Everything about Ceremonial County totally explained
The
Ceremonial counties are areas of
England that are appointed a
Lord-Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as the
Counties for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the
metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and
Lieutenancies Act 1997. They are also often used in a geographic reference frame, and in this capacity are sometimes called
geographic counties.
Map
Not shown:
City of London
History
The term 'Ceremonial County' dates from the
Lieutenancies Act 1997, but the concept of the counties used for the Lieutenancy differing from those used for administrative purposes dates back much further - some
counties corporate were appointed separate Lieutenants from the larger county (often the posts would be held jointly), and the three Ridings of Yorkshire had been treated as three counties for Lieutenancy since the 17th century.
The
Local Government Act 1888 set up
county councils to take over the administrative functions of
Quarter Sessions in the counties. It created new entities called "
administrative counties" that constituted all the county apart from the county boroughs: also some traditional subdivisions of counties were constituted administrative counties, for instance the
Soke of Peterborough in
Northamptonshire and the
Isle of Ely in
Cambridgeshire. The Act further established that areas that were part of an administrative county would be part of the county for all purposes. The largest difference was the existence of the
County of London, created both an administrative county and a "county" by the Act, which covered parts of the historic counties of
Middlesex,
Kent and
Surrey. Other differences were small and resulted from the constraint that
urban sanitary districts (and later
urban districts and
municipal boroughs) were not permitted to straddle county boundaries.
Apart from in Yorkshire, areas that were subdivided were retained as a single ceremonial county. For example, the administrative counties of
East Suffolk and
West Suffolk, along with the county borough of
Ipswich, were considered to make up a single ceremonial county of
Suffolk, and the administrative county of the
Isle of Wight was part of the ceremonial county of
Hampshire.
The term
Ceremonial County for these entities is an anachronism - at the time they were shown on
Ordnance Survey maps by the name 'counties' or 'geographic counties', and were referred to in the Local Government Act 1888 as simply 'counties'.
Apart from minor boundary revisions (for example,
Caversham, a town in
Oxfordshire, becoming part of
Reading county borough and thus of
Berkshire, in 1911), these areas changed little until the 1965 creation of
Greater London and
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
Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough.
In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a major reform took place. At this time, Lieutenancy was redefined to use the new
metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties directly.
Following the 1990s local government reforms,
Avon,
Cleveland,
Hereford and Worcester, and
Humberside were abolished. This led to a resurrection of a distinction between the local government counties and the ceremonial or geographic counties used for Lieutenancy, and also to the adoption of the term 'ceremonial counties', which although not used in statute was used in the
House of Commons prior to the arrangements coming into effect.
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Avon was mostly split between
Gloucestershire and
Somerset, with
Bristol regaining its status of a county of itself.
Cleveland was partitioned between
North Yorkshire and
County Durham.
Hereford and Worcester was split into
Herefordshire and
Worcestershire.
Humberside was split between a new ceremonial county of
East Riding of Yorkshire, with the remaining parts going to
Lincolnshire. Also at this time,
Rutland was restored as a ceremonial county. Many county boroughs were re-established as 'unitary authorities'.
Most ceremonial counties are therefore defined today as groups of local authority areas; the same situation as prevailed between 1889 and 1974. The
Association of British Counties, a traditional counties lobbying group, have suggested that the ceremonial counties could be restored to their ancient boundaries, or as near as is practicable.
Definition
The
Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines the "Ceremonial Counties" in terms of local government areas created by the
Local Government Act 1972 as amended. Schedule 1, paragraphs 2—5 defines them as:
- Bedfordshire, including Luton
- Berkshire
- Bristol
- Buckinghamshire, including Milton Keynes
- Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
- Cheshire, including Halton and Warrington
- City of London
- Cornwall, including Isles of Scilly
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire, including Derby
- Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay
- Dorset, including Bournemouth and Poole
- Durham, including Darlington, Hartlepool, and Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees
- East Riding of Yorkshire, including Kingston-upon-Hull
- East Sussex, including Brighton and Hove
- Essex, including Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock
- Gloucestershire, including South Gloucestershire
- Greater London, excluding the City of London
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire, including Southampton and Portsmouth
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Isle of Wight
- Kent, including Medway
- Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool
- Leicestershire, including Leicester
- Lincolnshire, including North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire
- Merseyside
- Norfolk
- North Yorkshire, including York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire, including Nottingham
- Oxfordshire
- Rutland
- Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin
- Somerset, including Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire, including Stoke-on-Trent
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire, including Swindon
- Worcestershire
Lieutenancy areas in 1890
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire, including Isle of Ely
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
Essex
Gloucestershire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
City of London, having commissioners of Lieutenancy
County of London
Middlesex
Norfolk
Northamptonshire, including the Soke of Peterborough
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Salop (Shropshire)
Somerset
Southamptonshire (Hampshire)
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Sussex
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire - had three Lieutenants, one for each of the three ridings
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ceremonial County'.
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