 the home counties are the counties of england that surround london. the counties generally included in the list are berkshire, buckinghamshire, essex, hertfordshire, kent, surrey, and sussex (although sussex does not border london). other counties more distant from london, such as bedfordshire, cambridgeshire, dorset, hampshire and oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the london regional economy. nevertheless, no exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the home counties remains a matter of debate. many towns and villages within the home counties form part of the london commuter belt from which it is practical to commute to work in the capital. == definitions == the earliest use of the term cited in the oxford english dictionary is from 1695. charles davenant, in an essay upon ways and means of supplying the war, wrote, "the eleven home counties, which are thought in land taxes to pay more than their proportion, viz. surry [sic] with southwark, hertfordshire, bedfordshire, cambridgshire, kent, essex, norfolk, and suffolk, berks, bucks, and oxfordshire."quoted in oxford english dictionary. later definitions have tended to be more narrow and bacon's large scale atlas of london and suburbs (revised edition c. 1912) includes berkshire, buckingham, essex, hertford, kent, middlesex and surrey in the "maps of the home counties".stanford, william. (1912) (ed.) bacon's large scale atlas of london and suburbs. london: george washington bacon. in ann sunders (ed.) (2007) the a to z of edwardian london. london: london topographical society. isbn 0902087533 the term is sometimes understood to mean those counties which, on their borders closest to london, have been partly subsumed into london. indeed, the former county of middlesex has been almost wholly within london since 1965, as have parts of hertfordshire and surrey,brewers dictionary of phrase & fable. 16th edition. london: cassell, 1999, p. 769. isbn 0304350966 although the name middlesex still exists in various incarnations. the third edition of the oxford english dictionary (2010) defines the term as "the english countie
Counties_of_England Geography_of_London London_words Regions_of_England Vernacular_geography