What is a County?

After 30 years of Local Government Reorganization, this is not an easy question to answer, and it has be raised often enough for me to attempt to answer it in this page. This is the way I see it. In England we have:

39 Traditional Counties of immemorial antiquity. These no longer have any legal standing but still represent what many people continue to think of as "counties", such as "Yorkshire". For more information on these (and traditional counties in Wales & Scotland as well) see the Association of British Counties.
34 Administrative Counties (areas covered by county councils).
48 Ceremonial Counties (areas for which a Lord Lieutenant acts as the Queen's deputy).
- every Administrative County has a Ceremonial County of the same name, but the Ceremonial County is in many cases larger as it takes in areas served by Unitary Authorities. The other 14 Ceremonial Counties do not have an Administrative County of the same name. Insofar as there is an official definition of "Geographical" county I believe this is it. Everywhere in England falls within one (and only one) Ceremonial County. The term "Lieutenancy" is also sometimes used for these areas. (The City of London is a separate Ceremonial County from Greater London - it is too small to show on the adjoining map).
Postal Counties are no longer recognised by the Royal Mail since about 1995 as correct use of Post Codes makes them quite unnecessary. There is therefore no such thing as a definitive list and I have removed them from this tabulation. See the Royal Mail Post Code Finder to obtain the full postal address and post code of any UK address.

In Scotland 31 lieutanancies were established in 1975 and revised in 1996, bearing some resemblance to the counties existing pre-1973. There are also 4 cities which have been "Counties of Cities" for centuries, where the Lord Provost is the Lord Lieutenant ex officio.

In Wales for Ceremonial purposes there are eight "preserved counties" which have the same names as the 1974 - 1996 Administrative Counties, but have had their boundaries shifted to align more closely to the unitary councils.

In Northern Ireland the traditional six counties and two cities remain as they were before 1973. Lord Lieutenants and High Sherriffs are appointed for each county.

Thanks to Laurence Jones for the information on Scotland, Wales and NI. More details

THE LIST

England
Avon Bedfordshire Berkshire Bristol Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire City of London Cleveland Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Riding of Y'shire East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Greater London Greater Manchester Hampshire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Humberside Isle of Wight	No longer functional Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial No longer functional Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem No longer functional Ceremonial	Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Merseyside Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset South Yorkshire Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Tyne & Wear Warwickshire West Midlands West Sussex West Yorkshire Wiltshire Worcestershire	Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Traditional only Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Ceremonial Admin, Cerem Admin, Cerem

Scotland		Wales	Northern Ireland
Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Ayrshire and Arran Banffshire Berwickshire Caithness Clackmannan Dumfries Dunbartonshire East Lothian Fife Inverness Kincardineshire Lanarkshire Midlothian Moray Nairn Orkney	Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale Shetland Stirling and Falkirk Sutherland The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright Tweeddale West Lothian Western Isles Wigtown City of Aberdeen City of Glasgow City of Dundee City of Edinburgh	Clwyd Dyfed Mid Glamorgan South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Gwent Gwynedd Powys	Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone City of Belfast City of Londonderry

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