Postal counties of England

Postal counties of England

Traditionally a postal address requires a county to be listed, although since 1996 the Royal Mail has indicated that it no longer formally requires this and will accept both the traditional and administrative counties. However from an organisational point of view they still follow these counties, whilst many individuals and organisations still list the county in their address, whilst a lot of forms include a section for county. It is in fact the postal counties rather than the administrative counties (which are the ones displayed on maps) which people normally use as their reference. For example most people consider Romford to be in Essex rather than Greater London or Ashford in Middlesex rather than Surrey.

In non-metropolitan areas in England, the postal counties broadly follow the post-1972 counties but there are many places where there are differences, such as Denham which is in both the traditional and administrative county of Buckinghamshire but postally is in Middlesex. In 1996, some unpopular administrative counties such as Avon and Humberside were abolished and common usage now divides Avon (in postal terms) between Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire, and Humberside between East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The 1972 administrative changes were also followed with regard to metropolitan areas, so Sunderland is referred to as 'Sunderland, Tyne and Wear' not 'Sunderland, Co. Durham'. However in deference to local sentiment, the Greater Manchester area continued (and continues) to be split, in postal terms between Lancashire and Cheshire. Other small exceptions apply in peripheral areas of metropolitan counties (in defiance of the official postal county) e.g. Coventry is often referred to as being in Warwickshire, not the West Midlands, and Southport in Lancashire (not Merseyside).

The London postal district is especially confusing because it does not conform to the boundaries of either the London County Council or the Greater London Council/Greater London Authority whilst other parts of the Greater London administrative area are in the postal counties of variously Surrey, Kent, Essex and Middlesex.

In Wales, the new 1972 administrative counties were adopted by the post office, so that Rhuddlan was non longer in Denbighshire, but in Clwyd. In Scotland by contrast, the traditional counties were retained by the post office. Therefore, Alva despite being in the Central administrative region after 1972 was still postally in Clackmannanshire. In both countries local government was reorganised in 1996, so that some areas reflected to traditional counties again-(e.g. Pembrokeshire, Angus) but in other areas the post-1972 counties were retained (e.g. Powys, Highland). Therefore in both countries postal confusion reigns and usage differs widely from person to person.