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» Peter Boyce

Middlesex Day 16th May 2023

Middlesex Day is celebrated each year on 16th May. Middlesex Day, as with most county day celebrations, has been growing in popularity year on year. 2023 has been the biggest event yet with the Middlesex flag flying above 10 Downing Street and celebrations throughout the … Continue reading

Aberdeenshire gets a county flag

The latest county to have a flag registered by the Flag Institute is Aberdeenshire. The flag was unveiled in in a ceremony at Castle Fraser on Saturday 22nd April 2023. Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Sandy Manson, hailed the occasion as a “historic day”. The flag … Continue reading

23 April 2023 24 April 2023 start the discussion

Three more “county councils” abolished

From 1st April 2023, Cumbria County Council, Somerset County Council and North Yorkshire County Council and the district councils in their areas are abolished and replaced by several new unitary councils. In the context of the Association of British Counties’ aim to see local government … Continue reading

31 March 2023 1 April 2023 6 responses

Cheshire Day – 30th March

Cheshire Day is celebrated on 30th March each year. On 30th March 1300, King Edward I confirmed a charter of liberties for Cheshire. In celebration we present our Map of Cheshire and our portrait of the county. The County Palatine of Chester is a maritime … Continue reading

Gazetteer of British Place Names in Family Tree Magazine’s 101 Best Websites for Genealogy!

Family Tree Magazine selected the Gazetteer of British Place Names as one of seven websites featured in the 2020 edition of their ‘101 Best Websites for Genealogy’ within the ‘best UK and Irish genealogy websites’ category! Family Tree Magazine say that the list is an annual favourite … Continue reading

Towns astride county borders

If ever one wanted an example of why the historic counties are not particularly suited to local government, this list of towns astride county boundaries is a case in point. From striking cases such as the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border on Newmarket High Street, to more self-evident … Continue reading

5 February 2017 24 May 2021 12 responses

New marker post on Lancashire / Yorkshire border

The Friends of Real Lancashire, one of our affiliated groups, invite you to attend the unveiling ceremony for a new marker post on 22 March 2015 and say:   Walkers on the Pennine Way near Oldham will from this week know when they are crossing … Continue reading

Westmorland Road Sign

ABC Member Philip Tibbetts advises that Burton village council organised and funded this Westmorland sign. It is understood that Cumbria council has given Parish Councils the ability to erect signs if they want following on from Eric Pickles’ initiative last April.  

Try your luck at the UK County Map Quiz

The UK County Map Quiz is the first interactive activity to launch in the new County-Wise Activity Zone. Try you luck at correctly identifying the counties of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. Or why not try all of them? Try your luck at: activities.county-wise.org.uk  

21 September 2014 start the discussion

Huntingdonshire

In this series of articles from the archives of This England, we step into Michael Bradford’s vision of Huntingdonshire from the summer of 1993. Local government reform is on the horizon and Huntingdonshire continues to fight for its identity. In 2014, as the prospect of a county flag for Cambridgeshire … Continue reading

8 September 2014 28 February 2016 start the discussion

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