List of counties of the United Kingdom facts for kids
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, and has been used for a variety of other purposes, such as for Lord Lieutenants, land registration and postal delivery. This list is split by constituent country, time period and purpose.
Contents
England
Changes dated between the 1990s and 2009 subdivided the 20th century short-lived non-metropolitan counties of Cleveland and Humberside into unitary authorities but the once-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 Avon Fire and Rescue Service.
The historic counties of Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland, Huntingdonshire and Middlesex are the five defunct ceremonial counties of a traditional county size. After their ceremonial abolition, Yorkshire has become ceremonially subdivided along the four compass point axes, Cumberland and Westmorland were added to a detached part of Lancashire to form Cumbria, Huntingdonshire merged ceremonially into Cambridgeshire and the vast majority of Middlesex became part of Greater London.
Contemporary reference to the Isle of Ely and nearby Soke of Peterborough is very rare since the early 20th century and they have scant public resonance. The counties marked in italics below are neither ceremonial nor historic.
♠ denotes a counter-intuitive pronuciation. See list of places in the United Kingdom and Ireland with counterintuitive pronunciations.
Northern Ireland
| County | Before 1899 | 1899–1973 | Current lieutenancy |
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| County | Administrative | ||||
| Antrim |  |
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| Armagh | |
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| City of Belfast | Part of counties Antrim and Down | CB |
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| Down | |
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| Fermanagh | |
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| Londonderry | |
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| City of Derry | Part of County Londonderry | CB |
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| Tyrone | |
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Scotland
| County | Before 1890 | 1890–1975 | Lieutenancy | Registration | Postal before 1996 |
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| City of Aberdeen | 1900 |
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| Aberdeenshire | |
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| Angus (Forfarshire) | |
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| Argyll♠ | |
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| Ayrshire | |
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| Banffshire | |
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| Berwickshire♠ | |
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| Bute | |
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| Caithness | |
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| Clackmannanshire | |
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| Cromartyshire | |
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| Dumfriesshire♠ | |
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| Dunbartonshire (Dumbarton) | |
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| City of Dundee | 1894 |
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| East Lothian (Haddingtonshire) | |
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| City of Edinburgh | |
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| Fife | |
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| City of Glasgow | 1893 |
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| Inverness-shire | |
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| Kincardineshire♠ | |
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| Kinross-shire | |
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| Kirkcudbrightshire♠ | |
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| Lanarkshire | |
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| Midlothian (County of Edinburgh) | |
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| Moray♠ (Elginshire) | |
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| Nairnshire | |
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| Orkney | |
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| Peeblesshire | |
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| Perthshire | |
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| Renfrewshire | |
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| Ross and Cromarty | |
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| Ross-shire | |
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| Roxburghshire | |
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| Selkirkshire | |
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| Shetland (Zetland) | |
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| Stirlingshire | |
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| Sutherland | |
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| West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) | |
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| Wigtownshire♠ | |
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♠ denotes counter-intuitive pronunciation.
Wales
| County | Before 1889 | 1889–1974 | 1974–1996 | 1996+ | Postal 1974–1996 |
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| Anglesey | |
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Isle of Anglesey |
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| Brecknockshire | |
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| Caernarfonshire | |
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| Cardiganshire | |
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Ceredigion |
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| Carmarthenshire | |
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| Clwyd | |
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| Denbighshire | |
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| Dyfed | |
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| Flintshire | |
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Flintshire |
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| Gwent | |
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| Gwynedd | |
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| Merionethshire | |
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| Monmouthshire | |
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Monmouthshire |
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| Montgomeryshire | |
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| Pembrokeshire♠ | |
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| Powys | |
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| Radnorshire | |
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| South Glamorgan | |
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| West Glamorgan | |
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| Wrexham | |
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♠ denotes counter-intuitive pronunciation for counties of English etymology which all have Welsh language counterparts. Welsh etymology county names reflect standard Welsh pronunciation rules. In Welsh most of the counties ending '-shire' are instead preceded by the Welsh near-homophone translation 'Sir'.
