County Confusion

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I am currently working on the "online location database" and I am reverse geocoding the POI database we already have.
The issue I have comes with Britain's confusing County System.

I have decided to use just main counties and not political or administrative counties.

So here is the list for England:

Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Bristol
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
County Durham
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
East Riding of Yorkshire
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Merseyside
Norfolk
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
West Sussex
West Yorkshire
Wiltshire
Worcestershire

If anyone has any sensible comments, now would be a good time!

I will post Scotland and Wales next
 
Phil said:
I am currently working on the "online location database" and I am reverse geocoding the POI database we already have.
The issue I have comes with Britain's confusing County System.

I have decided to use just main counties and not political or administrative counties.

So here is the list for England:

Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Bristol
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
County Durham
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
East Riding of Yorkshire
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Isle of Wight
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Merseyside
Norfolk
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
West Sussex
West Yorkshire
Wiltshire
Worcestershire

If anyone has any sensible comments, now would be a good time!

I will post Scotland and Wales next
Click to expand...

Hi Phil

You have used Tyne & Wear. This is made up from the old counties of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, and County Durham. It no longer officialy exists but the Post Office still insist on its use. It is now the administrive areas of North and South Tyneside.

You have not included Cleveland which was made up from County Durham and North Yorkshire. The old geographical Cleveland was only south of the Tees. The county covered both banks at the mouth of the Tees. This administive area was abolished and is known for some purposes as Cleveland, Tees Valley or Teeside. The Post Office were expecting it to be called Teesside so the put the Post Code of TS on it and this remained to this day even during the time it was known as Cleveland.

These modern counties are now well recognised and the old ones have faded into the memories of only oldies like me. You may cause more confusion by not using the current structure.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
John Thompson said:
You have used Tyne & Wear. This is made up from the old counties of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, and County Durham. It no longer officialy exists but the Post Office still insist on its use. It is now the administrive areas of North and South Tyneside.

You have not included Cleveland which was made up from County Durham and North Yorkshire. The old geographical Cleveland was only south of the Tees.
Click to expand...

Hi John
I think these counties do still exist, there is certainly both a Tyne and Wear and Cleveland Fire Service. Like Merseyside, their County Councils were abolished in 1986 but the remaining boroughs still form part of the county with joint boards governing certain county-wide service.
Andy
 
Phil just a suggestion - why not use the Ordnance Survey map numbers, either 1:50000 or 1:25000 scales, these will not change whereas the political boundaries and names are always changing, usually every election brings new manipulation of boundaries (and voters!)

Robert
 
Airecraft said:
Hi John
I think these counties do still exist, there is certainly both a Tyne and Wear and Cleveland Fire Service. Like Merseyside, their County Councils were abolished in 1986 but the remaining boroughs still form part of the county with joint boards governing certain county-wide service.
Andy
Click to expand...

These names do exist but are just hangovers from the old days. Google "Tyne & Wear" or "Cleveland" and all will be revealed.

John
 
Have fun sorting out Scotland! People who live in the north east are still arguing about the fate of Banffshire, where I grew up. It was incorporated into Aberdeenshire, but everyone still calls it Banffshire and use the Banff postal address. Such has been the stand against the removal of historic Banffshire, which was over 1000 years old, that they have now put up signposts telling you when you are entering or leaving the shire that no longer exists.

Alison
 
mumumum4 said:
Have fun sorting out Scotland! People who live in the north east are still arguing about the fate of Banffshire, where I grew up. It was incorporated into Aberdeenshire, but everyone still calls it Banffshire and use the Banff postal address. Such has been the stand against the removal of historic Banffshire, which was over 1000 years old, that they have now put up signposts telling you when you are entering or leaving the shire that no longer exists.

Alison
Click to expand...

Ditto with Wales.

Clwyd died years a go, but on loads of drop down menus from even large companies, Clwyd is the only option.

Just keep to the latest counties, I recon it's about 10 years yet until they change them again!!

Yesterday, we still went over the border into Meirionnydd, actually part of Gwynedd but still proud of their heritage and announce it as you go over the "Border"
 
John Thompson said:
Hi Phil

You have used Tyne & Wear. This is made up from the old counties of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, and County Durham. It no longer officialy exists but the Post Office still insist on its use. It is now the administrive areas of North and South Tyneside.

You have not included Cleveland which was made up from County Durham and North Yorkshire. The old geographical Cleveland was only south of the Tees. The county covered both banks at the mouth of the Tees. This administive area was abolished and is known for some purposes as Cleveland, Tees Valley or Teeside. The Post Office were expecting it to be called Teesside so the put the Post Code of TS on it and this remained to this day even during the time it was known as Cleveland.

These modern counties are now well recognised and the old ones have faded into the memories of only oldies like me. You may cause more confusion by not using the current structure.
Click to expand...

Tyne & Wear is still a county and is the current ceremonial county. North and South Tyneside are not counties.
Cleveland was removed in 1996 and no longer exists.

As well as country and county there is also data on post town, district and locality.
 
Phil said:
Tyne & Wear is still a county .

As well as country and county there is also data on post town, district and locality.
Click to expand...


Damn!!!!!!! :sad:


I do not officially recognise the place. I am a County Durham lad born and bred and I have to put Tyne and Wear on my address. :mad1:


I wish they WOULD abolish T & W.
 
We have similar problems with Wrexham, we get still come up as Clwyd but we have Wrexham County Borough but I think that we were part of Denbighshire & possibly Flintshire.
Since 1996 this is how it's supposed to be 600px-Wales_Administrative_Map_2009.jpg
 
The important thing here is that is are dealing mapping, not administrative, political or postal districts.

The only one missing from the list above is London (city of)
 
Wales has 8 counties


  1. Gwent
  2. South Glamorgan
    (De Morgannwg)
  3. Mid Glamorgan
    (Morgannwg Ganol)
  4. West Glamorgan
    (Gorllewin Morgannwg)
  5. Dyfed
  6. Powys
  7. Gwynedd
  8. Clwyd

However.........

within our database we have 22 unitary authorities

Blaenau Gwent
Bridgend
Caerphilly
Cardiff
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Conwy
Denbighshire
Flintshire
Gwynedd
Isle Of Anglesey
Merthyr Tydfil
Monmouthshire
Neath Port Talbot
Newport
Pembrokeshire
Powys
Rhondda Cynon Taff
Swansea
The Vale Of Glamorgan
Torfaen
Wrexham

counties or unitary authorities?
 
Hi Phil,

Why not just use this postcode map as it cuts categories down to just 10

Direct Marketing Lists - UK Postcode Map

You might also be able to program the system to automatically allocate to the correct area once users put the postcode in

This is handy for members locations too as its not too precise for those worried about giving their locations online

Karen
 
Scotland....

These are the best regions that the locations fall into

Aberdeen City
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll and Bute
City of Edinburgh
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries and Galloway
Dundee City
East Ayrshire
East Dunbartonshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Falkirk
Glasgow City
Fife
Highland
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray
North Ayrshire
North Lanarkshire
Perth and Kinross
Renfrewshire
Scottish Borders
South Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire
Stirling
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian


Orkney Islands
Na H-Eileanan an Iar
Shetland Islands
 
no1kaili said:
Hi Phil,

Why not just use this postcode map as it cuts categories down to just 10

Direct Marketing Lists - UK Postcode Map

You might also be able to program the system to automatically allocate to the correct area once users put the postcode in

This is handy for members locations too as its not too precise for those worried about giving their locations online

Karen
Click to expand...

Hello,

These are postal locations rather than geographical.

An example....

I live in Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire which is 5 miles into warwickshire. However I have a Birmingham postcode B95 that means my postal address is West Midlands. The next village (less than half a mile) has a Coventry postcode and Warwickshire postal address.
 
You will never please everybody whatever division you use - for example, I know people who still claim to live in Middlesex! The important thing is that people should know what heading to look under for a particular place and the best way to achieve this is by having a map index with whatever divisions you use marked on it. Thus, if anybody was unwise enough to want to visit Maingate they could look up Gateshead on the map and discover that it is listed under.......... whatever division you choose to use. ;)
 
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This is a minefield. You will never please everyone and it is often updated.

The right approach is just to take a fairy recent geographical county map and use that as a basis which seems to be what you have done.
 
Phil said:
Wales has 8 counties


  1. Gwent
  2. South Glamorgan
    (De Morgannwg)
  3. Mid Glamorgan
    (Morgannwg Ganol)
  4. West Glamorgan
    (Gorllewin Morgannwg)
  5. Dyfed
  6. Powys
  7. Gwynedd
  8. Clwyd

However.........

within our database we have 22 unitary authorities

Blaenau Gwent
Bridgend
Caerphilly
Cardiff
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Conwy
Denbighshire
Flintshire
Gwynedd
Isle Of Anglesey
Merthyr Tydfil
Monmouthshire
Neath Port Talbot
Newport
Pembrokeshire
Powys
Rhondda Cynon Taff
Swansea
The Vale Of Glamorgan
Torfaen
Wrexham

counties or unitary authorities?
Click to expand...

Unitary Authorities please so then people can find us. The counties died in '96
 
maingate said:
Damn!!!!!!! :sad:


I do not officially recognise the place. I am a County Durham lad born and bred and I have to put Tyne and Wear on my address. :mad1:


I wish they WOULD abolish T & W.
Click to expand...

Likewise Maingate.

I was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and my postal address was Newcastle upon Tyne until the changed it to Co. Durham.

(Born in Pricess Mary's but lived near Tantobie.)

I still use Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland or Co. Durham. Not Tyne & Wear.

John
 
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