Historic counties of England
The traditional counties of England or the historic counties of England are the 39 English counties ( counties ), was divided into England until 1889. In English, these counties are also referred to as ancient counties, historic counties or rare traditional counties. Administratively, the traditional counties of England are now irrelevant.
The traditional counties existed for centuries as administrative and judicial districts. Since the 19th century the British administrative structure has often been reformed. For this reason, the traditional counties of today's Ceremonial counties ( ceremonial counties ) and today's counties are to be distinguished with administrative functions (non- metropolitan counties ). Nevertheless identify even today many Englishmen with the traditional counties because they were in the course of time to geographical names. The emergence of the first counties goes back to the 10th century and dates back to the 16th century into it.
The traditional counties
The county of Monmouthshire has long been considered part of England, but today is counted to Wales. The City of London is today, although no longer in the county, but is historically in Middlesex.
Designation
In regulations, the counties were often referred to as the County of, followed by the name of the main town called (eg Yorkshire as County of York). Later, those counties are named after their main town ( county town) or whose names would otherwise monosyllabic, in shire by the ending. To this rule there are two exceptions:
- County Durham. This anomaly is explained by the special position as bishop of Durham Palatinate ( county palatinate ).
- Kent was originally a jütisches Kingdom. The expected name Kent Shire was needed at any time.
In the past, the names of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire Rutlandshire were common. You are now obsolete, although there is the title of Duke of Devonshire today.
In English usage, abbreviations are used for many counties. In most cases it is a shortened with an appended "s", such as in Berks Berkshire or Bucks for Buckinghamshire. Some abbreviations are not quite as obvious, such as Salop Shropshire, Oxon Oxfordshire or Hants and Northants for Hampshire and Northamptonshire.
History
The traditional counties created in the course of several centuries; they have different origins and are of different ages.
In southern England there were already in the Kingdom of Wessex appropriate subdivisions; the same applies to later services being areas - for example in Kent, which has emerged from the kingdom of Kent. From the English Channel located on the coast counties, only if the additive -shire. Hampshire is named after the town Hampton, who is called Southampton today.
After Wessex had conquered the kingdom of Mercia in the 9th and 10th century, the territory was also divided into several shires, which were named after their capital together with the additional -shire. These include, for example, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. In some cases, the name was later shortened (eg Cheshire was first called Chestershire ).
Large parts of the Kingdom of Northumbria were also divided into shires, the most famous being the counties of Hallamshire and Cravenshire. Because this division was not used by the Normans, they are generally not considered as traditional counties. After the invasion of the Normans under William the Conqueror in 1066, the population left large parts of the north; the Domesday Book of 1086 recorded for the North of England, only the counties of Cheshire and Yorkshire. Located in the northeast area is not listed; here later the counties of County Durham and Northumberland emerged.
Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, County Durham and Northumberland originated in the 12th century for Lancashire is clear that in 1182. As part of the dominion of the Bishop of Durham has been viewed Hexhamshire to 1572 as an independent county.
The border of England with Wales was defined only by the Act of Union 1536. In the Domesday Book among the counties on the border areas, who later co Wales; Monmouth was, for example, to Herefordshire.
Because of their different origins of the traditional counties are also different in size. The largest area of Yorkshire originated from the Kingdom of York. At the time of the Domesday Book belonged to Yorkshire and the North Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland. Lincolnshire emerged from the kingdom of Lindsey. Rutland was originally a " soke " ( judicial district ) and was one of Nottinghamshire, but was later own, namely, the smallest county in England.
Traditional subunits
Some of the traditional counties had major subunits. The most important were the three Ridings of Yorkshire ( East Riding, West Riding and North Riding ). The Ridings emerged as geographical names due to the size of Yorkshire.
The second largest county of Lincolnshire was divided into three parts ( Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven ). Similarly, Kent has been divided into East Kent and West Kent and Sussex in East Sussex and West Sussex
In several counties there were separate areas or søkes that were managed independently. So one of the Isle of Ely Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire the Soke of Peterborough.
Moreover, there was in nearly all counties subunits at the local level. Most counties were divided into so-called dog reds, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in wapentakes and Durham, Cumberland and Westmoreland in wards. In Kent and Sussex there was between the major subdivisions and the dog reds yet a further stage, which were called in Kent lathes and rapes in Sussex.
The Hundreds and their corresponding subunits in other counties were in turn divided into tithings and parishes, the latter represent an administrative unit until today. These were in turn divided into townships and manors.
Enclaves and divided cities
For more of the traditional counties were areas that were on the territory of another county ( enclave ). 1844 Parliament passed a law by which the enclaves are henceforth to reckon as belonging to those counties where they are located. In England exists to this day controversy over whether this provision was mandatory.
Even if the law is taken into account in 1844, the traditional counties continued to have a whole series of smaller enclaves. The regulation of 1844 related primarily to the County Durham associated enclaves Iceland, Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire that were assigned to Northumberland.
Not affected by this law was the area around Donisthorpe, which belonged to Derbyshire, but was in Leicestershire. The same applies to most of the larger enclaves of Worcestershire, for example, the town of Dudley, which was in Staffordshire. Also called the Furness area of Lancashire remained of that county by a narrow strip, which was part of Westmorland, separately.
Some cities were historically divided between two counties, such as Newmarket, Royston, Stamford, Tamworth and Todmorden. In some of these cases, the border ran through the middle of the main street. In Todmorden the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire should be run through the middle of the town hall.
Today's use
To date, in England the names of the traditional counties that were never formally dissolved in use. The traditional counties were Administratively replaced from 1888 by the Administrative Counties. They differed in terms of boundaries and their number significantly from the traditional counties. At the same time the larger cities have been extracted from the counties and formed an independent County Boroughs.
In 1974, the division into counties and county boroughs Administrative been replaced by a breakdown in metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties, which until 1996 had stock. 1996 and in the following years, many non-metropolitan counties were replaced by Unitary Authorities.
For purposes of the Lord- Lieutenancy made in England since 1888 also the ceremonial counties. They are essentially based on the boundaries of the traditional counties, soft in some cases, but also from that price and have been amended several times in the 20th century.