Start here
Historic counties are geography. Councils are administration.
The central distinction is simple. The historic counties are the counties themselves: long-standing territories with names, boundaries and identities. Councils and other local government areas are administrative arrangements.
The counties were not created by local government, and they were never abolished by local government reform. Administration changed. The counties did not. Before 1888, county meant the counties themselves. The later need for qualifications arose only when new administrative areas began borrowing county names.
- Counties were not abolished
- Councils are not counties
- County boundaries still exist
Start with the map
Counties before councils.
The map shows the historic counties directly, separate from council areas.
Map development
The map is continually improving.
Join the Monthly County Progress Report for updates on new features, datasets, research and map development.
What historic counties are
The historic counties are the traditional counties of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Their names, boundaries and identities appear in place descriptions, records, sport, genealogy and local life.
Geography
A territorial framework
The counties are named territories that help explain how places relate to one another.
Continuity
Independent of council structures
Their identity does not depend on current council structures and remains visible in history, mapping, sport, genealogy and public memory.
Identity
Recognised in ordinary use
County belonging remains a common way to describe where people come from, even when local government uses different boundaries or names.
What They Are Not
Not created by councils
The historic counties were not invented by modern councils, unitary authorities or local government legislation. Those came later.
What They Are Not
Not abolished by reorganisation
When local government was reorganised, council structures changed. That did not erase the counties.
What They Are Not
Not the same as lieutenancy or council areas
Council areas, lieutenancy areas and postcodes may overlap with historic counties, but they are separate things. Lieutenancy areas are the territories to which Lord-Lieutenants are appointed as the monarch’s representatives; they are not historic counties.
Why the confusion took hold
The confusion comes from treating local government as if it were the primary map of the country. As new authorities were created, renamed, merged, split and reorganised, administrative change was often mistaken for county change.
But council change is not county change. Start with the counties, then read later councils as bodies that operate within, across or alongside them.
Four things to keep separate
Most county confusion begins when different kinds of boundary are treated as if they were the same.
- Counties are the counties themselves, not council areas.
- Councils exist to administer services, not to define the counties.
- Change to local government does not automatically change the counties.
- Next step Most myths begin by mistaking council change for county change.