Ceremonial counties of England

The **Ceremonial counties of England** are areas of England are defined by the government with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England. They are also often called **geographic counties**.

## Map

|valign=top|{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign=top align=left|<ol style="font-size: 83%> <li>Northumberland <li>Tyne and Wear <li>County Durham † <li>Cumbria † <li>Lancashire † <li>North Yorkshire † <li>East Riding of Yorkshire † <li>South Yorkshire <li>West Yorkshire <li>Greater Manchester <li>Merseyside <li>Cheshire † <li>Derbyshire † <li>Nottinghamshire † <li>Lincolnshire † <li>Rutland <li>Leicestershire † <li>Staffordshire † <li>Shropshire † <li>Herefordshire <li>Worcestershire <li>West Midlands <li>Warwickshire </ol>|valign=top|<ol start=24 style="font-size: 83%> <li>Northamptonshire <li>Cambridgeshire † <li>Norfolk <li>Suffolk <li>Essex † <li>Hertfordshire <li>Bedfordshire † <li>Buckinghamshire †    <li>Oxfordshire <li>Gloucestershire † <li>Bristol <li>Somerset † <li>Wiltshire † <li>Berkshire <li>Greater London <li>Kent † <li>East Sussex † <li>West Sussex <li>Surrey <li>Hampshire † <li>Isle of Wight <li>Dorset † <li>Devon † <li>Cornwall † </ol>||
|colspan=3|<small>_Not shown_: City of London</small>|}|||

† ceremonial county covers larger area than the non-metropolitan county

## Definition

The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines the "ceremonial counties" in terms of local government areas created by the Local Government Act 1972 as amended. Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 defines them as:
- Bedfordshire, including Luton
- Berkshire
- Bristol
- Buckinghamshire, including Milton Keynes
- Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
- Cheshire, including Halton and Warrington
- City of London
- Cornwall, including Isles of Scilly
- Cumbria
- Chester
- Derbyshire, including Derby
- Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay
- Dorset, including Bournemouth and Poole
- County Durham, including Darlington, Hartlepool, and Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees
- East Riding of Yorkshire, including Kingston-upon-Hull
- East Sussex, including Brighton and Hove
- Essex, including Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock
- Gloucestershire, including South Gloucestershire
- Greater London, excluding the City of London
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire, including Southampton and Portsmouth
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Isle of Wight
- Kent, including Medway
- Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool
- Leicestershire, including Leicester
- Lincolnshire, including North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire
- Merseyside
- Norfolk
- North Yorkshire, including York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire, including Nottingham
- Oxfordshire
- Rutland
- Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin
- Somerset, including Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire, including Stoke-on-Trent
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire, including Swindon
- Worcestershire

## Lieutenancy areas in 1890

1. Bedfordshire
1. Berkshire
1. Buckinghamshire
1. Cambridgeshire, including Isle of Ely
1. Cheshire
    - held jointly with Chester
1. Cornwall
1. Cumberland
1. Derbyshire
1. Devon
    - held jointly with Exeter
1. Dorset
    - held jointly with Poole
1. Durham
1. Essex
1. Gloucestershire
    - held jointly with Gloucester and Bristol
1. Herefordshire
1. Hertfordshire
1. Huntingdonshire
1. Kent
    - held jointly with Canterbury
1. Lancashire
1. Leicestershire
1. Lincolnshire
    - held jointly with Lincoln
1. City of London, having commissioners of Lieutenancy _(not shown on map)_
1. County of London
1. Middlesex
1. Norfolk
    - held jointly with Norwich
1. Northamptonshire, including the Soke of Peterborough
1. Northumberland
    - held jointly with Berwick-upon-Tweed and Newcastle upon Tyne
1. Nottinghamshire
    - held jointly with Nottingham
1. Oxfordshire
1. Rutland
1. Salop (Shropshire)
1. Somerset
1. Southamptonshire (Hampshire)
    - held jointly with Southampton
1. Staffordshire
    - held jointly with Lichfield
1. Suffolk
1. Sussex
1. Warwickshire
1. Westmorland
1. Wiltshire
1. Worcestershire
    - held jointly with Worcester
1. Yorkshire - had three Lieutenants, one for each of the three ridings
    - (a) East Riding, held jointly with Kingston upon Hull
    - (b) North Riding
    - (c) West Riding, held jointly with York

## Other websites

- Lieutenancies Act 1997