📌 Our Objectives 📌
🗺 Boundaries 🗺
Historic County boundaries to be marked on all roads and included in official Ordnance Survey mapping.
🏢 Councils 🏢
‘County’ to be removed from local government terminology. Public bodies not to use county names unless the area covered by any such body is co-terminate with that county.
👑 Lieutenancies 👑
Realign lieutenancies to match the historic counties.
Our Counties
🙋🏼♂ What are Historic Counties ❓
The 92 traditional counties of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the real counties of the United Kingdom: ancient, unchanging and alive with identity.
They are not inventions of bureaucracy, not temporary “admin zones” – they are our true map, our true communities, and the heart of our national story.
For centuries these counties have stood firm. Some go back over a thousand years, others to the Middle Ages. They shaped how people lived, traded, played sport, and understood where they belonged.
😖 Why the Confusion? 😖
The UK Government’s Office for National Statistics recognise them as “a stable, unchanging geography which covers the whole of Great Britain.”
And yet, particularly since 1974, the map has been muddled. Temporary administrative areas, often wrongly called “counties,” have confused the public and eroded historic identities. Some counties have been ignored, others nearly crushed out of recognition.
But here’s the truth: the historic counties have never gone away. Their boundaries remain. Their names endure. Their heritage lives on. They are waiting for us to stand up for them.
📍 Our Ultimate Aim? 📍
This is our call: let’s rescue the counties before it’s too late. Let’s restore pride in our real counties, not the shifting bureaucracies of the last fifty years. Let’s teach the next generation where they truly belong.
The counties are not just history.
They are identity.
They are community.
They are ours.
It’s time to return them to their rightful place – with better knowledge, awareness & celebration – as the backbone of our islands.
🧔🏻♂️ Our Team 👩🏼🦳
The Campaign for Historic Counties is led by a small, dedicated team united by a passion for preserving Britain’s historic counties. Between us, we bring experience in campaigning, communications, public engagement, and heritage advocacy – supported by advisers with backgrounds in local government, digital strategy, and parliamentary affairs. Together, we work to ensure that the true counties of the United Kingdom are recognised, respected, and celebrated.
💡 Why Counties Still Matter 💡
In the words of Gustav Mahler: “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire”. Our counties are not relics of the past – they are part of who we are. They connect us to our landscapes, our families, and our shared story as a nation. Let’s protect and celebrate them before they fade from memory.
Campaign for Historic Counties 