Where are St Neots, Huntingdon and Ramsey? Where is your village? Until recently the Royal Mail recommended that Huntingdonshire addresses be written:
… Buckden, Cambs or …Spaldwick, Huntingdon, Cambs (for example)
However if you live in Hunts there is no reason to put “Cambridgeshire” in your address. The villages and towns of Huntingdonshire are not in Cambridgeshire, except for the purposes of local government. They are in Huntingdonshire.
Huntingdonshire is a county which has been with us for over a thousand years. The Huntingdonshire Society regrets that we were swallowed into Cambridgeshire County Council in 1974. At that point the Royal Mail decided that in this region they would adopt the new administrative counties for addresses. However the traditional county itself was not abolished. So many have ignored
the Royal Mail’s imposed plastic addresses that the policy has been abandoned.
In December 2000 Royal Mail formally abolished its postal counties. They have also issued the following statement:
“Royal Mail wishes its customers the freedom to use either no county, the administrative county or the historic county as part of their postal address, as long as the Postcode is used.”
The traditional counties, Huntingdonshire among them, are now included in the Royal Mail’s database. The Royal Mail’s official supplier of traditional county information recommends their use in addresses. Your address can now be written:
Ellington, Huntingdonshire or Stilton, Huntingdonshire, or Warboys, Huntingdonshire
– or wherever you may be: but do use the postcode.
The struggle to defend traditional county identity is an important one and adopting the true county in our home addresses is a big step forward. The Huntingdonshire Society urges you to join us in it.
For more information, or to help pursue our campaign,
contact The Huntingdonshire Society at: mail@huntingdonshire.org.uk
Further Information:
- Back to The Huntingdonshire Society home page
- Join The Huntingdonshire Society
- The lobbying page for names and addresses to write to.
Also, try the real county gazetteer:
- The Gazetteer of British Place-Names, published by:
- The Association of British Counties