To ask why county boundaries change?

[AutisticLegoLover]

It happens to countries too.
I've just been reading the Manchester Evening News and there was an article on a village that used to be in one county and then it's in another. The MEN is atrocious as far as its journalism goes but I'll link it anyway.

It got me thinking about how my mum and nana used to classify themselves and a conversation with my much older sister back in the 80s. My sister considered herself a Mancunian. She was living in Fallowfield at the time but had grown up between Yorkshire and Greater Manchester/Cheshire. Mum disagreed and said she was a Lancasarian (or similar, I was young and can't remember exactly). My sister was born in Yorkshire so I was totally baffled by this as we were living in the midlands at the time. Mum said I too was from Lancashire. My Nana was from Lancashire as was my Grandad and my mum was born in a lam ashore town that's now part of one of the areas of greater Manchester but not referred to as Lancashire now.
Over the years I've wondered about this because Greater Manchester incorporates several counties. I have never considered myself Mancunian and was brought up and now live in a small town in Cheshire on the edge of Derbyshire or also known as High Peak. The nearest big town is not one I identify with either and find myself a bit lost really when it comes to my regional identity.
It's bloody confusing! We were mostly born within 10 miles of each other except for the Yorkshire born siblings. My dad was born in Lincolnshire i think and lived mostly in Yorkshire as a child and young adult but he was definitely a Yorkshireman and I feel quite an affinity with God's own county.

I suspect that if I looked at Greater London history my mind would be blown. To me it's a fairly far off mystery place that is bloody massive and I don't know where London begins or ends. It has zones according to what I've read here.

Inside the Yorkshire that town that woke up in Lancashire 50 years ago www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/inside-yorkshire-town-woke-up-25616384?utm_source=app

So basically what are they messing about with changing boundaries and if you are from somewhere that has had its boundaries messed with over the years how the hell do you know how to identify yourself?

I’m from Liverpool, which was in Lancashire when I was born, its now Merseyside.
Boundaries can change for many reasons, shifts in population, growth of cities over time. Sometimes they make sense in terms of provision and location of services,

Some governments are not above changing boundaries for electoral advantage

It totally messes with my head. I like things to stay the same. It must be horrendous for people in countries that change.

My mum has never got over leaving Cheshire for Merseyside 😂

@MarkBright

I bet she hasn't 😂
I don't see myself as a Merseysider - I'm a Scouser

@AutisticLegoLover

High Peak is a Borough Council administrative area in the County of Derbyshire isn't it?

My mum was moved from Merseyside back to Chesire - she was livid!

I'm not sure if it's the same because it's much of a muchness but my house was once south Northamptonshire and is now west Northamptonshire. That's because of funding and council tax I think so perhaps it's the same?

When I was born Bristol was a city AND a county with Gloucestershire to the North and Somerset to the south.
Then someone had the bright idea of creating the county of Avon in the 1970s. They nibbled a bit off Somerset and Gloucestershire...and stuck with it until 1996.
Then they disbanded Avon and returned Bristol to a county in its own right again.
The nibbled off bits weren't returned to Gloucestershire or Somerset but were formed into South Gloucestershire Council; North Somerset Council; and Bath and North East Somerset Council.
However we still have Avon and Somerset Police, Avon Fire Brigade, the Avon ring road (which doesn't actually form a ring!). Often our mail comes with Avon on the letters 25 after it ceased to exist.
Where Bristol has grown some of the new county boundaries divide 2 sides of the same street.

Let the map men explain it all

I was born in Lancashire. But it's now Gt Manchester. I was brought up in County Cleveland. But that's long gone (apart from the police force oddly) and my childhood home is now County Durham. But my school is in North Yorkshire.

I'm back living in Greater Manchester. But older neighbours would always say they're in Cheshire.

It's a contentious subject here! Used to be Kent, now part of a London Borough. Lots of people think it should be rightfully Kent and use Kent on their addresses.

I remember when a boundary change meant Berkshire lost Abingdon. It had been the county town for about 500 years.

Countries usually only change because there has been a war, or a referendum, or rioting or something.
The U.K. boundaries will change, for example, should Scotland leave the union.

I'm not from anywhere particularly known for being "from an area", if that makes sense. However, we get royally pissed off, as we are betwix and between several boroughs, counties, parliamentary constituencies, and Waitrose delivery boundaries!. So I pay council tax to one, belong to another, vote in another, and get my Waitrose delivery from another, which isn't even the closest.

They are pissing about with the boundaries again, and apparently they suggest we end up in a constituency which is nowhere near where we live, and we have no connection to at all, either borough or county. Boggles the mind.

Having said that, Swindon is geographically in Wiltshire but it has its own Local Authority and doesn't fall under the auspices of Wiltshire County Council.

Same with Peterborough. It’s been in Northamptonshire, then Cambridgeshire and is now a completely separate entity.

I dunno but it can lead to some funny situations with councils. There was a village pub. One half in one county and the other half in another. Each county set its own alcohol serving times back then. One finished an hour before the other. They'd ring last orders in one side and then take a walk up to the second bar that had been built and carry on with another pint or two. It's now a restaurant and bar. I wonder if it's still under two different councils and you eat in one and drink in the other.

Bromley?

A woman I met recently, described herself as a Hungarian from Romania. I thought that meant she was originally from Hungary, but her family later emigrated to Romania. In fact this Hungarian family have lived in the same area for generations, but the country borders moved and left them behind! They are Romanian citizens with Hungarian names, who speak Hungarian at home and enjoy a good gulas/goulash.

Historic county boundaries haven't changed.

What have changed are administrative areas, some of which when they were formed took on the names of the historic counties.Add to that that many of these newer administrative areas use the word county in their title. And add to both that signs for administrative areas look like they are the new counties, when they aren't.

All of this just makes for confusion and most of us think counties have changed when they actually haven't.

There's a section about this on the government website, I'll try and find it.

Lancashire is still Lancashire, just part of it is in the administrative area of Greater Manchester. These administrative boundaries will always be changing based on demographics, but the county boundaries shouldn't.

Here is a starting point about the traditional counties.

www.gov.uk/government/collections/englands-traditional-counties#:~:text=Our%20'traditional'%20counties%20are%20also,their%20names%20to%20community%20organisations.

Sussex has been buggered about with no end. It included part of what is now Kent until the late 19th century, they moved Mid-Sussex from East Sussex to West Sussex in the 1970s and made Brighton & Hove a city in its own right in 1996.

The drive to make parliamentary constituencies equal in terms of electorate size has led to some odd decisions. Rye was added on to Hastings, despite being under a different council, and one or two wards of East Sussex have been added on to Brighton Kemptown, and replaced with wards that are in the neighbouring district.

It must be bloody confusing for the election organisers, because the people able to vote is different for parliamentary and council elections.

I'm originally from Bury, which seems to be in Lancashire or greater Manchester. I call myself a Mancunian.

Before they relaxed the licensing hours rules, I lived near the boundary between Lambeth and Croydon. We'd drink in one pub till just after 10.30, then pop across the road to another pub where they didn't close till 11.

Yes, there’s a lot of places that definitely used to be in either Kent or Essex when I was young and are now Greater London