County days in the United Kingdom are relatively recent observances, formed to celebrate the cultural heritage of a particular British county. County days may be selected to coincide with the observance of a Saint's Day that has local significance.
County | Date | First observed | Origin |
---|---|---|---|
Bedfordshire | 28 November | 2015 | Date decided by a public vote organised by The Friends of Bedfordshire society [1] |
Black Country Day | 14 July | 2012 | Date chosen as it is considered to be the date of the inception of the Newcomen engine, the first commercially successful engine. [2] |
Buckinghamshire | 29 July | 2015 | Date selected to remember the founding of the Paralympic Movement at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, near Aylesbury. |
Cheshire | 30 March | 2021 | Commemorates the reissuance of the Magna Carta of Chester in 1215. |
Cornwall (St Piran's Day) | 5 March | c1900 (Cornwall) | Previously a local holiday, revived as part of Cornish nationalism movement |
Devon | 4 June | Traditional | It is Saint Petroc’s Day |
Dorset | 1 June | Traditional | The Feast Day of St Wite. |
Durham | 20 March | Traditional | The Feast Day of St Cuthbert. [3] |
Hampshire | 15 July | 2019 | Hampshire County Council [4] |
Huntingdonshire | 25 April | 2002 | Huntingdonshire Society [5] |
Kent | 26 May | Traditional | The feast day of Augustine of Canterbury, first Archbishop of Canterbury |
Lancashire | 27 November | 1996 | Friends of Real Lancashire |
Lincolnshire (Lincolnshire Day) | 1 October | 2006 | Commemorates Lincolnshire Rising 1536 |
Middlesex | 16 May | c2003 | John Randall originated early day motion [6] |
Norfolk | 27 July | 2018 | A project between BBC Radio Norfolk and the Eastern Daily Press (EDP). [7] |
Northumberland | Last Sunday in May | 2017 | A privately run day originally started by Catapult PR and Langley Castle Hotel, after consultation with a variety of key stakeholders and businesses.[ citation needed ] It is now run by Catapult PR and The County Day Company and has been hugely successful, scooping the national Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Award for the Best Tourism PR Campaign in the UK, in May 2018, as well as other awards thus far.[ citation needed ] Northumberland Day in 2020 has become the first 'virtual' county day.[ citation needed ] |
Northamptonshire | 25 October | 2014 | The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, the patron saints of cobblers, date decided by a public vote [8] |
Nottinghamshire | 25 August | 2021 | Commemorates the birth of Broc the Great, two-time convenor of the eponymous ‘stowe’, inventor of the cormorant, and distant relative of Jeff Kent (author) and Jacob Zuma |
Orkney | 16 April | Traditional | The feast day of Saint Magnus |
Oxfordshire (Oxfordshire Day) | 19 October | ? | Also called Saint Frideswide's Day. |
Shetland | 21 June | Traditional | Celebrated in the Shetland Isles annually. |
Shropshire | 23 February | Traditional | The feast day of St Milburga, the abbess of Wenlock Priory, Shropshire. |
Staffordshire | 1 May | 2016 | Date decided by a public vote organised by Destination Staffordshire |
Suffolk | 21 June | 2017 | |
Sussex (Sussex Day, also known as St Richard's Day) | 16 June | 2007 | The feast day of St Richard of Chichester, Sussex's patron saint Recognised by county councils of East and West Sussex [9] |
Yorkshire (Yorkshire Day) | 1 August | 1975 | Yorkshire Ridings Society |
The Association of British Counties has proposed the 23rd of April as county day for Warwickshire. The date was chosen as the birthday (and date of death) of William Shakespeare. [10]
Proposals exist for various days in Somerset. [11]
There is also a proposal to make the 29th of July Buckinghamshire Day. This date was chosen because of its importance to the founding of the Paralympic Games movement. The games grew from events held at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire for British World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. The Memorial Mob, a Bucks-based group which creates Memorials to Lost & Forgotten events of the Armed & Emergency Services, felt it was appropriate to honour Buckinghamshire.
Lancelot Brown, more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. He is remembered as "the last of the great English 18th-century artists to be accorded his due" and "England's greatest gardener".
The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Celts and others. They are alternatively known as ancient counties, traditional counties, former counties or simply as counties. In the centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following.
The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included. Other counties further from London — such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, East Sussex and West Sussex — are not normally regarded as home counties, although on occasion may be thought of as such due to their proximity to London and their connection to the London regional economy.
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The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas in England, as well as in Wales and Scotland, are defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 as "counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies in Great Britain", in contrast to the areas used for local government. They are also informally known as "geographic counties", to distinguish them from other types of counties of England.
A Scout County is an administrative division within The Scout Association of the United Kingdom. There are currently 115 Counties and Areas in the United Kingdom. These bodies are responsible for providing programmes and support for their member Scout Districts.
Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are one of the four levels of subdivisions of England used for the purposes of local government outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. As originally constituted, the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties each consisted of multiple districts, had a county council and were also the counties for the purposes of Lieutenancies. Later changes in legislation during the 1980s and 1990s have resulted in counties with no county council and 'unitary authority' counties with no districts. Counties for the purposes of Lieutenancies are now defined separately, based on the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties.
England is divided by a number of different regional schemes for various purposes. Since the creation of the Government Office Regions in 1994 and their adoption for statistical purposes in 1999, some historical regional schemes have become obsolete. However, many alternative regional designations also exist and continue to be widely used.
In the United Kingdom, a county show is a summer outdoor agricultural show. The events have competitions, with prizes awarded by judges, allowing farmers and breeders to show off their cattle or crops. There are many trade stands which offer the latest farming machinery, feeds, fertilisers and other farming products. Other trade stands and activities have been added to make the shows more attractive to locals and visitors. Often there are features such as showjumping, funfairs, falconry, military displays and food exhibitions.
The following is a list of articles about the geology of English counties:
The 2003 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was an English county cricket tournament, held between 29 August 2002 and 30 August 2003. The competition was won by Gloucestershire who beat Worcestershire by 7 wickets at Lord's.
Provincial Grand Lodges are administrative subdivisions of a Grand Lodge. Under the jurisdiction of the United Grand Lodge of England, they are the regional governing bodies of Freemasonry in the England, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.
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