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Thanks for your comment! 👍 We agree wholeheartedly. Implementing our objectives would go a long way to remedying the mess and confusion created in 1974 and the fallout that we still experience today.

Thanks for your comment! 👍 We’re delighted that you enjoyed the vid - Anglesey is one of our favourite places too! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Thanks for your comment - it’s a minefield when there are more than one place with the same name! 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for your question! 👍 We’re not sure about ‘Midsomer’. However, ‘Midsomer Norton’ is a pretty rural town near the Mendip Hills in Somerset. It is a small town whose shape and nature are formed around the River Somer which runs the length of the town centre.

Thanks for your comment! 👍 The 1974 changes were changes to admin zones only and did not affect the boundaries of the historic counties (even though people thought otherwise). See wikishire’s interactive map for more detail and precise boundaries of the traditional county of Buckinghamshire: wikishire.co.uk/map/#Buckinghamshire/centre=51.828,-0.790/zoom=9

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Well, there is Middlesex… 🤔

​@@RealCountiesand Middlesex has a lot of support from many Middlesaxons led by Russell Grant, no less! (I'm a Middlesaxon...).

@@CaseyJonesNumber1 thanks for your comment! 👍 It does indeed - Middlesex is brilliantly represented by Russell Grant and also Lord Randall of Uxbridge, who runs the Parliamentary Group on Historic Counties! Furthermore, the County of Middlesex Heritage Group is strong too! (See @MiddxHeritage on X.) 😃

There is no Norsex as the area to the north of Wessex and Essex was settled by Angles not Saxons hence Easr Anglia

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Lancashire is actually not separate pieces, although it may look that way on a map. The two parts, Lancashire North of the Sands and Lancashire South of the Sands, are united by the sands of Morecambe Bay. An ancient path joins the two parts of the county, but the sands are treacherous and one must follow the King’s Guide to the Sands, who is appointed for this purpose. 😃

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Gwent was, between about the 6th and 11th centuries, one of the kingdoms or principalities of the Welsh, traditionally lying between the rivers Wye and Usk in what later became known as the Welsh Marches. Gwent has not existed since the 11th century, whereas Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy) has existed for a number of centuries and continues to do so. However, the arms attributed to the Kingdom of Gwent have become the pattern of the Flag of Monmouthshire. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

We in Wales still call it Gwent, I haven’t heard anyone in Wales refer to it as Monmouthshire. And as for the Flag, The Fleur De-Lis are Norman and actually for Monmouthshire, it was adopted by Gwent. Not the other way around, as you stated yourself Gwent existed long before the Normans came to Britain, let alone Wales specifically. So why, or should I say HOW would they have a Norman flag? Before the Norman’s were even in Britain? Ah never mind, they are rhetorical questions. Thanks for responding anyway, a lot of people don’t even bother.

@@WalesTheTrueBritons you’re welcome - we love to engage with our audience and supporters. 👍 You may wish to take a look at the Monmouthshire Association - we suspect they may disagree with your premise that no one refers to it as Monmouthshire: monmouthshire-association.org.uk

Well, I am from South Wales originally and have never personally heard anyone refer to it as Monmouthshire, not in 30 odd years. And I must say, personally I prefer the original Native Name of Gwent.

@@WalesTheTrueBritons interesting - thanks so much for engaging! 😃

Thanks for your comment and feedback - youtube is a new venture for us so we are on a learning curve! 👍 Please subscribe and continue the feedback! 😃

@@RealCounties I subscribed after watching the original video, the music didn’t put me off !

@@stewy62 wonderful - thanks for your support! 😃

Thanks for your comment and support! 👍 Yes, we also would prefer admin zones not to use the names of counties if they do not cover the entirety of an historic county whose name they wish to use. Our objectives are framed in such a way for ease of understanding and clarity. 😃

Thank you very much! 👍

We have now uploaded the video without background music: ruclips.net/video/8eocnXzvrvA/видео.htmlfeature=shared 👍

You’re welcome - thanks for your comment! 👍

Thanks for your support! 👍

Thanks for your comment! 👍 We learnt something today - as we weren’t aware of the ridings in America! 🇺🇸

Thanks for your comment - we’re glad you found the presentation useful! 👍

Thanks for your comment! 👍 We always use Welsh names when focusing specifically on Wales only and we use Welsh in other areas too as we try to include the language as much as possible. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Regarding admin zones, we have no opinion on the geographical reach of them and specifically do *not* wish the historic counties to be used as a basis of local administration (that is how we got into the current mess in the first place). We simply wish to see the traditional, geographical counties to be just that - geographical and cultural areas unrelated to any form of local admin.

@@RealCounties Thank you for the reply. You have not responded to my first and central point, that is that the b**tardised anglicised form of Brycheiniog shouldn't. It's offensive and quiet frankly racist. It is no better than complaining that the name of the mountain range that includes the highest mountain in Southern Britain has been changed, it hasn't! It's simply that it's original name of Eryri, and Yr Wyddfa the name of the highest mountain in Southern Britain, are being prioritised over colonial names.

@@owainmorgan3897 thanks for your comment! 👍 As we said, we always include Welsh names whenever we can. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 See Wikishire’s page on Brecknockshire/Breconshire/Sir Frycheiniog/Brycheiniog for more detail on this wonderful Welsh county: wikishire.co.uk/wiki/Brecknockshire

Excellent! 👍

Thanks for your comment - a very interesting fact! 👍

Thanks for your question! 👍 The banner of arms of the local Council has the lion on top. This was granted to Norfolk Council in 1904 and is only for the use of that body. The Norfolk flag shown on this video is the only officially-registered flag of the whole of the traditional, geographical (and historic) county of Norfolk.

Thanks for your comment! 👍 The ‘West Midlands’ admin zone is entitled to fly a banner of the arms of the admin zone, if they have arms. However, as it is not an historic county, there is no county flag.

Thanks for your comment! 👍 While each historic county may have originally been set up for some public purpose or other, long before the beginning of the nineteenth century it was their geographical and cultural identities that were paramount. Our campaign is not about “going back in history,” it is about better celebrating the historic counties, which have existed for many centuries and continue to do so. You may be confusing “historic” with “historical”. Historic (which the counties are) means ”with a lot of history” - it does not mean “in the past” (that’s “historical”). The only thing we aim to “restore” is the proper meaning of the word “county” in law - cultural and geographical subdivisions with no administrative function. 😃

We have now uploaded the video without background music: ruclips.net/video/8eocnXzvrvA/видео.htmlfeature=shared 👍

We love Map Men! 😃

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Bristol stands on the boundary of Gloucestershire and Somerset. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was granted independence of the county authorities in 1373. It, however, remained part of the geographical ‘host’ counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. That is true today, just as it always has been. Many towns and cities straddle geographical counties - they always have and they always will. Bristol is one such example of many.

Thanks for your support! 👍

PS - we are new to RUclips so will re-visit sound and background music for future videos… feedback always appreciated! 👍

We have now uploaded the video without background music: ruclips.net/video/8eocnXzvrvA/видео.htmlfeature=shared 👍

@@RealCounties Thank you so much for that. Best wishes.

@@ballantynemoyes8019 you’re welcome! 😃

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Yes, the four provinces of Ireland feature in this video - and we often highlight the counties of Ireland as a whole when appropriate. See Wikishire’s interactive map for more detail and precise boundaries of the counties of the island of Ireland: wikishire.co.uk/map/#/centre=53.590,-7.731/zoom=7

@@RealCounties Thanks for reply I can tell you...any Irish person would wryly smile at the idea of including the provinces of Ireland in a presentation on UK counties-regions etc. The 4 provinces of Ireland are in a different country...nothing to do with the UK, ( (bar those 6 counties in Ulster, which a growing number, esp those under 30yrs, & post-Brexit would dispute being added in. ) It's like France adding bits of Belgium or Germany parts of Austra!! In my late 60's, & as I've said, I've met far too many lovely people from England who still, in 2024, have some vague imagination that Ireland is, a sort-of semi-detached part of the UK. ...like a region of it...Mon Dieu!! One good thing about Brexit is that I've noticed contacts and friends there are finally waking up to the reality that Ireland is an EU nation and increasingly the whole island is a very different place.

Yes - Ireland is a very different place to England, Scotland and Wales - and we love every one of the thirty-two Irish counties, regardless of whether they are the six in the United Kingdom or the twenty-six in the Republic of Ireland! 😃 🇮🇪 🇬🇧 😃

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Yes, the Westmorland and Rutland county flags are two of our favourites also! 😃

Thanks for your comment - an interesting fact! 👍 See Wikishire’s interactive map for more detail and precise boundaries of County Durham and other counties: wikishire.co.uk/map/#County%20Durham/centre=54.727,-1.693/zoom=9

Thanks for your comment! 👍 In what way do you mean? 🤔

Thanks for your question! 👍 The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons (Old English: Westseaxna rice) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain enduring from its foundation in the early 6th century until the emergence of a united English state under the Wessex dynasty in the 10th century. Wessex was created in the south-west, its capital at Winchester (Hampshire) and reaching westward to Devon and eventually to include Cornwall. Its northern boundary was the River Thames, though not for all of its history, as Dorchester on Thames belonged to Wessex for much of its history. Wessex eventually became the most powerful of the kingdoms of the English, its later kings recognised overlords by all the kings of Britain, the English and the Britons, and it was they who united England into one kingdom. In the century after unification, the identity of Wessex was not forgotten and after Canute the Great's conquest of 1016, Wessex became one of the great regional earldoms Canute created, and so it remained from 1020 to 1066. After 1066, the Normans dissolved the large English earldoms and Wessex was no more.

The people of Wessex were not Saxon, but came from the Gwiccae people, more closely linked to the Welsh and maybe the Irish.

Modern genetics of the population of Wessex support that to a degree, the closer to Cornwall you get the higher the percentage of Celtic to Germanic DNA, even as far as Somerset and parts of Gloucestershire have significant portions of Celtic DNA although more Germanic than Celtic and certainly more Celtic than most of modern England

@@WinterDomeFly thanks for your comment - very interesting indeed! 👍

@@RealCounties That doesn't answer my question, as to why Wessex isn't commemorated by the name of a County, whereas the others - that had been taken over, dissolved, or whatever, by Wessex - are? Wouldn't you concur, that the historical importance of Wessex merited its recognition in the name of a county? Also: What about Middlesex? That was a historic county, but had it ever been an entity of its own, had it ever been a Kingdom of its own? More so: What is/was the significance of Middelsex, Essex and Sussex over Wessex, that they three had counties named after them, whereas big and powerful and leading Wessex had not?

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Bristol stands on the boundary of Gloucestershire and Somerset. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was granted independence of the county authorities in 1373. It, however, remained part of the geographical ‘host’ counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. The 1974 changes were changes of admin zones and did not affect Bristol’s geographical location within the counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. See Wikishire’s interactive map for more detail and precise boundaries of these and other counties: wikishire.co.uk/map/#Bristol@51.477,-2.568/centre=51.458,-2.586/zoom=14

Many thanks for your comment and support! 👍 See Wikishire’s interactive map for more detail and precise boundaries of Warwickshire and other traditional Al counties: wikishire.co.uk/map/#Warwickshire/centre=52.333,-1.586/zoom=10

As someone born and raised in Solihull (even after 1997) I consider myself to be from Warwickshire, mostly because I support Warwickshire County Cricket Club!

Thanks for your comment! Unfortunately, Northern Ireland does not have an official flag, hence our dilemma. We have used the Ulster flag in the past but Northern Ireland is not the same thing as Ulster - and the Ulster banner has no official status. The only official flag for NI is the Union Flag. (And St Patrick's saltire is at least part of the Union Flag.) What would your suggestion be? 🤔

@@RealCounties you are right and it is a delicate matter. The union banner is used for NI sport so I guess I would go with that. As we know St Patrick was not Irish and that is another conversation of course.

@@brendanctogher yes, indeed. 👍 We always try to tell the story of the counties of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, their history and cultural importance without straying into other matters which are not part of our remit or objectives. We are aware that there are sensitivities, particularly in Northern Ireland and on the island of Ireland, and we always aim to promote and convey the stories of the counties with due impartiality, while acknowledging state and governmental realities where necessary.

Thanks for your comment and support! 👍 The 1974 arrangements were purely administrative changes - and not changes to the historic counties. Unfortunately, the way this was done means that few people realise this and that confusion is rife! Implementing our objectives will solve most of the problems that still exist post-1974. See Wikishire’s interactive map for more details and precise boundaries of the traditional (*actual*) county of Oxfordshire and other shires: wikishire.co.uk/map/#Oxfordshire/centre=51.809,-1.287/zoom=9

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Yes, Cornwall is an historic county (shire is simply a different word meaning county).

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Yes, both Blackpool and Bolton are in Lancashire.

Three wonderful counties! 😃

@@RealCounties I also love Yorkshire where my dads family lives and my county is Lancashire. I live in an ancient place called Amounderness

@@Revoe_Lad Very interesting! Did you know? 🤔 The name of Amounderness preceeds the organisation of hundreds and indeed Lancashire itself. The Domesday Book in 1086 spells it Agemundrenessa. The traditional 19th-century etymology is that the name derived from ac (oak) and mund (protection), "a ness or promontory sheltered by oaks".

@@RealCounties I knew it predates Lancashire and a lot of places round here have old Norse names

Thanks for your comment! 👍 Hexhamshire is an area of southern Northumberland around the town of Hexham. It was in origin a liberty belonging to the Archbishop of York, which liberty was abolished in 1572. Our campaign is not about ‘bringing back’ anything - but celebrating the historic counties that have existed for many centuries and *continue* to exist. 😃

Thanks for your comment! 👍 The County Palatine of Durham is a wonderful shire! See Wikishire’s interactive map for more detail and precise boundaries of this and other traditional counties: wikishire.co.uk/map/#County%20Durham/centre=54.727,-1.693/zoom=9

Many thanks for your feedback! 👍