The counties of the United Kingdom are subnational divisions of the United Kingdom , used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. The older term, shire is historically equivalent to county . By the Middle Ages , county had become established as the unit of local government, at least in England . By the early 17th century, all of England, Wales , Scotland , and Ireland had been separated into counties. In Scotland shire was the only term used until after the Act of Union 1707 .
21-667: The Duddon Estuary is the sandy, gritty estuary of the River Duddon that lies between Morecambe Bay and the North Lonsdale coast. The River Duddon and its estuary form part of the boundary of the historic county of Lancashire. It opens into the Irish Sea to the north of the Furness peninsula; Walney Island forming part of its southern edge. Its 28 miles (45 km) of shoreline enclose an area of 13 square miles (35 km), making it
42-413: A Lord-Lieutenant are called lieutenancy areas . The thirteen historic counties of Wales were fixed by statute in 1535 (although counties such as Pembrokeshire date from 1138). The Administrative Counties of Wales created in 1889 were based on these. In 1974 a new system was created using significantly different entities. These were changed in 1996 and since then Wales has been entirely divided into
63-601: A contiguous area and adjusted boundaries where civil parishes straddled county boundaries, or had fragments in more than one county. The counties of Ross and Cromarty were merged to form Ross and Cromarty . One region and various districts, created in 1975, had areas similar to those of earlier counties, and various council areas, created in 1996, are also similar. Two of the three islands areas— Orkney and Shetland —have boundaries identical to those of earlier counties. Scotland has also registration counties , which are in current use. The areas of Scotland that are appointed
84-749: A system of unitary authorities (also known as principal areas ). Eleven of the 22 unitary authorities are legally "counties", and eleven are county boroughs , although informally all are referred to as "counties". The areas of Wales that appoint a Lord-Lieutenant are the preserved counties of Wales which are, for the most part, combinations of principal areas chosen to approximate to the counties constituted in 1974. There are six counties in Northern Ireland. In order of landmass these are; Tyrone , Antrim , Down , Londonderry , Fermanagh and Armagh . The six historic counties of Northern Ireland are no longer in use for administrative purposes. Combined with
105-627: Is a Ramsar site . The Duddon Estuary is significant for natterjack toads . It supports one fifth of the national population of the rare amphibian that is only found at 50 sites in the UK, of which five are in the Duddon Estuary. The Duddon Estuary is an Important Bird Area . Species to be seen include pintail , red knot and common redshank with wintering waterfowl including common shelduck , red-breasted mergansers , Eurasian oystercatchers , ringed plover , dunlin and Eurasian curlew . In 1998 it
126-436: Is botanically rich with salt marsh , sand dune and shingle communities, including a nationally rare shingle vegetation community at Haverigg Haws and North Walney. Shingle species include sea sandwort , spear-leaved orache , sea rocket and sea kale . All the dune grasslands at Sandscale Haws, Haverigg Haws and North Walney support a rich flora with the rare dune helleborine . Development has had no significant effect on
147-655: Is graded as 3 with some easy 4 . From Birks Bridge, through Troutal Gorge to Seathwaite there are some difficult canoeing sections graded at 5 requiring higher water levels to navigate. Many parts of the Duddon Valley are visited by tourists, but the location is outside the main tourist area of the Lake District. Consequently, most of the visitors are day trippers who live locally, or who travel from elsewhere in northern England: Hunter Davies considered its unfrequented nature one of its great attractions. Counties of
168-441: Is the result of incremental reform; from 1974 to 1996 the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties corresponded directly with the ceremonial counties. From 1889 to 1974 areas with county councils were known as administrative counties (which excluded larger towns and cities that had independent county boroughs ), and ceremonial counties were defined separately. In Scotland, there were 33 local government counties, created under
189-490: Is to maintain the stability of the geographic area for scientific studies, and thus ignore changes in political demarcations. England is divided into 48 ceremonial counties , which are also known as geographic counties. Many of these counties have their basis in the 39 historic counties whose origins lie in antiquity, although some were established as recently as 1974. England is also divided into 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (outside Greater London and
210-471: The Isles of Scilly ). These correspond to areas used for the purposes of local government and may consist of a single district or be divided into several. As of April 2023, 28 such counties are divided into districts, and 21 of those have a county council . Most ceremonial counties correspond to a metropolitan or non-metropolitan county that has the same name but often has reduced boundaries. The current arrangement
231-611: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 . They were abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , in favour of regions and districts and islands council areas . The regions and districts were themselves abolished in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 , in favour of unitary Scottish council areas . (The islands areas had been created as unitary council areas, and their boundaries were unaffected.) The 1889 legislation created county councils , turned each civil county (with one exception) into
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#1732845414514252-689: The United Kingdom Since the early 19th century, counties have been adapted to meet new administrative and political requirements, and the word county (often with a qualifier) has been used in different senses for different purposes. In some areas of England and Wales, counties still perform the functions of modern local government. In other parts of the United Kingdom, especially within large metropolitan areas, they have been replaced with alternative unitary authorities , which are considered 'county level' authorities. Today, these have largely replaced
273-561: The ceremonial county of Cumbria . The catchment area of the River Duddon includes a substantial part of the south-western Lake District fells, including the eastern slopes of Corney Fell, Ulpha Fell and Harter Fell ; the southern slopes of the mountains around the head of Langdale , and the western slopes of Dunnerdale and Seathwaite Fells. From its source the Duddon falls rapidly over a distance of two miles (3.2 km) to Cockley Beck at
294-749: The head of Dunnerdale . Close to the hamlet of Seathwaite the Tarn Beck from Seathwaite Tarn is subsumed. The river then takes a south-westerly direction to Ulpha Bridge. Passing under the Duddon Valley road, the river assumes a southerly course to Duddon Bridge where it is crossed by the A595 trunk road . After about a mile (1.6 km) the Duddon becomes tidal as it opens into the Duddon Estuary between Furness and south-west Cumberland. Sonnet I. NOT envying shades which haply yet may throw A grateful coolness round that rocky spring, Bandusia, once responsive to
315-494: The historic county corporate entities granted self-governance with county government powers. Today, in addition to local government counties, every part of the United Kingdom lies within the historic counties which have formed geographic and cultural units since the Middle Ages. Additionally, there are vice-counties , which are geographic areas based on the historic counties, and used in scientific data gathering. Their purpose
336-499: The nature conservation interest of the estuary, but it is at risk from coastal defence works, grazing by agricultural stock, sea level rise , recreational pressure and bait digging. River Duddon The Duddon is a river of north-west England . It rises at a point 1,289 feet (393 m) above sea level near the Three Shire Stone at the highest point of Wrynose Pass ( grid reference NY277028 ). The river descends to
357-457: The sea over a course of about 15 miles (24 km) before entering the Irish Sea at the Duddon Sands . In total, from source to the westernmost part of Duddon Sands, its length is 43 kilometres (27 mi). For its entire length the Duddon forms the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cumberland and since local government re-organisation in 1974 the Duddon has been in
378-638: The second largest estuary in Cumbria after the Solway Firth and one of the six main estuaries in the historic county of Lancashire. The main settlements alongside the Duddon estuary are Haverigg , Millom , Foxfield , Kirkby-in-Furness , Askam and Ireleth and Barrow-in-Furness . The estuary as a whole was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1990 with the amalgamation of five previously separate SSSIs: Duddon Sands, Sandscale Haws , North Walney , Hodbarrow Lagoon and Haverigg Haws. It
399-499: The string Of the Horatian lyre with babbling flow; Careless of flowers that in perennial blow Round the moist marge of Persian fountains cling; Heedless of Alpine torrents thundering Through icy portals radiant as heaven’s bow; I seek the birth-place of a native Stream.— All hail, ye mountains! hail, thou morning light! Better to breathe at large on this aëry height Than toil in needless sleep from dream to dream; Pure flow
420-447: The verse, pure, vigorous, free, and bright, For Duddon, long-loved Duddon, is my theme! Subsequent sonnets followed the river downstream, past Birks Bridge (Sonnet XI), to Ulpha (Sonnet XXII), before reaching “the Deep...over smooth flat sands” with Sonnet XXXII. The River Duddon is a salmon fishery. The section of the river downstream from Seathwaite is popular with canoeists and
441-591: Was designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the Birds Directive . It qualified under three criteria: In 2015, before the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum , there were consultations on a successful proposal that Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary be combined in a new SPA. This would amalgamate the existing Morecambe Bay and Duddon Estuary SPAs and would add marine areas identified as being used by foraging terns . The estuary
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