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Curated category

Counties of England established in antiquity

  • HertfordshireHertfordshire sits immediately north of London, a county whose name traces back to a deer crossing over a watercourse. The Anglo-Saxon phrase heort ford…
  • SurreySurrey sits in South East England as one of the most densely wooded counties in the country, with 22.4 percent of its land under tree cover compared to a…
  • EssexEssex, the ceremonial county lying east of London, holds a distinction that most English counties cannot claim: its principal town, Colchester, is the oldest…
  • SuffolkSuffolk sits at the eastern edge of England, where the land runs flat toward the North Sea and the rivers cut long, winding estuaries before meeting the sea.
  • KentKent sits at the edge of England, staring across thirty-four kilometres of water toward France. That narrow gap, the Strait of Dover, is the reason Kent has…
  • ShropshireShropshire sits on the border between England and Wales, and that position has shaped almost everything about it. The county's Latin nickname, Salop, dates…
  • WarwickshireWarwickshire sits at the geographic heart of England, a county whose road signs greet visitors with a single declaration: "Shakespeare's County." Born in…
  • DevonThe county of Devon straddles a peninsula, creating a unique geographical situation among English counties. It possesses two separate coastlines: one facing…
  • County DurhamCounty Durham sits in North East England as a place where monks once carried a saint's bones across the landscape to outrun Viking raiders.
  • WorcestershireWorcestershire is a county in the West Midlands of England with a name that has confounded outsiders for centuries and even made it into an animated film.
  • MiddlesexMiddlesex once occupied the land that is now home to some of the most recognizable districts in the world: Chelsea, Hackney, Hammersmith, Islington, and…
  • BedfordshireBedfordshire sits at the heart of England, a county whose highest point reaches 243 metres above sea level on the Dunstable Downs, and whose lowest moments…
  • DerbyshireDerbyshire sits at the centre of England, a county of 2,625 square kilometres where the edge of the Peak District drops into the flatlands of the Midlands.
  • City of LondonThe City of London covers just 1.12 square miles. On any given weekday, more than 500,000 people pour into that sliver of ground.
  • YorkshireYorkshire is not just a place on a map. It is a conviction. People here have long said they identify more strongly with their county than with their country…