From 'Historical Atlas' by William R. Shepherd, published in 1929 in New York by Barnes & Noble. Downloaded from http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuengl/mainmaps.html

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The following map was kindly made available by The Association of British Counties (ABC) through their web site at www.abcounties.co.uk. ABC is "a society dedicated to promoting awareness of the continuing importance of the 86 historic (or traditional) Counties of Great Britain".

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Using the traditional names and boundaries suggested by The Association of British Counties, Wales (Cymru) has the following 13 counties: Anglesey (Sir Fon), Brecknockshire (Sir Frycheiniog), Caernarfonshire (Sir Gaernarfon), Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin), Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych), Flintshire (Sir Fflint), Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Merioneth (Meirionnydd), Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy), Montgomeryshire (Sir Drefaldwyn), Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro), Radnorshire (Sir Faesyfed).

 

 

Across the centuries, the boundaries of the regions of Wales have varied considerably. Initially this was the result of battles for territory between the different tribes. More recently, it has been more for administrative & bureaucratic convenience. The map on the left shows the situation around the 12th century. The map on the right shows how it was at the end of the 20th century.

 

For the map on the right, in rough terms (with a little exchange between some of the counties): - Gwynedd covers Anglesey, Carnarvonshire & Merioneth - Clwyd covers Denbighshire & Flintshire - Powys covers Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire & Breconshire - Dyfed covers Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire - Glamorgan has been split into 3 administrative regions (West, Mid & South) - Gwent covers Monmouthshire.

More information on Wales will be added in due course.

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The Scots are proud of their country. See A History of Scotland for some reasons why this can be justified even though much of the past was not as glamorous as some may think it was.

Although its land acreage is relatively small, Scotland has a large coastline whilst, thanks to the Orkney & Shetland Islands, its maritime territory is quite significant. Lerwick, the main town of the Shetland Isles, is closer to Bergen in Norway than it is to Edinburgh.

Using the traditional names and boundaries suggested by The Association of British Counties, Scotland has the following 34 counties: Aberdeenshire, Angus/Forfarshire, Argyllshire, Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Buteshire, Cromartyshire, Caithness, Clackmannanshire, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire, East Lothian/Haddingtonshire, Fife, Inverness-shire, Kincardineshire, Kinross-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian/Edinburghshire, Morayshire, Nairnshire, Orkney, Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross-shire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Shetland, Stirlingshire, Sutherland, West Lothian/Linlithgowshire, Wigtownshire.

There is no single truly traditional and always-accepted method of dividing Scotland into smaller regions, groups of counties, but the following is not uncommon: » Borders : Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire. » Dumfries and Galloway : Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire. » Lothian : East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian. » Central-South : Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Peeblesshire, Renfrewshire. » Central-North : Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire, Stirlingshire. » Argyll and Bute : Argyllshire, Buteshire. » Perthshire, Tayside and Fife : Clackmannanshire, Fife, Kinross-shire, Perthshire. » Grampian : Aberdeenshire, Angus/Forfarshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire. » Moray and Nairn : Morayshire, Nairnshire. » The Highlands and The Western Islands : Inverness-shire, Cromartyshire, Ross-shire. » Sutherland and Caithness : Sutherland, Caithness. » The Northern Isles (not shown...

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.

England 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...