Photos taken on walks in the Cities,

Towns and Villages of the Untied Kingdom

Counties of England

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The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term ‘county’ is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each of these demarcation structures. These different types of county each have a more formal name but are commonly referred to just as ‘counties’. The current arrangement is the result of incremental reform.

The Local Government Act 1888 created new areas for organising local government that it called administrative counties and county boroughs. These administrative areas adopted the names of, and closely resembled the areas of, the traditional counties. Later legislative changes to the new local government structure led to greater distinction between the traditional and the administrative counties.

The Local Government Act 1972 abolished the 1888 act, its administrative counties and county boroughs. In their place, the 1972 Act created new areas for handling local government that were also called administrative counties. The 1972 administrative counties differed distinctly in area from the 1888 administrative counties, that had now been abolished, and from the traditional counties, that had still not been abolished. Many of the names of the traditional counties were still being used now for the 1972 administrative counties. Later legislation created yet further area differences between the 1972 administrative counties and the traditional counties. As of 2020, for the purpose of administration, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 82 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. Wilipedia