Help: Counties in the United Kingdom

The concept of a county in United Kingdom is understood in different ways by different people and organisations, not helped by the ambiguous way these definitions have been crafted by legislatures. Our approach for each of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom is documented on this page.

Click on a heading below for our policy on that particular country.

The counties in England are understood in 3 ways:

1. Lieutenancy areas (48 in number, sometimes known as ceremonial counties, as defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997)
2. Local government areas (324 in number since 2023), categorised as:
   • 6 metropolitan counties all of which are also lieutenancy areas, divided into 36 metropolitan boroughs;
   • 56 unitary authorities, some of which are formally counties, and the rest districts;
   • 21 non-metropolitan counties with county councils, divided into 164 non-metropolitan districts;
   • 1 non-metropolitan county (Berkshire – also a lieutenancy area) without a county council, divided into 6 unitary authorities;
   • 32 London boroughs;
   • 2 unique administrative areas: the City of London (also a ceremonial county) and the Isles of Scilly.
3. Historic counties (39 in number: see below for details)

Dove’s Guide currently uses lieutenancy areas plus the Isles of Scilly as the primary means of indicating a location in England. Historic counties, together with the metropolitan borough, unitary authority or London borough containing a tower can be found on the tower details page. We intend to add non-metropolitan districts in due course.

In the dove.csv download, the Region and County field give the lieutenancy area, while the HistRegion field contains the historic county. All English towers have England in the Country field.

The counties in Wales are understood in 3 ways:

1. Preserved counties (8 in number, sometimes called lieutenancy areas or ceremonial counties, and also established in 1996)
2. Principal areas (22 in number, created in 1996 by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 for local government)
3. Historic counties (13 in number, established by the Laws in Wales Act 1535: see below for details)

Dove’s Guide currently uses both principal areas and preserved counties as the primary means of indicating a location in Wales. Historic counties can be found on the tower details page.

In the dove.csv download, the County field is the principal area, while both the preserved county and principal area are included in the Region field. The HistRegion field gives the historic county. All Welsh towers have Wales in the Country field.

The counties in Scotland are understood in 3 ways:

1. Lieutenancy areas (35 in number, known as ceremonial counties, defined by The Lord-Lieutenants (Scotland) Order 1996)
2. Council areas (32 in number, created in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 for local government)
3. Historic counties (34 in number, based on ancient shires in place since 1540: see below for details)

Dove’s Guide currently uses the council areas as the primary means of indicating a location in Scotland. Lieutenancy areas and historic counties can be found on the tower details page. Note that not all Scottish counties contain a ring of bells within the current scope of Dove’s Guide.

In the dove.csv download, the County and Region fields both contain the council area, while HistRegion field gives the historic county. All Scottish towers have Scotland in the Country field.

The counties in Northern Ireland are understood in 3 ways:

1. Historic counties (6 in number, which have remained consistent since the creation of County Derry in 1613)
2. Lieutenancy areas (8 in number, created in 1899 by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898), as follows:
   • 2 county boroughs (namely the Cities of Belfast and Derry); and
   • 6 counties (being the historic counties excluding those areas in the county boroughs).
3. Local government districts (11 in number, created in 2015 by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008)

Dove’s Guide currently uses historic counties as the primary means of indicating a location in Northern Ireland. County boroughs and local government districts can be found on the tower details page. Note that not all counties in Northern Ireland contain a ring of bells within the current scope of Dove’s Guide.

We use the Definition B from the Historic Counties Standard to define the historic counties of Great Britain. This definition uses the county boundaries as they existed for administrative purposes at the start of 1844, before the passage of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. This act abolished some but not all of the odd detached parts of counties which existed, sometimes widely separated from the main part of the county. Many further small rationalisations were made to be boundaries in subsequent years, but some of the detached parts still existed well into the 1960s: for example, Dudley remained a detached part of Worcestershire until 1966.

In 1965, the county of Middlesex was abolished by the London Government Act 1963. This means there was no point in time when Middlesex existed but the detached parts did not. The Historic Counties Standard also provides Definition A which includes all of the historic counties, but without the smaller detached parts. This is an anachronistic definition that attempts to provide a set of historic counties suitable for modern use, but in doing so, it has had to make subjective decision on how to treat detached parts that border multiple counties. The Dove Team has therefore decided to use counties from the historically-consistent Definition B.