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'etre 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. Royal Mails logo Royal Mail is the national postal service of the United Kingdom. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... UK and Australian postal codes are known as postcodes. ...

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

Firstly, many of the approximately 1,500 post towns straddled county boundaries and the Royal Mail-assigned addresses of all places in such areas included the postal county of the post town regardless of their actual location, for example Denham which is in Buckinghamshire was part of the postal county of Middlesex as it was covered by a sorting office in Uxbridge. Denham is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. ... Map of Bucks (1904) This article is about the English county. ... Uxbridge is a place in the London Borough of Hillingdon in west London. ...

London

Secondly, the London postal district, created in 1858, did not conform to any county boundaries and did not change to match either the County of London in 1888 (which was somewhat smaller) or Greater London in 1965 (which was much bigger); thus leaving parts of Greater London in the postal counties of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Hertfordshire. The system of London postal districts predate the introduction of postcodes throughout the United Kingdom in the 1960s and have been adapted over time. ... 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The County of London (in red), super imposed upon todays Greater London area, to show the difference in size with post-1965 Borough boundaries The County of London was an administrative county of England from 1888 to 1965. ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... Greater London is the top level administrative subdivision covering London and forms one of the nine regions of England. ... Surrey is a county in southern England, part of the South East England region and one of the Home Counties. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Middlesex is one of the 39 historic counties of England. ... Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom and part of the East of England Government Office region. ...

Changes in 1965 and 1974

Thirdly, the Royal Mail adopted some, but not all, of the local government reforms of 1965 and 1974. Postal counties in some places remained coterminous with the traditional county while in other places they changed to match reforms of the administrative county. 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... Traditional counties are unofficial, informal and non-administrative divisions of the British Isles which are based on previous administrative divisions. ...

In non-metropolitan areas of England, the postal counties broadly followed the changes of 1974 but there were differences such as Hereford and Worcester which was not used as a postal county because of the risk of confusion with the respective post towns. Wyre Forest Bromsgrove Redditch Wychavon Worcester Malvern Hills Leominster Hereford South Herefordshire The County of Hereford and Worcester was an English administrative county created by the Local Government Act 1972 from the traditional counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. ...

The 1974 changes were also followed with regard to most metropolitan areas, so Sunderland was referred to by the Royal Mail as 'Sunderland, Tyne and Wear' not 'Sunderland, County Durham'. Greater Manchester however, was not adopted as a postal county. Humberside was, but the two parts of Humberside, being on opposite sides of the estuary of the River Humber, were counted as 'North Humberside' and 'South Humberside' respectively. Sunderland is a city and port in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough, in the county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. ... Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in the North East of England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. ... County Durham is a county in north-east England. ... Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England established in 1974 which covers an area roughly encompassing the conurbation surrounding the City of Manchester. ... East Yorkshire Holderness Kingston upon Hull Beverley Boothferry Scunthorpe Glanford Great Grimsby Cleethorpes The Arms of Humberside County Council Humberside was a non-metropolitan county of England from April 1, 1974 until April 1, 1996. ... Humber is also the name of one of the ranges of cars manufactured by the Rootes Group Humber is also the name of a river in Newfoundland, Canada, as well as a river and a college, both in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ...

In Wales, the 1974 changes were adopted by the Post Office, so that Rhuddlan was no longer postally in Denbighshire, but in Clwyd. In Scotland, however, the postal counties were not changed. Thus Alva, despite being in the Central Region after 1974, was still postally in Clackmannanshire. For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom, England and Wales and England, see British Isles (terminology). ... Rhuddlan is a town in the administrative county of Denbighshire, traditional county of Flintshire, north Wales, lying on the River Clwyd. ... Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych) is a county in North Wales. ... Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales, formed from the traditional counties of Denbighshire and Flintshire, and parts of Merionethshire. ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Map of Scotland showing the location of the former Central region Regional Council Central (Roinn Meadhanach in Gaelic) was a local government region of Scotland from 1974 to 1995. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

1974-1996 postal counties

(listed with official abbreviations, if any)

England

The system of London postal districts predate the introduction of postcodes throughout the United Kingdom in the 1960s and have been adapted over time. ... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... North Humberside is a former postal county of England. ... South Humberside is a former postal county of England. ...

Scotland

 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 Islay Isle of Iona Isle of Jura Isle of Lewis Isle of Mull Isle of North Uist Isle of Rum Isle of Scalpay Isle of Skye Isle of South Uist Isle of Tiree Kincardineshire Kinross-shire Kirkcudbrightshire Lanarkshire Mid Lothian Morayshire Nairnshire Peeblesshire Perthshire Renfrewshire Ross-shire Roxburghshire Selkirkshire Stirlingshire Sutherland West Lothian Wigtownshire 

Wales

Northern Ireland

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:

 ABERDEEN ABOYNE ANTRIM ARMAGH AYR BANFF BATH BEDFORD BELFAST BERWICK-UPON-TWEED BIRMINGHAM BLACKBURN BLACKPOOL BOLTON BOURNEMOUTH BRIGHTON BRISTOL BROMLEY BUCKINGHAM BUSHEY CAMBRIDGE CARDIFF CARLISLE CHELMSFORD CHESTER CLACKMANNAN COLCHESTER COVENTRY CREWE CROYDON DARTFORD DERBY DUMBARTON DUMFRIES DUNDEE DURHAM EDINBURGH ELLESMERE PORT EXETER FALKIRK GLASGOW GLOUCESTER GUERNSEY HEREFORD HERTFORD HOUNSLOW HUDDERSFIELD HULL INVERNESS IPSWICH ISLE OF MAN ISLES OF SCILLY JERSEY KINROSS KIRKCUDBRIGHT LANARK LANCASTER LEEDS LEICESTER LINCOLN LIVERPOOL LONDON LONDONDERRY LUTON MANCHESTER MILTON KEYNES NAIRN NESTON NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE NORTHAMPTON NORWICH NOTTINGHAM OLDHAM ORKNEY OXFORD PEEBLES PERTH PETERBOROUGH PLYMOUTH PORTSMOUTH PRESTON READING REDHILL RENFREW ROMFORD SALFORD SALISBURY SELKIRK SHEFFIELD SHETLAND SHREWSBURY SLOUGH SOUTHAMPTON SOUTHEND-ON-SEA STAFFORD STIRLING STOKE-ON-TRENT STRATHDON SUNDERLAND SWANSEA SWINDON TORQUAY TWICKENHAM WALSALL WARRINGTON WARWICK WATFORD WOLVERHAMPTON WORCESTER YORK 

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 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. Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, involves computer software designed to translate images of typewritten text (usually captured by a scanner) into machine-editable text, or to translate pictures of characters into a standard encoding scheme representing them in (ASCII or Unicode). ...

Flexible addressing policy

Under the Royal Mail's 'flexible addressing policy' a county no longer forms part of a correct postal address. If they prefer users can add traditional (e.g. Huntingdonshire), former postal (e.g. Avon) or administrative (e.g. West Berkshire) counties to their addresses. Huntingdonshire (abbreviated Hunts) is a part of England around Huntingdon, which is currently administered as a local government district of Cambridgeshire. ... The County of Avon was a short-lived non-metropolitan county and ceremonial county in the west of England, named after the River Avon which ran through it. ... West Berkshire is an local government district in Berkshire, South East England, governed by a unitary authority (West Bershire Council). ...

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 such as these that have been added by individuals and organisations. Some forms continue to include a section for a county and this is sometimes compulsory. The Postcode Address File (PAF) is a data file available from the Royal Mail. ...

After modernisation

In 1996 some non-metropolitan counties such as Avon and Humberside were abolished. Where a county is given, popular usage now divides these places between the former postal county (which remains unchanged on many databases), the traditional county and the name of the replacement unitary authorities. East Yorkshire Holderness Kingston upon Hull Beverley Boothferry Scunthorpe Glanford Great Grimsby Cleethorpes The Arms of Humberside County Council Humberside was a non-metropolitan county of England from April 1, 1974 until April 1, 1996. ...

In both Scotland and Wales local government was also reorganised 1996, such that in some places administrative counties reverted to traditional counties once more (e.g. Pembrokeshire, Angus) but in others the post-1974 administrative areas were retained (e.g. Powys, Highland). As in England, popular usage varies. Pembrokeshire (Welsh: Sir Benfro) is a county in the southwest of Wales in the United Kingdom. ... Angus (Aonghas in Gaelic) is one of the traditional counties and also one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland and a Lieutenancy area. ... Powys is a local government principal area and a preserved county in Wales. ... The Highland unitary authority area (Roinn na Gàidhealtachd in Gaelic) is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and the largest local government area in Scotland. ...

See also

• Post town

A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ...

External links

• Information from Royal Mail about PAF and Alias data
• BBC News Article about residents of a village unhappy with their former postal county
• Some details of postal counties including Scotland