Home > Postal counties of Great Britain
The postal counties of the United Kingdom are subdivisions of the UK sometimes used in addressing posted items and which do not correspond exactly to traditional or administrative boundaries. The Royal Mail still uses them internally but no longer requires a county on any item of mail, preferring the use of correct postcodes. However, counties of one sort or another are still routinely included in addresses.Traditionally a British postal address required a (postal) county to be listed, though since 1996 the Royal Mail has indicated that it no longer requires this and will accept both the traditional and administrative counties; in fact the addresses generated by the "Address Finder" on the Royal Mail website do not include counties at all, even for post towns such as "Newport" (which could be Newport, Monmouthshire or Newport, Isle of Wight and is also the name of a number of smaller communities which are not post towns). However from an organisational point of view they still follow their own 'postal counties', whilst many individuals and organisations still list the county in their address, and a lot of forms include a section for county. It is in fact the postal counties rather than the administrative counties (which are the ones displayed on maps) or traditional counties which people normally use as their reference.
In non-metropolitan areas in England, the postal counties broadly follow the post-1972 administrative counties but there are many places where there are differences, such as Denham which is in both the traditional and administrative county of Buckinghamshire but postally is in Middlesex. In 1996, some unpopular administrative counties such as Avon and Humberside were abolished and common usage now divides Avon (in postal terms) between Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire, and Humberside between East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire -- though 'Avon' and 'Humberside' both remain postal counties.
The 1972 administrative changes were also followed with regard to metropolitan areas, so Sunderland is referred to as 'Sunderland, Tyne and Wear' not 'Sunderland, Co. Durham'. However in deference to local sentiment the Greater Manchester area continued (and continues) to be split, in postal terms, between Lancashire and Cheshire. Other small exceptions apply in peripheral areas of metropolitan counties (using the traditional county in defiance of the official postal county) e.g. CoventryFor alternative meanings see: Coventry (disambiguation Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. With a population of 304,746 (2002 estimate), Coventry is the ninth largest city in England. General information Coventry h is often referred to as being in WarwickshireWarwickshire (pronounced worrickshur) is a landlocked county in central England. Modern-day Warwickshire is of a considerably different shape to the historic county. The county town is Warwick. Famous people from Warwickshire include: William Shakespeare,, not the West MidlandsThe County of West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England, formed in 1974. Since 1986 it has had no county council. The county contains the cities of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry. It also contains the metropolitan boroughs, and Southport in Lancashire (not MerseysideMerseyside is a metropolitan county, created in the 1974 local government reform. It is in the north of England, on the River Mersey, composed of the metropolitan boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. The county was innitially adm).
The London postal districtThe system of London postal districts predated the introduction of postcodes throughout the United Kingdom in the 1960s. The first system, of ten sectors identified by letters, was introduced in 1858; the numbered subdivisions date from 1917. The 1917 sub is especially confusing because it does not conform to the boundaries of either the London County CouncilCounty of London, shown within a map of England's 1890 counties London County Council (LCC was the principal local government body for the County of London from 1889 until 1965, when it was replaced by the Greater London Council. It covered the area today or the Greater London CouncilGLC can also stand for the UK rap group named Goldie Lookin' Chain. The Greater London Council (GLC was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to its abolition in 1986. Prior to the GLC London had the Metropolitan B/ Greater London AuthorityThe Greater London Authority GLA administers the 1579 sq. miles) of Greater London, covering the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. Entering on its functions on July 3, 2000, the authority consists of an elected Mayor and 25-member Assembly. The p whilst other parts of the Greater London administrative area are in the postal counties of variously Surrey, Kent, Essex and Middlesex.
In Wales, the new 1972 administrative counties were adopted by the Post Office, so that Rhuddlan was no longer postally in Denbighshire, but in Clwyd. In Scotland however the traditional counties were retained by the Post Office. Thus Alva, despite being in the Central administrative region after 1972, was still postally in Clackmannanshire. In both countries local government was reorganised in 1996, so that in some areas administrative counties reverted to traditional counties once more (e.g. Pembrokeshire, Angus) but in others the post-1972 counties were retained (e.g. Powys, Highland). Thus postal confusion reigns throughout the country and usage differs widely from person to person.
United Kingdom
