This page is concerned with British counties as they were before the Local Government Act (England and Wales) 1972 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Where the present tense is used in this page, it relates to years before 1972.

"Bristol is a county of its own"

If you lived in England before 1972, you are likely to have heard these claims:

"Bristol is not in any county"
"Bristol is not in Gloucestershire"
"Bristol is a county of its own"

So why did people make this claim?

This page attempts to answer this question.

Bristol was one of many English and Welsh cities and towns to have the status of county. The Wikipedia page on the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 lists all 178 English and Welsh boroughs recognised by that act. The list starts with some that have no indication of county status: "the Town, Borough, and Liberty of Aberystwith", "the Borough of Abingdon", "the Borough of Andover", etc. It includes some cities that have the status of county: the "County of the City of Bristol", the "County of the City of Canterbury", the "City and County of the City of Coventry", and the "County of the City of Gloucester", among others. And it includes a few towns, not cities, with county status, including "the County of the Town of Haverfordwest, or of the Town and County of the Town of Haverfordwest" and the "County of the Town of Poole". All together, 19 towns and cities with county status are listed.

The status of borough, of city, and of county, were, I believe, honorary. They were conferred by the authorities, in principle by the monarch, at the same time as other rights were conferred. Such rights might be the right to have a sheriff, the right to hold quarter sessions, and the right to elect their own burgesses and mayor. Possibly some of these rights were particularly associated with the status of county. Those with the status of county were known as "counties corporate", not as "counties".

So there is a sense in which Bristol, Canterbury, Gloucester, Haverfordwest, etc., are counties. But there is also a sense in which they lie within other counties. I think that almost everyone would agree that Canterbury is in Kent, Gloucester is in Gloucestershire, and Haverfordwest is in Pembrokeshire. So why do many people from Bristol claim that it is a "county of its own"?

My guess is that some Bristol native once noticed that his city was formally known as the "County of the City of Bristol", and being unaware of the many other towns and cities with a similar status, wrongly deduced that Bristol was not in Gloucestershire. When he told this to fellow citizens, they might have agreed, and propagated the idea.

I would not actually disagree with the statement "Bristol is a county", just as I would not disagree with the statements "Canterbury is a county" and "Haverfordwest is a county". But I consider such statements misleading, unless the conext makes it clear that this is an honorary status, and they nevertheless lie within another county. I consider that statements such as "Bristol is not in any county", "Canterbury is not in Kent", and "Haverfordwest is a county of its own" are false.

This page is part of maproom.org, which has maps of the counties of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.