Search county records and other local resources
Our county records directory is designed to assist those of you who wish to research a particular region or county. Visit the county you wish to research and find links to county records offices and local archives, local family history societies, births, marriages and deaths records, and many other important genealogical resources.
County directory
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Different types of English Counties
Researching county records can be frustrating. This is because the term ‘county’ can refer to different geographic areas, depending upon a county’s function and the relevant period of history. Here is a brief explanation of the different types of counties that you may encounter while investigating county records:
Historic counties (aka ‘real’ or ‘traditional’ counties)
Historic counties are ‘traditional’ counties, most of which were divided into ‘Shires’ during Anglo-Saxon times and later adopted as administrative areas by the Normans.
Since the middle ages, certain large urban areas were granted the status of self-governing counties and these were termed ‘county corporate’. For example, the City of London became a county corporate in 1132 and Bristol was granted county status in 1373.
The status and geography of these counties continued, generally without meaningful reform until the late 19th Century.
The Local Government Act of 1888 (effective: 1889) removed local government powers and other functions from these counties. Counties that existed before 1889, are now termed ‘traditional’ or ‘historic’ counties’ to distinguish them from the types of ‘counties’ that were created after this date.
Despite losing all their functions (both administrative and non-administrative), these traditional counties continue to be recognised culturally and geographically. For example, county cricket in England and Wales has always represented the historic counties.
In recent years, there has been growing support for the recognition and celebration of historic counties as distinct from local government. In 2013, the Government formally recognised their existence and a year later, the erection of road signs marking historic county boundaries was allowed. See the British Counties Campaign and the Association of British Counties for more information on the various campaigns to recognise and celebrate historic counties.
Administrative Counties and County Boroughs – established 1889
The Local Government Act 1888 introduced two new local government entities: ‘administrative counties’ and ‘county boroughs’.
The new ‘administrative counties’ shared many of the same features and geography as the traditional counties, but were governed by county councils. Also, large urban areas located inside historic county boundaries became ‘county boroughs’, i.e they became de facto administrative counties free from county council control.
A total of 61 county boroughs were initially created in England and 2 were created in Wales (Cardiff and Swansea). Some of these new county boroughs had already enjoyed the independent status of ‘county corporate’. New county boroughs were created because they had a population in excess of 50,000 and more county boroughs were created over the years as their population grew.
These are the ten cities given ‘county borough status’: Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Bradford, Nottingham, Kingston-on-Hull, and Newcastle upon Tyne.
The 1889 Act also created the ‘County of London’ as an administrative county. Its area roughly equated with what we would now term ‘Inner London’ and it encompassed parts of Kent, Middlesex and Surrey. The County of London was later replaced by the much larger Greater London in 1965.
A complementary system of urban and rural district councils followed a few years later.
Non-Metropolitan (aka ‘Shire’) Counties and Metropolitan Counties
The Local Government Act of 1972 (w.e.f. 1974) abolished all the administrative counties and county boroughs that had been established in 1889 – apart from the County of London. These administrative areas were now replaced with a system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. Although attempts were made to maintain the boundaries of the historic counties, there were a number of major geographical changes. For example, new non-metropolitan counties were created from parts of historic counties. These newly created counties included Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria, Hereford and Worcester and Humberside.
In addition, new metropolitan counties were created in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South and West Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and West Midlands.
Creation of Unitary Authorities during the 1990s
Government reforms during the 1990s restructured some non-metropolitan counties and created Unitary Authorities within them. For example, the newly created non-metropolitan counties of Avon, Cleveland, Hereford and Worcester and Humberside were abolished and split into unitary authorities.
Further unitary authorities were created a decade later and more unitary authorities are likely to be created in the future.
Ceremonial Counties (aka geographical counties)
A ‘ceremonial county’ is a colloquial term for a Lieutenancy area in England i.e. an area with its own appointed Lord Lieutenant (a non-political personal representative of the monarch). The equivalent term in Wales is a ‘preserved county’.
The office of Lord Lieutenant dates back to Henry VIII. Prior to the Local Government Act of 1888 (w.e.f: 1889), each county or county corporate (self-governing town or city) was a Lieutenancy area and assigned a Lord Lieutenant. Due to its size, Yorkshire had three Lieutenancy areas; East Riding, North Riding and West Riding.
The local government reforms of 1889 stated that the lieutenancy areas were to follow the boundaries of the newly created administrative counties. In practice, the new lieutenancy areas largely followed the historic county boundaries because they encompassed any county boroughs that had formed part of a traditional county before the reforms of 1889.
Following the local government reforms of 1974, the Lieutenancy areas followed the boundaries of the newly created metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. As mentioned above, further local government reforms occurred in 1990s. So by the late 20th Century, Lieutenancy areas had often diverged significantly from the historic county boundaries.
The Lieutenancies Act 1997, defined the current lieutenancy areas and the term ‘ceremonial county’ (England) and ‘preserved county’ (Wales) came into common usage – although they are not specifically mentioned in the Act.
To summarise, ‘ceremonial county’ boundaries have evolved over time and are now quite different from the historic county boundaries. For example, the Isle of Wight forms part of the historic county of Hampshire. Following the 1889 government reforms, it continued to form part of the ceremonial county of Hampshire but became a separate administrative county. This situation continued until the Isle of Wight also became a separate ceremonial county in 1974.
Registration Counties (aka Poor Law Counties)
Family historians are likely to encounter ‘registration counties’ when researching births, marriages and deaths records, and census records.
In 1837, the General Register Office (GRO) for England and Wales was set up to conduct the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths. In 1841, the GRO also took control of the UK census. (Scotland and Ireland also established a GRO in the decades that followed.)
The registration districts used by the GRO followed the Poor Law Unions – areas largely determined by the proximity of the local workhouse. Groupings of these districts were known as ‘registration counties’. Because of the way these counties were formed, they did not match existing county boundaries.
These distinct registration districts and counties were used up until 1930, at which point they were absorbed into existing local government areas. Its worth noting that these registration districts and registration counties were also used in UK censuses between 1851 – 1911.