Everything about Postal Counties Of The United Kingdom totally explained
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'être 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 didn't 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 postal addresses of all places in such areas included the postal county of the post town regardless of their actual location. Examples, usually consisting of small villages near to county boundaries, include:
Seaton Delaval residents unsuccessfully campaigned in 2004 to be removed from the former postal county of Tyne and Wear.
London
Secondly, the
London postal district, created in 1858, didn't conform to any county boundaries and didn't 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) didn't 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 (for example
Golders Green) and in the Middlesex and Hertfordshire postal counties (for example
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 1974/1975. This caused postal counties in some areas to reflect boundary changes, while in other areas they did not.
Although the Post Office didn't 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've never lived", but that "some people [...] want the name of Middlesex preserved because of its historical associations".
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 wasn't used as a postal county because of the risk of confusion with the respective post towns.
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, wasn't 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. 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.
In
Wales, the 1974 changes were adopted by the Post Office, so that
Rhuddlan was no longer postally in
Flintshire, but in
Clwyd. In
Scotland, however, the postal counties were not changed. Thus Alva, despite being in the
Central Region after 1975, was still postally in
Clackmannanshire.
1974–1996 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 |
|
|
| 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 |
|
|
| 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 Humberside |
Covered part of Humberside |
| North Yorkshire |
N Yorkshire |
|
| Northamptonshire |
Northants |
|
| Northumberland |
Northd |
|
| Nottinghamshire |
Notts |
|
| Oxfordshire |
Oxon |
|
| Shropshire |
|
|
| Somerset |
|
|
| South Humberside |
S Humberside |
Covered part of Humberside |
| South Yorkshire |
S Yorkshire |
|
| Staffordshire |
Staffs |
|
| Suffolk |
|
|
| Surrey |
|
Also covered part of Greater London |
| Tyne and Wear |
Tyne & Wear |
|
| Warwickshire |
Warks |
|
| West Midlands |
W Midlands |
|
| West Sussex |
W Sussex |
|
| West Yorkshire |
W Yorkshire |
|
| 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
Further Information
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