Welcome
The Association of British Counties (ABC) is a society dedicated to promoting awareness of the continuing importance of the 92 historic counties of the United Kingdom.
The ABC believes that the historic counties are an important part of the culture, geography and heritage of The United Kingdom. The ABC contends that Britain needs a fixed popular geography, one divorced from the ever changing names and areas of local government but, instead, one rooted in history, public understanding and commonly held notions of community and identity. The ABC, therefore, seeks to fully re-establish the use of the historic counties as the standard popular geographical reference frame of Britain and to further encourage their use as a basis for social, sporting and cultural activities.
More information about what the historic counties are and why they matter can be found in our An introduction to the historic counties factsheet.
Featured Articles
Yorkshire Ridings: Road-sign Rollout Begins
On the fiftieth anniversary of the infamous 1974 local government changes, the Yorkshire Ridings Society and the Historic Counties Trust have unveiled the first of a set of new road-signs marking the border of Yorkshire and the borders of its ridings. The first “Historic North … Continue reading
The Strange Case of the Counties That Didn’t Change
For the 50th anniversary of the local government re-organisation of 1st April 1974, we present a retrospective on the myth of the “changed” counties. We also call on the Government to finally resolve the ‘county confusion’ created in 1974, by establishing a set of local … Continue reading
2023: Historic County Highlights
The Association of British Counties would like to wish all of our supporters a very Happy New Year. We finish off 2023 with a look back at some of the highlights of year. ABC exists to promote and celebrate the historic counties and their role … Continue reading