England

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Using the traditional names and boundaries suggested by The Association of British Counties, England has the following 39 counties:
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire.

 

Although Greater London is nowadays treated as an administrative county in its own right, different parts of it are in different counties (Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex), having evolved from the City of Westminster (in Middlesex) which grew outwards to meet many other towns and villages which all expanded until there was little space between them and they formed a giant conurbation.

engreg2England is sometimes talked about as if it was divided into different Regions, each comprising various counties. There is no formally accepted method of division but the following are not uncommon, although it should be noted that some of them have been ‘stretched’ to ensure that all of the counties are included somewhere:
» North-West : Cumberland, Lancashire, Westmorland
» North-East : Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire
» West Midlands : Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire with Bedfordshire
» East Midlands : Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland
» East Anglia : Norfolk, Suffolk with Cambridgeshire, Essex
» Thames Valley ** : Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire with Wiltshire
» South-West : Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset
» South-East : Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex with Hampshire, Hertfordshire

** ‘Thames Valley’ has not been recognised as a Region for long but has become popular in recent years not least because it fills a gap.

Other groupings or names often used include:
» Wessex : Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire sometimes also with Berkshire, Devon, Hampshire
» The Home Counties : Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey
» The Heart of England : Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire
» The West Country : same as South-West above

 

Written by on the 26th February 2014.

Peter is the founder & proprietor of Stirnet.

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