In Armchair land referencing #3 we discussed the significance and some quirks of parishes administrative areas, and referred to the City and County of the City of London. In this article I want to look at counties in a little more detail, particularly English counties, as the distinction between historic and administrative county divisions can be confusing and land referencers need to understand the differences to ensure they identify the right authorities and their responsibilities.
The inhabitants of the UK have a strong sense of identity in part because of the differences they see between themselves. Whilst identifying with their countrymen they also have strong local identifies and even rivalries. No one from Yorkshire would wish to be mistaken for someone from Cornwall or vice versa. Perhaps this explains the survival of long-abolished English counties in the national psyche. It might also explain rivalry between sports team supporters which dissolve as soon as the national team play. Many people's sense of self is bound up in a fierce local pride about their county. But is it isn’t always clear which county they might be proud of.
People in Scunthorpe lived in the non-metropolitan and ceremonial county of Humberside from 1974 to 1996. Now they live in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire. Humberside no longer exists as a county, but Humberside Police and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service still operate. I was at school in Birkenhead. This is now back in the historic county of Cheshire but is the ceremonial county of Merseyside (even though Merseyside County Council was abolished in 1986) and is included in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. The postcode changed too from ‘L’ to ‘CH’ (and it is said house prices rose as a result). I now live in west London and can stroll down the river every April to watch the Oxford Cambridge University Boat Race. The two captains toss a coin for the choice of starting ‘stations’ - either the Surrey (Putney) or the Middlesex (Fulham) side of the Thames. But Putney hasn’t been in Surrey since 1889. And the 8th century county of Middlesex disappeared entirely when the County Council was abolished in 1965. Yet Middlesex still gives its name to a county cricket club and a university and many of its inhabitants, who all live in the ceremonial county of Greater London, still use ‘Middlesex’ in their postal addresses, despite the Royal Mail deleting all county names from its Postcode Address File database in 2010. It seems that England's counties are somehow fixed in a collective memory and remain the source of much regional pride, not least in cricket pavilions. To identify as a Yorkshirewoman or a Devonian or a Northumbrian is perhaps to invite certain expectations about the forthrightness of opinion or one's tolerance for cider
and clog-dancing; and the long-held English Army regimental system formally established in 1782 and abandoned only in 2012, was also based on the idea that, while the English will fight for ‘King and Country’, they will fight harder still when fighting alongside others from their own county. So there must be something still important about these old administrative areas.
Successive waves of local government reform have now left many people unclear as to which county they live in - the answer to which depends on exactly what is meant by the word ‘county’. Past governments had tried to bring order by attempting to sweep these ancient identities away – and failed. In an effort to support the tapestry of ancient place names and identities, the government now allows councils to put up boundary signs marking traditional English counties - including the likes of Cumberland and Huntingdonshire; names which no longer have any connection to county-wide local authorities. So the approach is now to work with them and see England as stronger for these local identities, traditions and ties. In our work it is important that we are clear about what we are referring to when recording a ‘county’. There are now three types of ‘county’ in England. Counties of different variety may share the same names as each other but not necessarily the same borders. First there are the historic counties, which date as far back as the mid-Saxon period. Some, like Westmorland, no longer exist in an administrative sense. But especially in places like Yorkshire, Durham and Cornwall, they are important expressions of geographic and cultural identity. Then there are administrative counties and unitary authority areas created by the 1972 Local Government Act. These include non-metropolitan county councils like Oxfordshire and Surrey (where some services are also provided by districts). Others, like Northumberland, are single-tier unitary councils. Some areas like Berkshire have no county council and the districts are the sole local authorities. Finally, there are the ceremonial counties, established by the 1997 Lieutenancies Act, each of which has a Lord Lieutenant (the British monarch's personal representative in that area). Bedfordshire and Cheshire, for instance, do not exist as councils but do as ceremonial counties. In metropolitan counties like Merseyside, Tyne and Wear and Greater Manchester, county councils were scrapped in the 1980s, but some services including transport and the police are run jointly by groups of councillors within the old boundaries.
If you've followed that you are doing well. Suffice to say England has ended up a patchwork of arrangements to which there is little logic. So, for instance, Barrow-In-Furness belongs to the historic county of Lancashire, its ceremonial county is Cumbria, and it is governed by Cumbria County Council, which also covers the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. Saddleworth is formerly of the West Riding of Yorkshire and now of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham and the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester. Many of its inhabitants still proudly fly the white rose flag of Yorkshire. And the situation continues to change with regular new reforms – changes in Buckinghamshire in May 2021 have had impacts to recent land referencing work the county. Little wonder, faced with so much change, that people are more loyal to ancient affiliations than to the people who empty their bins and issue parking tickets.
The situation is less confusing in Scotland and Wales, where local government is single tier, although some councils like Clackmannanshire and Fife in Scotland do correspond to historic counties. This simpler approach followed some complex reforms. For instance, I was brought up in Flintshire in Wales. This was merged with Denbighshire and became Clwyd in 1974, only for Clwyd to be broken up again in 1996. During this reorganization an enclave of Flintshire was incorporated into the new Wrexham County Borough. It had somehow floated off and escaped both the rest of Flintshire and got surrounded by Cheshire and Shropshire (and therefore England), and the effects of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 that was supposed to tidy this sort of things up. In Northern Ireland, which has 26 district councils, inhabitants of the traditional historic counties Armagh, Antrim and Fermanagh will identify themselves as such.
Currently more of the historic East Riding of Yorkshire is outside the current East Riding of Yorkshire unitary council area than is within. But there is some movement for greater recognition of these historic boundaries. Rutland, constituted as a district of Leicestershire in 1974, was re-established as a county in its own right in 1997. Cricket teams and BBC local radio stations all keep the names of counties alive. Rutland claims to be England’s smallest historic county (382km²) whereas The City and County of the City of London is the smallest ceremonial county (just 3km²).
But for next time I’d like you to consider if any case might be made for the Isle of Wight, the ceremonial county and part of the historic county of Hampshire (380km²). Does it get bigger than the Rutland at low tide? Answer - and why this has a bearing on land referencing - next time.
This article is written by Ashley Parry Jones, Director – Planning, WSP. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of WSP or SoLR or its members. The information provided does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice and instead is offered for general purposes only. It does not constitute the most up to date legal information. Any links and references provided are for the readers’ convenience only and do not constitute a recommendation of those sources.
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