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Postal counties of the United Kingdom
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The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known officially as the former postal counties, were subdivisions of the UK in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996. The raison d'ętre of the postal county (as opposed to any other kind of county) was to aid the sorting of mail by enabling differentiation between like-sounding post towns. Since 1996 this has been done by using the outward code (first half) of a postcode instead.
any places the postal counties did not match the counties of the United Kingdom.
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Encyclopedia
The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known officially as the former postal counties, were subdivisions of the UK in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996. The raison d'ętre of the postal county (as opposed to any other kind of county) was to aid the sorting of mail by enabling differentiation between like-sounding post towns. Since 1996 this has been done by using the outward code (first half) of a postcode instead.
Boundaries
In many places the postal counties did not match the counties of the United Kingdom. There were several reasons for this:
Places part of a post town in another county
First, many of the approximately 1,500 post towns straddled county boundaries and the postal addresses of all places in such areas included the postal county of the post town regardless of their actual location.
In a written answer in the House of Lords in 1963, Lord Chesham, Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Transport estimated that about 7% of towns and villages with a post office lay in a postal county different to their geographical county. He went to explain that:
Examples, usually consisting of small villages near to county boundaries, include:
London
Secondly, the London postal district, created in 1858, did not conform to any county boundaries and did not coincide with either the County of London in 1889 (which was somewhat smaller) or Greater London in 1965 (which was much bigger). Addresses in the London post town (an area of or 40% of Greater London) did not include a county; however, the rest of Greater London (60% of its area) formed parts of other post towns in the postal counties of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Hertfordshire.
For example, the London Borough of Barnet had sections in the London postal district (e.g. Golders Green) and in the Middlesex and Hertfordshire postal counties (e.g. Edgware and East Barnet); with the NW7 postcode district touching the Greater London boundary to divide the three sections. Anomalously, Sewardstone, outside Greater London in the Epping Forest district of Essex, is included in the London postal district.
Changes in 1965 and 1974
Thirdly, the Royal Mail adopted some, but not all, of the local government reforms of 1965 and 1974/5. This caused postal counties in some areas to reflect boundary changes, while in other areas they did not.
1965
Although the Post Office did not follow the changes of the London Government Act 1963 with respect to the outer London suburbs, it did reflect the move of Potters Bar from Middlesex to Hertfordshire. In contrast, Middlesex remained part of the postal address for Staines and Sunbury, which had transferred to Surrey. The 1960s saw an increase in the number of addresses the Post Office delivered to, but a decrease in the volume of mail sent which caused a significant drop in revenue and an increase in operational costs. Furthermore, retaining the existing postal county boundaries was explained as largely due to cost reasons. The Times pointed out that this might cause confusion, noting that in future "children will no doubt wonder why their address should refer to a county in which they have never lived", but that "some people […] want the name of Middlesex preserved because of its historical associations".
1974
The Local Government Act 1972 redrew the county map of England and Wales outside Greater London. The Post Office was considering its policy in January 1973, and in November 1973 noted that "Greater Manchester" would be unlikely to be adopted because of confusion of the Manchester post town, but that Avon was likely to be introduced.
When the local government changes came into force on, the Post Office announced that the new counties would form part of postal addresses from 1 July 1974, and should be used as "soon as possible". Old counties could, however, still be used until 1 July 1975. It was stated that the rule applied to: ...addresses throughout England and Wales outside Greater London with the exception of Greater Manchester and Hereford and Worcester where addresses remain unchanged. In Humberside it is necessary to show whether an address is in North Humberside or South Humberside.
Addresses in certain post-towns have not, in the past, included a county name; these addresses are unchanged, but the postcode should be shown. addresses in Greater London are also unchanged as are addresses in any place where the new county bears the same name as the former one.
Gordon Oakes, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment, explained the policy in a written answer to a question in parliament, shortly after the changes were brought in:
Postal addresses are routing instructions, not geographical descriptions, and the extent to which the new county names are being adopted for mail has been the subject of advice issued by the Post Office.
Scotland
In Scotland, counties were entirely abolished for local government purposes in 1975. However, the postal counties were not changed. Thus Alva, despite being in the Central Region after 1975, was still postally in Clackmannanshire.
1974–96 postal counties
(listed with official abbreviations, if any)
England
| Former postal county | Abbreviation | Coverage notes |
|---|
| Avon | | | | Bedfordshire | Beds | | | Berkshire | Berks | | | Buckinghamshire | Bucks | | | Cambridgeshire | Cambs | | | Cheshire | | Also covered part of Greater Manchester | | Cleveland | | | | Cornwall | | | | County Durham | Co Durham | | | Cumbria | | | | Derbyshire | | | | Devon | | | | Dorset | | | | East Sussex | E Sussex | | | Essex | | Also covered part of Greater London
Stansted post town was an exclave in Hertfordshire | | Gloucestershire | Glos | | | Hampshire | Hants | | | Herefordshire | | Covered part of Hereford and Worcester | | Hertfordshire | Herts | Also covered part of Greater London | | Isle of Wight | | | | Kent | | Also covered part of Greater London | | Lancashire | Lancs | Also covered part of Greater Manchester | | Leicestershire | Leics | | | Lincolnshire | Lincs | | | London | | Corresponded to London post town | | Merseyside | | Mostly Liverpool including St Helens, Bootle and Birkenhead | | Middlesex | Middx | Covered parts of Greater London and Surrey
Enfield post town was a detached part, separated from the rest by London and Hertfordshire | | Norfolk | | | | North Humberside | N Humbs | Covered part of Humberside | | North Yorkshire | N Yorks | | | Northamptonshire | Northants | | | Northumberland | Northd | | | Nottinghamshire | Notts | | | Oxfordshire | Oxon | | | Shropshire | Salop | | | Somerset | | | | South Humberside | S Humbs | Covered part of Humberside | | South Yorkshire | S Yorks | | | Staffordshire | Staffs | | | Suffolk | | | | Surrey | | Also covered part of Greater London | | Tyne and Wear | Tyne & Wear | | | Warwickshire | Warks | | | West Midlands | W Mids | | | West Sussex | W Sussex | | | West Yorkshire | W Yorks | | | Wiltshire | Wilts | | | Worcestershire | Worcs | Covered part of Hereford and Worcester |
Scotland
| Former postal county | Abbreviation | Coverage notes |
|---|
| Aberdeenshire | | | | Angus | | | | Argyll | | | | Ayrshire | | | | Banffshire | | | | Berwickshire | | | | Caithness | | | | Clackmannanshire | | | | Dumfriesshire | | | | Dunbartonshire | | | | East Lothian | | | | Fife | | | | Inverness-shire | | | | Isle of Arran | | | | Isle of Barra | | | | Isle of Benbecula | | | | Isle of Bute | | | | Isle of Canna | | | | Isle of Coll | | | | Isle of Colonsay | | | | Isle of Cumbrae | | | | Isle of Eigg | | | | Isle of Gigha | | | | Isle of Harris | | | | Isle of Iona | | | | Isle of Islay | | | | Isle of Jura | | | | Isle of Lewis | | | | Isle of Mull | | | | Isle of North Uist | | | | Isle of Rhum | | | | Isle of Scalpay | | | | Isle of Skye | | | | Isle of South Uist | | | | Isle of Tiree | | | | Kincardineshire | | | | Kinross-shire | | | | Kirkcudbrightshire | | | | Lanarkshire | | | | Midlothian | | | | Morayshire | | | | Nairnshire | | | | Peeblesshire | | | | Perthshire | | | | Renfrewshire | | | | Ross-shire | | | | Roxburghshire | | | | Selkirkshire | | | | Stirlingshire | | | | Sutherland | | | | West Lothian | | | | Wigtownshire | | |
Wales
| Former postal county | Abbreviation | Coverage notes |
|---|
| Clwyd | | | | Dyfed | | | | Gwent | | | | Gwynedd | | | | Mid Glamorgan | M Glam | | | South Glamorgan | S Glam | | | Powys | | | | West Glamorgan | W Glam | |
Northern Ireland
| Former postal county | Abbreviation | Coverage notes |
|---|
| County Antrim | Co Antrim | | | County Armagh | Co Armagh | | | County Down | Co Down | | | County Fermanagh | Co Fermanagh | | | County Londonderry | Co Londonderry | | | County Tyrone | Co Tyrone | |
Usage
The postal county was omitted for 110 of the larger towns and cities and places where the county name was derived from the post town. These post towns were:
Elsewhere popular usage did not always follow the postal counties as prescribed by Royal Mail. In those places where the postal county differed from the traditional or administrative county, popular usage varied either because of ignorance or defiance.
Modernisation
The Royal Mail has ceased to use the postal counties as a means of sorting mail following the modernisation of their optical character recognition equipment in 1996. Instead, using postcode defined circulation, the outward code (first half) of the post code is used to differentiate between like-sounding post towns. The former postal county (as they are now known) for each post town as it was in 1996 is still held on record by the Royal Mail but where new post towns are created they will not be assigned to a former postal county. Where it is possible, and it is proven there is demand, Royal Mail will consider changes to their address data. Under their code, however, changes to county data will not be considered.
1990s UK local government reform
In 1996 some non-metropolitan counties in England such as Avon and Humberside were abolished. This reform caused further changes to the locations in which the former postal counties (which the Royal Mail will not change) did not match up to the geographic counties. Hereford and Worcester had not been adopted as a postal county in 1974, so the reconstituted Herefordshire and Worcestershire broadly matched the former postal counties. Once the 1990s UK local government reform was complete, the areas in England that did not match the former postal counties became:
| Geographic county | Former postal county | Area |
|---|
| Bristol, Somerset (part), Gloucestershire (part) | Avon | 1,347 km˛ | | County Durham (part), North Yorkshire (part) | Cleveland | 583 km˛ | | East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire (part) | North Humberside, South Humberside | 3,517 km˛ | | Greater London (60% not in London postal district) | Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey | 947 km˛ | | Greater Manchester | Lancashire, Cheshire | 1,276 km˛ | | Rutland | Leicestershire | 382 km˛ | | Surrey (Spelthorne) | Middlesex | 51 km˛ |
In both Scotland and Wales local government was also reorganised in 1996, such that in some places counties reverted to the traditional names once again (e.g. Pembrokeshire), but in others the post-1974 names were retained (e.g. Powys, Highland). As in England, the formal postal counties are unchanged by Royal Mail.
Amendment for Rutland
After a lengthy and well-organised campaign, and despite a code of practice which excludes amendments to former postal counties, the Royal Mail agreed to create a postal county of Rutland in 2007. This was achieved in January 2008 by amending the former postal county for all of the Oakham (LE15) post town and part of the Market Harborough (LE16) post town. In contrast, Seaton Delaval residents had unsuccessfully campaigned in 2004 to be removed from the former postal county of Tyne and Wear.
Flexible addressing policy
Since the Royal Mail's change to postcode-defined circulation, a county no longer forms part of any postal address. As part of a "flexible addressing policy", as long as the post town and postcode is included, users can also add a county, which will be ignored in the sorting process. Some forms continue to include a section for a county and this is sometimes compulsory.
A supplement to the Postcode Address File (which is the definitive source of correct postal addresses), the Alias File, identifies local, colloquial and "postally-not-required" details in addresses that have been added by individuals and organisations. The county record part of the file holds "traditional" (e.g. Gloucestershire), "former postal" (e.g. Avon) and "administrative" (e.g. South Gloucestershire) county data.
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