Counties of England

The Counties of England (counties in English) are the political-administrative regions into which England is divided. Each of them is governed by a Lord-Lieutenant (lieutenant) representing the King in the region.

Except for Huntingdonshire and Yorkshire, all are administrative counties. Today, Huntingdonshire is a district administered by Cambridgeshire, and Yorkshire is divided into East, North, South, and West Yorkshire.

The suffix shire was formerly used for the counties of Devon, Dorset, Rutland and Somerset, but is no longer used today.

This division is also often used as a geographical reference.

Ceremonial Counties

The ceremonial counties of England are areas for which a Lord-Lieutenantand are defined by the government with reference to metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. They are often used as a geographical reference and are called geographical counties.

Northumberland Tyne and Wear Durham Cumbria Lancashire North Yorkshire East Yorkshire South Yorkshire Yorkshire West Great Manchester Merseyside Cheshire Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Lincolnshire Rutland Leicestershire Staffordshire Shropshire Herefordshire Worcestershire Western Middle Lands Warwickshire Northamptonshire Cambridgeshire Norfolk Suffolk Essex Hertfordshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Gloucestershire Brístol Somerset Wiltshire Berkshire Great London Kent East Sussex Sussex West Surrey Hampshire Isle of Wight Dorset Devon Cornualles No figure: City of London

History

These ceremonial counties are the basis for most of the maps produced during the early years of the XX century.

Apart from some minor revisions, these areas have remained stable until the 1965 creation of Greater London, which ended with the abolition of the county of Middlesex. However, the creation of the administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough brought no change to the areas.

In 1974, the county districts were abolished and a major reform in the administration of the counties took place.

Following the reformation of the 1990s, Avon, Cleveland, Hereford and Worcester and Humberside were abolished. This led to a return to the differences between administrative, ceremonial, and geographic counties.

Avon was divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset, while Bristol gained county status. Cleveland's split was between North Yorkshire and Durham. Hereford and Worcester, between Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Humberside was divided into the new ceremonial county of East Yorkshire, although some areas went to Lincolnshire. Rutland regained ceremonial county status.