Ceremonial counties of England

Ceremonial counties, known as shires and formally as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies, are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch's representative in an area.

Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area.

The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997, and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887. Both are defined as groups of counties used for local government.

History

The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising the militia, overseen by a sheriff. From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriff's functions.

Certain towns and cities were counties corporate, which gave them the right to appoint their own sheriffs and hold their own courts. Whilst in theory the counties corporate could have had separate lieutenants appointed for them, in practice all of them except London shared a lieutenant with the wider county from which they had been created.Template:Efn London had instead a commission of lieutenancy, headed by the Lord Mayor. The long-standing practice of appointing lieutenants jointly to the wider county and any counties corporate it contained was formalised by the Militia Act 1882.

Apart from the inclusion of the counties corporate, the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy generally corresponded to the judicial counties. The exception was Yorkshire, which was one judicial county, having a single Sheriff of Yorkshire, but from 1660 onwards each of Yorkshire's three ridings had its own lieutenant.

In 1889, elected county councils were established under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions. Certain towns and cities were made county boroughs, independent from the county councils. In counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, such as the Parts of Lincolnshire, each part was given its own county council. The area administered by a county council was called an administrative county. As such, some of the judicial or lieutenancy counties comprised several administrative counties and county boroughs.

The Ordnance Survey adopted the term 'geographical county' to describe the widest definition of the county. In most cases this was the lieutenancy county; the exceptions were Yorkshire, where the judicial county was larger on account of it being split into its three ridings for lieutenancy purposes, and the County of London where the administrative county was larger on account of the City of London and the rest of the county being separate for both judicial and lieutenancy purposes.

The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972, after which the main functions of the counties were the administrative functions of local government. Despite the loss of their functions, sheriffs continued to be appointed to the former judicial counties up until 1974.

In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a new system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was introduced instead. Sheriffs were renamed 'high sheriffs' and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new versions of the counties.

The counties of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside, each of which had only been created in 1974, were all abolished in 1996. They were divided into unitary authorities; legally these are also non-metropolitan counties. As part of these reforms, it was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from the local government counties in some cases, effectively reverting to the pre-1974 arrangements for lieutenancies. Whereas the lieutenancies had been defined slightly differently from the shrieval counties prior to 1974, it was decided in 1996 that the high sheriffs and lieutenants should be appointed to the same areas. Regulations amending the Sheriffs Act 1887 and specifying the areas for the appointment of lieutenants were accordingly brought in with effect from 1 April 1996.

The regulations were then consolidated into the Lieutenancies Act 1997. When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas. The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although the definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997.

In legislation the lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996.

Shrieval counties

The shrieval counties are defined by the Sheriffs Act 1887 as amended, in a similar way to the lieutenancies defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. Each has a high sheriff appointed (except the City of London, which has two sheriffs).

Definition

The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (created by the Local Government Act 1972, as amended) as well as Greater London and the Isles of Scilly (which lie outside the 1972 Act's system). Although the term is not used in the act, these counties are sometimes known as "ceremonial counties". The counties are defined in Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 as amended (in 2009, 2019 and 2023).

Generally, each time a new non-metropolitan county is created, the 1997 Act is amended to redefine the existing areas of the lieutenancies in terms of the new areas.Template:NoteTag No such amendment was made in 1997 when Rutland was made a unitary authority or in 1998 when Herefordshire and Worcestershire were re-established; those three therefore have been given their own lieutenants again since the passing of the 1997 Act. The actual areas of the ceremonial counties have not changed since 1998.

Lieutenancy areas since 1998

These are the 48 counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies in England, as currently defined:

Lieutenancy areas of England since 1998

Location	Land area		Population (2022)	Density		CompositionTemplate:Efn
	(Template:Km2)	(Template:Mi2)		(/Template:Km2)	(/Template:Mi2)
Bedfordshire		715,940		Template:Cslist
Berkshire		958,803		Template:Cslist
Bristol		479,024		Bristol
Buckinghamshire		852,589		Template:Cslist
Cambridgeshire		906,814		Template:Cslist
Cheshire		1,108,765		Template:Cslist
City of LondonTemplate:Efn		10,847		City of London
Cornwall		577,694		Template:Cslist
Cumbria		503,033		Template:Cslist
Derbyshire		1,066,954		Template:Cslist
Devon		1,232,660		Template:Cslist
Dorset		785,172		Template:Cslist
Durham		872,075		Template:Cslist
East Riding of Yorkshire		615,161		Template:Cslist
East Sussex		828,685		Template:Cslist
Essex		1,877,301		Template:Cslist
Gloucestershire		947,174		Template:Cslist
Greater London		8,855,333		None (see London boroughs)
Greater Manchester		2,911,744		Greater Manchester
Hampshire		1,877,917		Template:Cslist
Herefordshire		188,719		Herefordshire
Hertfordshire		1,204,588		Hertfordshire
Isle of Wight		140,794		Isle of Wight
Kent		1,875,893		Template:Cslist
Lancashire		1,550,490		Template:Cslist
Leicestershire		1,095,554		Template:Cslist
Lincolnshire		1,103,320		Template:Cslist
Merseyside		1,442,081		Merseyside
Norfolk		925,299		Norfolk
North Yorkshire		1,172,860		Template:Cslist
Northamptonshire		792,421		Template:Cslist
Northumberland		324,362		Northumberland
Nottinghamshire		1,163,335		Template:Cslist
Oxfordshire		738,276		Oxfordshire
Rutland		41,151		Rutland
Shropshire		516,049		Template:Cslist
Somerset		991,615		Template:Cslist
South Yorkshire		1,392,105		South Yorkshire
Staffordshire		1,146,249		Template:Cslist
Suffolk		768,555		Suffolk
Surrey		1,214,540		Surrey
Tyne and Wear		1,141,795		Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire		607,604		Warwickshire
West Midlands		2,953,816		West Midlands
West Sussex		892,336		West Sussex
West Yorkshire		2,378,148		West Yorkshire
Wiltshire		751,542		Template:Cslist
Worcestershire		609,216		Worcestershire

Geographical counties 1889–1974

[[File:English geographical counties 1889Template:Spwith ridings.svg|Template:Str number/trimpx|link=|alt=|]]

image attribution

Northumberland

Durham

Lancashire

Cheshire

Derbs.

Notts.

Lincolnshire

Leics.

Staffs.

Shropshire

Warks.

Northants.

Norfolk

Suffolk

Essex

Herts.

Beds.

Bucks.

Oxon.

Glos.

Somerset

Wiltshire

Berkshire

Kent

Surrey

Hampshire

Dorset

Devon

Cornwall

Heref.

Worcs.

Rutland

Cambs.

Hunts.

London

Middx.

Not shown: City of London

Cumberland

Westmorland

Sussex

Yorkshire

East Riding

North Riding

West
Riding

Lieutenancy areas in 1890

After the creation of county councils in 1889, there were counties for judicial and shrieval purposes, counties for lieutenancy purposes, and administrative counties and county boroughs for the purposes of local government.

The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the group of administrative counties and county boroughs created within each judicial county. The Ordnance Survey used the term 'geographical county' to refer to this wider definition of the county.

Yorkshire had three lieutenancies, one for each riding, but was a single judicial county with one sheriff, and was counted as one geographical county by Ordnance Survey.

The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972 under the Courts Act 1971 which abolished the quarter sessions and assizes. Sheriffs continued to be appointed for each county despite the loss of the judicial functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate appointing their own sheriffs. The counties corporate were all included in a wider county for lieutenancy purposes, except the City of London which had its own lieutenants.

The geographical counties were relatively stable between 1889 and 1965. There were occasional boundary changes, notably following the Local Government Act 1894 which said that parishes and districts were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. After that most boundary changes were primarily to accommodate urban areas which were growing across county boundaries, such as when Caversham was transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire as a result of being absorbed into the County Borough of Reading in 1911.

The lieutenancies and judicial / shrieval counties were defined as groups of administrative counties and county boroughs, and so were automatically adjusted if the boundaries of those administrative areas changed. There were two exceptions to this rule (one only briefly). The county borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes until 1891 when it was placed entirely in Norfolk for those purposes. The county borough of Stockport straddled Cheshire and Lancashire for judicial and lieutenancy purposesTemplate:Snd it was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes in 1956 but continued to straddle the two counties for lieutenancy purposes until 1974.Template:Efn

Geographical, shrieval, lieutenancy and administrative counties 1889–1965

Geographical county	Sheriffs Counties corporate	Lieutenants	Administrative counties County boroughs
Bedfordshire	Bedfordshire	Bedfordshire	Bedfordshire – Luton (after 1964)
Berkshire	Berkshire	Berkshire	Berkshire – Reading
Buckinghamshire	Buckinghamshire	Buckinghamshire	Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire	CambridgeshireTemplate:Efn	Cambridgeshire	Cambridgeshire Isle of Ely
Cheshire	Cheshire – Chester	Cheshire	Cheshire – Birkenhead – Chester – StockportTemplate:Efn – Wallasey (after 1913)
Cornwall	Cornwall	Cornwall	Cornwall Isles of ScillyTemplate:Efn
Cumberland	Cumberland	Cumberland	Cumberland – Carlisle (from 1915)
Derbyshire	Derbyshire	Derbyshire	Derbyshire – Derby
Devon	Devon – Exeter	Devon	Devon – Devonport (until 1914) – Exeter – Plymouth
Dorset	Dorset – Poole	Dorset	Dorset
Durham	Durham	Durham	Durham – Darlington (after 1915) – Gateshead – South Shields – Sunderland – West Hartlepool (after 1902)
Essex	Essex	Essex	Essex – East Ham (after 1915) – Southend-on-Sea (after 1914) – West Ham
Gloucestershire	Gloucestershire – Bristol – Gloucester	Gloucestershire	Gloucestershire – Bristol – Gloucester
Hampshire	Hampshire – Southampton	Hampshire	Hampshire Isle of Wight (after 1890) – Bournemouth (after 1900) – Portsmouth – Southampton
Herefordshire	Herefordshire	Herefordshire	Herefordshire
Hertfordshire	Hertfordshire	Hertfordshire	Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire	HuntingdonshireTemplate:Efn	Huntingdonshire	Huntingdonshire
Kent	Kent – Canterbury	Kent	Kent – Canterbury
Lancashire	Lancashire	Lancashire	Lancashire – Barrow-in-Furness – Blackburn – Blackpool (after 1904) – Bolton – Bootle – Burnley – Bury – Liverpool – Manchester – Oldham – Preston – Rochdale – St Helens – Salford – Southport (after 1905) – StockportTemplate:Efn – Warrington (after 1900) – Wigan
Leicestershire	Leicestershire	Leicestershire	Leicestershire – Leicester
Lincolnshire	Lincolnshire – Lincoln	Lincolnshire	Holland Kesteven Lindsey – Grimsby – Lincoln
London	County of London – City of London	County of London City of London	London
Middlesex	Middlesex	Middlesex	Middlesex
Norfolk	Norfolk – Norwich	Norfolk	Norfolk – Great YarmouthTemplate:Efn – Norwich
Northamptonshire	Northamptonshire	Northamptonshire	Northamptonshire Soke of Peterborough – Northampton
Northumberland	Northumberland – Berwick-upon-Tweed – Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Northumberland	Northumberland – Newcastle-upon-Tyne – Tynemouth (after 1904)
Nottinghamshire	Nottingham – Nottingham	Nottinghamshire	Nottinghamshire – Nottingham
Oxfordshire	Oxfordshire	Oxfordshire	Oxfordshire – Oxford (after 1889)Template:Efn
Rutland	Rutland	Rutland	Rutland
Shropshire	Shropshire	Shropshire	Shropshire
Somerset	Somerset	Somerset	Somerset – Bath
Staffordshire	Staffordshire – Lichfield	Staffordshire	Staffordshire – Burton upon Trent (after 1901) – Hanley (until 1910) – Smethwick (from 1907) – Stoke-on-Trent (after 1910) – Walsall – West Bromwich – Wolverhampton
Suffolk	Suffolk	Suffolk	East Suffolk West Suffolk – Great Yarmouth (part, until 1891)Template:Efn – Ipswich
Surrey	Surrey	Surrey	Surrey – Croydon
Sussex	Sussex	Sussex	East Sussex West Sussex – Brighton – Eastbourne (after 1911) – Hastings
Warwickshire	Warwickshire	Warwickshire	Warwickshire – Birmingham – Coventry – Solihull (after 1964)
Westmorland	Westmorland	Westmorland	Westmorland
Wiltshire	Wiltshire	Wiltshire	Wiltshire
Worcestershire	Worcestershire – Worcester	Worcestershire	Worcestershire – Dudley – Worcester
Yorkshire	Yorkshire Hallamshire (after 1962) – Kingston upon Hull – York	East Riding	East Riding – Kingston upon Hull
		North Riding	North Riding – Middlesbrough
		West Riding	West Riding – Barnsley (after 1913) – Bradford – Dewsbury (after 1913) – Doncaster (after 1927) – Halifax – Huddersfield – Leeds – Rotherham (after 1902) – Sheffield – Wakefield (after 1915) – York

More significant changes to the geographical counties were made in 1965 with the creation of Greater London and of Huntingdon and Peterborough, which resulted in the abolition of the offices of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, Lord Lieutenant of the County of London, and Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire and the creation of the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London and of the Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough.

See also

• Counties of England
• Historic counties of England
• Counties in England by population
• List of ceremonial counties in England by GDP
• Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
• List of local governments in the United Kingdom
• Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics
• Preserved counties of Wales

External links

• Template:UK-LEG