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The role of counties in local government saw a decline in the 19th and 20th century, but contrary to popular opinion, the British counties were neither abolished nor did they have their boundaries changed by acts of parliament such as the Local Government Act 1888 or the like-named act of 1974, as an official statement by Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]]'s government confirmed in 1974: "the new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties".<ref>[https://realcounties.wordpress.com/official-statements/ Official Statements - Campaign for Historic Counties]</ref>
The role of counties in local government saw a decline in the 19th and 20th century, but contrary to popular opinion, the British counties were neither abolished nor did they have their boundaries changed by acts of parliament such as the Local Government Act 1888 or the like-named act of 1974, as an official statement by Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]]'s government confirmed in 1974: "the new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties".<ref>[https://realcounties.wordpress.com/official-statements/ Official Statements - Campaign for Historic Counties]</ref>
The various (almost functionally identical) administrative subdivisions in the UK, being county council areas, unitary authority areas and London boroughs in England, are legally distinct from counties proper, and are not replacements for them. "Counties for the purposes of lieutenancy", which are often mistakenly (notably by Wikipedia) referred to as "ceremonial counties", do not replace the counties proper either.
The various administrative subdivisions in the UK, being county council areas, unitary authority areas and London boroughs in England (which are all nearly functionally identical), are legally distinct from counties proper, and are not replacements for them. "Counties for the purposes of lieutenancy", which are often mistakenly (notably by Wikipedia) referred to as "ceremonial counties", do not replace the counties proper either.
== Naming ==
Most county names in England date back to the [[Anglo-Saxon]] period. For the most part, they take the form of the county town suffixed with ''-shire''; [[Derbyshire]], therefore, is the County of Derby, for example. In some cases, the county town may have changed after the county was named, with [[Buckinghamshire]] ([[Old English]] ''Buccingahamscir''), for instance, being named after that county's historical county town Buckingham, even if [[Aylesbury]] has served as the county town since the reign of [[Henry VIII]] in the 16th century.
Other county names are even older. Perhaps the oldest is that of [[Orkney]], the county of Scotland co-extensive with the Orkney Islands archipelago, whose name was recorded as ''Orcas'' in c. 300 BC by the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] explorer Pytheas. Some, such as Essex and Northumberland, reference Anglo-Saxon territorial divisions.
== References==
== References==
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[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]