England, Great Britain - these concepts for the whole world are the embodiment of traditions. Strict adherence to established customs in private life and in the public order, even if it looks archaic and inconvenient, is a typical British trait.
The counties of England are the same specificity in the administrative division of a country as the pound in the monetary system or pints and gallons in terms of volume. Like the
British monarchy itself
, such a system of division has developed as a result of a long history and seems to adherents of traditions to be a guarantee of the inviolability and power of the English state.
History of England
The division into separate areas that have a single administrative, judicial, military and financial system has developed on the basis of the habitats of individual tribal groups and goes back centuries. Many of today's England county names are of ancient origin. Gradually, these areas took shape in the form of possessions belonging to one person - the count.
By the time of the formation of the English early feudal state - IX-X centuries - these areas were separate independent kingdoms (for example Sussex and Essex), duchies (such as Yorkshire, Cornwall or Lancashire) or simply hereditary allotments (Berkshire). Later, having become part of the united Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the counties of England maintained their borders, receiving as governor not the hereditary ruler, but the governor-lord appointed by the supreme monarch. Representative was added to the administrative, military and economic principle of division: elected quotas in the first legislative bodies were distributed on the basis of the division of the country into historical counties.
Shire, county
The origin of the English designation of administrative districts, remaining in the form of the suffix -shire in the traditional names - Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and others, is very ancient. It dates back to the old German scira, which had a meaning close to the concepts of "care", "management", etc. The counties of England, which have the suffix -shire in their name, today occupy just over half of the territory of modern England, while similar word formations have survived and actively used in former English colonies - Australia and the USA.
Even at the time of the formation of the united kingdom, a control system was formed that retained its external features to this day: at the head of the county of England - the Lord Viceroy, at the head of the bodies that exercise the judicial power, as well as police and security functions - the sheriff. In the course of numerous reforms, territorial and functional divisions, several types of administrative units have formed that have legal features, which are difficult to understand the first time.
Counties as an integral part of regions
The highest level of the administrative-territorial units of England is the regions introduced in 1994 at the proposal of the government, led by John Major. There are 9 of them:
- West Midland.
- Southeast England.
- South West England.
- North West England.
- North East England.
- Yorkshire and the Humber.
- East Midland.
- East of England.
- Greater London.
In accordance with the legislative act of 1997, called the "Act of Lieutenantism", the territory of England is divided into 48 counties, called ceremonial, that is, having at the head the lords appointed by the Queen - governors, sheriffs, etc. This type includes for example, the largest county in England is North Yorkshire.
These structures include two other types: metro, created on the basis of large urbanized areas (largest cities), and non-metro - having several districts or districts with their own self-government. The last type of counties also includes several entities that do not have a smaller organizational division and are deprived of their governing bodies by the decision of the Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher in 1986.
Ceremonial Counties
These basic elements of the administrative structure of England are otherwise called governorates, or lieutenant territories (Lieutenancy area), or - unofficially - geographical counties. An important and ancient element of their identification is the coats of arms and flags of the counties of England, created on the basis of heraldic symbols of the Middle Ages.
These territories - both the largest county in North Yorkshire and the smallest - London City - became the basis for dividing the country into 48 postal regions with their own postal codes, which facilitates the work of the Royal Postal Service.
County Cities
Today in England there are 6 metropolitan counties - the metropolitan district, created on the basis of the largest urban settlements:
- Greater Manchester, created around the eponymous metropolis.
- Merseyside is around Liverpool.
- South Yorkshire - South Yorkshire - centered in Sheffield.
- Tyne and Wear - around Newcastle.
- West Midlands - West Midlands, including Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.
- West Yorkshire (West Yorkshire) with a center in Leeds.
Counties of this type are the “invention” of M. Thatcher’s office . They have several smaller administrative units - districts and districts with their independent self-government bodies. Greater London is an education with a special status, characterized by a specific management system.
Non Metropolitan Counties
28 ceremonial counties, among which all with the suffix -shire in their name, as well as East Sussex, Devon, Dorset, Cumbria, West Sussex, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Surrey, and Essex, have non-metropolitan status, that is, consisting from several districts, but having a single self-government body - the general district council (except for Berkshire).
These ancient names, sounding like anglophile music, are the personification of this ancient and great country.
They bring to mind the photos of the counties of England, its various regions, where there is a place for both modern megalopolises, personifying the most modern achievements of civilization, and untouched patriarchal landscapes, symbolizing the British attitude towards the unique nature of their country.