Thecounties of the United Kingdom are subnational divisions of theUnited Kingdom, used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. The older term,shire is historically equivalent tocounty. By theMiddle Ages, county had become established as the unit of local government, at least inEngland.[1] By the early 17th century, all of England,Wales,Scotland, andIreland had been separated into counties. In Scotland,shire was the only term used until after theAct of Union 1707. The four countries of the UK does not follow a uniform system of administrative division, and this making its administrative geography intricate, layered and inconsistent.
Since the early 19th century, counties have been adapted to meet new administrative and political requirements, and the wordcounty (often with a qualifier) has been used in different senses for different purposes. In some areas of England and Wales, counties still perform the functions of modern local government. In other parts of the United Kingdom, especially within large metropolitan areas, they have been replaced with alternativeunitary authorities, which are considered 'county level' authorities.[2] Today, these have largely replaced the historiccounty corporate entities granted self-governance with county government powers. Today, in addition to local government counties, every part of the United Kingdom lies within thehistoric counties which have formed geographic and cultural units since the Middle Ages.[3]
Additionally, there arevice-counties, which are geographic areas based on the historic counties, and used in scientific data gathering. Their purpose is to maintain the stability of the geographic area for scientific studies, and thus ignore changes in political demarcations.[4]
England is divided into 48ceremonial counties, which are also known as geographic counties. Many of these counties have their basis in the 39historic counties whose origins lie in antiquity,[5] although some were established as recently as 1974.[6]
England is also divided into 84metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (outsideGreater London and theIsles of Scilly). These correspond to areas used for the purposes of local government and may consist of a single district or be divided into several. As of April 2023, 28 such counties are divided into districts, and 21 of those have acounty council.
Most ceremonial counties correspond to a metropolitan or non-metropolitan county that has the same name but often has reduced boundaries. The current arrangement is the result of incremental reform; from 1974 to 1996 the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties corresponded directly with the ceremonial counties. From 1889 to 1974 areas with county councils were known asadministrative counties (which excluded larger towns and cities that had independentcounty boroughs), and ceremonial counties were defined separately.[7]
In Scotland, there were 33local government counties, created under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1889. They were abolished in 1975 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973, in favour ofregions and districts andislands council areas. The regions and districts were themselves abolished in 1996, under theLocal Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994,[8] in favour of unitaryScottish council areas. (The islands areas had been created as unitary council areas, and their boundaries were unaffected.)
The 1889 legislation createdcounty councils, turned each civil county (with one exception) into a contiguous area and adjusted boundaries wherecivil parishes straddled county boundaries, or had fragments in more than one county. The counties ofRoss andCromarty were merged to formRoss and Cromarty.[9]
One region and various districts, created in 1975, had areas similar to those of earlier counties, and various council areas, created in 1996, are also similar. Two of the three islands areas—Orkney andShetland—have boundaries identical to those of earlier counties.
Scotland has alsoregistration counties, which are in current use. The areas of Scotland that are appointed aLord-Lieutenant are calledlieutenancy areas.
The thirteenhistoric counties of Wales were fixed by statute in 1535 (although counties such asPembrokeshire date from 1138). TheAdministrative Counties of Wales created in 1889 were based on these. In 1974, a new system was created using significantly different entities. These were changed in 1996, and since then Wales has been entirely divided into a system of single-tier authorities, theprincipal areas. Eleven of the 22principal areas are styled as "counties", and the other eleven arecounty boroughs, although informally all are referred to as "counties". The areas of Wales that appoint aLord-Lieutenant are thepreserved counties of Wales, which are, for the most part, combinations of principal areas to closely match (but are not the same as) the counties that existed from 1974.
There are six counties in Northern Ireland. In order of landmass these are;Tyrone,Antrim,Down,Londonderry,Fermanagh andArmagh.
The six historic counties ofNorthern Ireland are no longer in use for administrative purposes. Combined with the boroughs ofBelfast andDerry, the counties do serve for organisational purposes within government, and often with private businesses and sporting clubs.
The counties of Northern Ireland are all within the historicprovince ofUlster, which includes an additional three other counties in theRepublic of Ireland:Donegal,Cavan andMonaghan.
