Derry Special post town CB Part of County Londonderry Tyrone
Scotland
County Lieutenancy RegistrationRegisters of Scotland - Land Register Counties Postalbefore 1996 1890–1975 Before 1890 City of Aberdeen Special post town 1900 Aberdeenshire Angus (Forfarshire) Argyll Ayrshire Banffshire Berwickshire Bute Caithness Clackmannanshire Cromartyshire Dumfriesshire Dunbartonshire (Dumbarton) City of Dundee Special post town 1894 East Lothian (Haddingtonshire) City of Edinburgh Special post town Fife City of Glasgow Special post town 1893 Inverness-shire Kincardineshire Kinross-shire Kirkcudbrightshire Lanarkshire Midlothian (County of Edinburgh) Moray (Elginshire) Nairnshire Orkney Peeblesshire Perthshire Renfrewshire Ross and Cromarty Ross-shire Roxburghshire Selkirkshire Shetland (Zetland) Stirlingshire Sutherland West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) Wigtownshire
Wales
County 1996+ Postal1974–1996 1974–1996 1889–1974 Before 1889 Preserved CountyLocal Government (Wales) Act 1994 S.1 - Principal areas styled as a county Anglesey Isle of Anglesey Brecknockshire Caernarfonshire Cardiganshire Ceredigion Carmarthenshire Clwyd Denbighshire Dyfed Flintshire Glamorgan Gwent Gwynedd Merionethshire Mid Glamorgan Monmouthshire Montgomeryshire Pembrokeshire Powys Radnorshire South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Wrexham
See also List of United Kingdom county nicknames Counties of Ireland Alias Data
References