List of counties of the United Kingdom

This is a list of the counties of the United Kingdom. The history of local government in the United Kingdom differs between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the subnational divisions within these which have been called counties have varied over time and by purpose. The county has formed the upper tier of local government over much of the United Kingdom at one time or another,^[1] and has been used for a variety of other purposes, such as for Lord Lieutenants, land registration and postal delivery. This list of 184 counties is split by constituent country, time period and purpose.

Colour key in tables below
Green: Current official status
Yellow: Historical or superseded status

England

Main article: Counties of England

Changes between the 1990s and 2009 subdivided the short-lived non-metropolitan counties of Cleveland and Humberside into unitary authorities, but the former county names continue for fire services and police forces (see Non-metropolitan county § List of non-metropolitan counties). Similarly the short-lived county of Avon provides part of the area and name of Avon and Somerset Police and its area is roughly that of the Avon Fire and Rescue Service.

The historic counties of Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland, Huntingdonshire and Middlesex are the five defunct ceremonial counties which were historically counties. With their abolition as ceremonial counties, Yorkshire is divided for that purpose into the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. Cumberland and Westmorland were combined with a former exclave of Lancashire to form Cumbria, Huntingdonshire merged into Cambridgeshire, and the vastly greater part of Middlesex became part of Greater London.

Contemporary reference to the Isle of Ely and nearby Soke of Peterborough has been very rare since the early 20th century and they have scant public resonance. The counties marked in italics below are neither ceremonial nor historic.

The list does not include the 61 county boroughs (1889–1974) or the 18 counties corporate (before 1889), each of which was an administrative county for a single town or city, within a larger "county-at-large".

County	Current ceremonial[2]	From 1974[3]		Postal 1974–1996[4]	1889–1974		Before 1889
		Metropolitan	Non-metropolitan		County	Administrative
Avon			1974–1996
Bath and North East Somerset			UA 1996+[5]
Bedfordshire			1974–2009
Bedford			UA 2009+[5]
Berkshire			[6] (governed by six UAs)
Blackburn with Darwen			UA 1998+[5]
Blackpool			UA 1998+[5]
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole			UA 2019+[5]
Bournemouth			UA 1997–2019[5]
Brighton and Hove			UA 1997+[5]
Bristol			UA 1996+[5]	Special post town		County borough	County corporate
Buckinghamshire			(and UA 2020+)
Cambridgeshire					1889–1965	1889–1965
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely					1965–1974	1965–1974
Central Bedfordshire			UA 2009+[5]
Cheshire			1974–2009
Cheshire East			UA 2009+[5]
Cheshire West and Chester			UA 2009+[5]
Cleveland			1974–1996
Cornwall			(and UA 2009+)
Cumberland			UA 2023+[5]
Cumbria			1974–2023
Darlington			UA 1997+[5]
Derbyshire
Derby			UA 1997+[5]
Devon
Dorset			(and UA 2019+)
Durham (County Durham)			(and UA 2009+)
East Suffolk							Division
East Sussex							Division
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London		County[7]				1965–1974
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
Halton			UA 1998+[5]
Hartlepool			UA 1996+[5]
Hereford and Worcester			1974–1998
Herefordshire			UA 1998+[5]
Hertfordshire
Humberside			1974–1996
Huntingdon and Peterborough					1965–1974	1965–1974
Huntingdonshire					1889–1965	1889–1965
Isle of Ely						1889–1965	Division
Isle of Wight			(and UA 1995+)			1890–1974
Kent
Kingston upon Hull			UA 1996+[5]
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Leicester			UA 1997+[5]
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire, Parts of Holland							Division
Lincolnshire, Parts of Kesteven							Division
Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey							Division
London				Special post town	1889–1965	1889–1965	The Metropolis[8]
City of London							County corporate
Luton			UA 1997+[5]
Medway			UA 1998+[5]
Merseyside
Middlesbrough			UA 1996+[5]
Middlesex
Milton Keynes			UA 1997+[5]
Norfolk
Northamptonshire			1974–2021
North East Lincolnshire			UA 1996+[5]
North Humberside
North Lincolnshire			UA 1996+[5]
North Northamptonshire			UA 2021+[5]
North Somerset			UA 1996+[5]
Northumberland			(and UA 2009+)
North Yorkshire			(and UA 2023+)
Nottinghamshire
Nottingham			UA 1998+[5]
Oxfordshire
Soke of Peterborough						1889–1965	Liberty
Peterborough			UA 1998+[5]
Plymouth			UA 1998+[5]
Poole			UA 1997–2019[5]
Portsmouth			UA 1997+[5]
Redcar and Cleveland			UA 1996+[5]
Rutland			UA 1997+[5]	2008+[9]
Shropshire			(and UA 2009+)
Somerset			(and UA 2023+)
Southampton			UA 1997+[5]
Southend-on-Sea			UA 1998+[5]
South Humberside
South Gloucestershire			UA 1996+[5]
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Stockton-on-Tees			UA 1996+[5]
Stoke-on-Trent			UA 1998+[5]
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex
Swindon			UA 1998+[5]
Telford and Wrekin			UA 1998+[5]
Thurrock			UA 1998+[5]
Torbay			UA 1998+[5]
Tyne and Wear
Warrington			UA 1998+[5]
Warwickshire
West Midlands
Westmorland
Westmorland and Furness			UA 2023+[5]
West Northamptonshire			UA 2021+[5]
West Suffolk							Division
West Sussex							Division
West Yorkshire
Wiltshire			(and UA 2009+)
Worcestershire			1998+
Yorkshire
Yorkshire, East Riding			UA 1996+[5]		L[10]		Division
Yorkshire, North Riding					L[10]		Division
Yorkshire, West Riding					L[10]		Division
York			UA 1996+[5]

Northern Ireland

Main article: Counties of Northern Ireland

County	Current lieutenancy[11]	Postal before 1996[4]	1899–1973		Before 1899
			County	Administrative
Antrim
Armagh
City of Belfast		Special post town	CB[12]		Part of counties Antrim and Down
Down
Fermanagh
Londonderry
City of Derry		Special post town	CB[12]		Part of County Londonderry
Tyrone

Scotland

Main article: Counties of Scotland

County	Lieutenancy	Registration[13]	Postal before 1996[4]	1890–1975	Before 1890
City of Aberdeen			Special post town	1900
Aberdeenshire
Angus (Forfarshire)
Argyll
Ayrshire
Banffshire
Berwickshire
Bute
Caithness
Clackmannanshire
Cromartyshire
Dumfriesshire
Dunbartonshire (Dumbarton)
City of Dundee			Special post town	1894
East Lothian (Haddingtonshire)
City of Edinburgh			Special post town
Fife
City of Glasgow			Special post town	1893
Inverness-shire
Kincardineshire
Kinross-shire
Kirkcudbrightshire
Lanarkshire
Midlothian (County of Edinburgh)
Moray (Elginshire)
Nairnshire
Orkney
Peeblesshire
Perthshire
Renfrewshire
Ross and Cromarty
Ross-shire
Roxburghshire
Selkirkshire
Shetland (Zetland)
Stirlingshire
Sutherland
West Lothian (Linlithgowshire)
Wigtownshire

Wales

Main article: History of local government in Wales

County	1996+		Postal 1974–1996[4]	1974–1996	1889–1974	Before 1889
	Preserved[2]	County[14]
Anglesey		Isle of Anglesey
Brecknockshire
Caernarfonshire
Cardiganshire		Ceredigion
Carmarthenshire
Clwyd
Denbighshire
Dyfed
Flintshire
Glamorgan
Gwent
Gwynedd
Merionethshire
Mid Glamorgan
Monmouthshire
Montgomeryshire
Pembrokeshire
Powys
Radnorshire
South Glamorgan
West Glamorgan
Wrexham

See also

• Toponymical list of counties of the United Kingdom
• List of United Kingdom county nicknames
• Counties of Ireland
• Alias Data