65-639: Old Hatfield, sometimes called Bishops Hatfield , is a historic village in Hertfordshire , England. It is in the town of Hatfield . It grew up on the Great North Road , one day's journey from London by horse or coach and once had many coaching inns. It was a convenient place for the Bishops of Ely to have a lodging, giving access to both the cathedral in Ely to the north and the capital to
130-610: A zeppelin over Great Britain during WW1 happened in Cuffley. From the 1920s until the late 1980s , the town of Borehamwood was home to one of the major British film studio complexes, including the MGM-British Studios . Many well-known films were made here including the first three Star Wars movies ( IV , V , & VI ). The studios generally used the name of Elstree . American director Stanley Kubrick not only used to shoot in those studios but also lived in
195-543: A Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyr's cross of a yellow saltire on a blue field is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire as the yellow field to the stag or Hart representing the county. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire. With the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century , the now-unprotected territory
260-425: A historic centre, with many Tudor and Stuart era buildings interspersed amongst more contemporary structures. Hertfordshire's eastern regions are predominantly rural and arable, intermixed with villages and small to medium-sized towns. Royston, Buntingford and Bishop's Stortford , along with Ware and the county town of Hertford are major settlements in this regard. The physical geography of eastern Hertfordshire
325-681: A mix of post-WWII new towns and older/more historical locales. The City of St. Albans is an example of a historical settlement, as its cathedral and abbey date to the Norman period, and there are ruins from the Roman settlement of Verulamium nearby the current city centre. Stevenage is a mix of post-WWII new town planning amidst its prior incarnation as a smaller town. The Old Town in Stevenage represents this historic core and has many shops and buildings reflecting its pre-WWII heritage. Hitchin also has
390-527: A timber roof, according to medieval architectural style, is a quadrilateral featured by four wings with a yard inside. It is known that the estate was attended by the royal family since Henry VII of England and later his son, Henry VIII of England who decided to use the manor as the royal nursery. In 1538, he exchanged the estate with Thomas Goodrich , Bishop of Ely, against bishoprics located in Cambridgeshire and Essex that he had seized before during
455-620: A wider county for lieutenancy purposes, except the City of London which had its own lieutenants. The geographical counties were relatively stable between 1889 and 1965. There were occasional boundary changes, notably following the Local Government Act 1894 which said that parishes and districts were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. After that most boundary changes were primarily to accommodate urban areas which were growing across county boundaries, such as when Caversham
520-469: Is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties . It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford , and the county town is Hertford . The county has an area of 634 square miles (1,640 km ) and had a population of 1,198,800 at
585-510: Is also the UK base of multi-nationals Hilton Worldwide , TotalEnergies , TK Maxx , Costco , JJ Kavanagh and Sons , Vinci and Beko . The 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference , took place at The Grove hotel . Warner Bros. owns and runs its main UK base since the 2000s, Warner Studios, in Leavesden, Watford. Rickmansworth hosts Skanska . Most of the county
650-656: Is less elevated than the far west, but with lower rising hills and prominent rivers such as the Stort . This river rises in Essex and terminates via a confluence with the Lea near to Ware. Apart from the Lea and Stort, the River Colne is the major watercourse in the county's west. This runs near Watford and Radlett, and has a complex system/drainage area running south into both Greater London and Buckinghamshire. An unofficial status,
715-560: Is served by BBC London & ITV London , however Stevenage and North Hertfordshire is served by BBC East & ITV Anglia . Some northwestern parts of the county around Tring can also receive BBC South and ITV Meridian . Local radio for the county is provided by BBC Three Counties Radio , BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (covering Royston ), Heart Hertfordshire , Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96), Mix 92.6 (formerly Radio Verulam St. Albans) and Community Radio Dacorum (Hemel Hempstead). Local newspapers in
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#1732791408570780-644: Is supplied to London from Ware , using the New River built by Hugh Myddleton and opened in 1613. Local rivers, although small, supported developing industries such as paper production at Nash Mills . Hertfordshire affords habitat for a variety of flora and fauna. A bird once common in the shire is the hooded crow , the old name of which is the eponymous name of the regional newspaper, the Royston Crow published in Royston . A product, now largely defunct,
845-468: Is the bedrock of much of the county provides an aquifer that feeds streams and is also exploited to provide water supplies for much of the county and beyond. Chalk has also been used as a building material and, once fired, the resultant lime was spread on agricultural land to improve fertility. The mining of chalk since the early 18th century has left unrecorded underground galleries that occasionally collapse unexpectedly and endanger buildings. Fresh water
910-518: Is the result of the houses and farms which have been established near a place of worship featured by a few religious buildings by the Monks. In fact, in 970, King Edgar the Peaceful and his wife had inherited the estate from Æthelflaed's parents. The place is very attractive, there are arable lands, forests and a river some marshes bring a natural boundary against enemy. They give it to the Monks against
975-495: The 2021 census . After Watford (131,325), the largest settlements are Hemel Hempstead (95,985), Stevenage (94,470) and the city of St Albans (75,540). For local government purposes Hertfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with ten districts beneath Hertfordshire County Council . Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in the Chilterns near Tring . The county centres on
1040-693: The Chiltern Hills surrounding Tring , Berkhamsted and the Ashridge estate. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty runs from near Hitchin in the north to Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Many of the county's major settlements are in the central, northern and southern areas, such as Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley , Rickmansworth , St. Albans , Harpenden , Redbourn , Radlett , Borehamwood , Potters Bar , Stevenage, Hatfield , Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City, Hitchin , Letchworth and Baldock. These are all small to medium-sized locations, featuring
1105-611: The Chilterns , clayland buffer zone countryside of Braughing and the Hadhams across to ancient hornbeam coppices west of the upper Lea valley. The county has sweeping panoramas of chalklands near Royston , Baldock , Hexton and Tring . Large parts of the county are used for agriculture. Some quarrying of sand and gravel occurs around St Albans. In the past, clay has supplied local brick-making and still does in Bovingdon , just south-west of Hemel Hempstead. The chalk that
1170-605: The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 which eliminated exclaves ; amended when, in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 , East Barnet Urban District and Barnet Urban District were abolished, their area was transferred to form part of the present-day London Borough of Barnet and the Potters Bar Urban District of Middlesex was transferred to Hertfordshire. The highest point in
1235-469: The County of London where the administrative county was larger on account of the City of London and the rest of the county being separate for both judicial and lieutenancy purposes. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972, after which the main functions of the counties were the administrative functions of local government. Despite the loss of their functions, sheriffs continued to be appointed to
1300-532: The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships twice. First in 2015 , and most recently in 2023 , where Britain topped the medal table with 5 golds. Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial counties , formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies , are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage,
1365-465: The Local Government Act 1888 , taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions . Certain towns and cities were made county boroughs , independent from the county councils. In counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, such as the Parts of Lincolnshire , each part was given its own county council. The area administered by a county council
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#17327914085701430-647: The Sheriffs Act 1887 and specifying the areas for the appointment of lieutenants were accordingly brought in with effect from 1 April 1996. The regulations were then consolidated into the Lieutenancies Act 1997 . When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas. The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although
1495-495: The Sheriffs Act 1887 as amended, in a similar way to the lieutenancies defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. Each has a high sheriff appointed (except the City of London, which has two sheriffs ). The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (created by the Local Government Act 1972 , as amended) as well as Greater London and
1560-652: The Anglo-Saxons: "ford", "ton", "den", "bourn", "ley", "stead", "ing", "lett", "wood", and "worth", are represented in this county by Hertford, Royston, Harpenden, Redbourn, Cuffley, Wheathampstead, Tring, Radlett, Borehamwood and Rickmansworth. There is evidence of human life in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period . It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at
1625-520: The Isles of Scilly (which lie outside the 1972 Act's system). Although the term is not used in the act, these counties are sometimes known as "ceremonial counties". The counties are defined in Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 as amended (in 2009, 2019 and 2023). Generally, each time a new non-metropolitan county is created the 1997 Act is amended to redefine the existing areas of the lieutenancies in terms of
1690-474: The Reformation's very first laws. Then all later Tudor dynastic rulers would attend this manor, then better known as Hatfield Palace . The Stuart dynasty's first sovereign, James VI and I , in 1607, was to exchange Hatfield Palace against Theobalds House , Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury 's house. He decided to wreck three wings of the building and use the bricks to construct Cecil's new house which
1755-642: The Roses, St. Albans was the scene of two major battles between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. In Tudor times, Hatfield House was often frequented by Queen Elizabeth I. Stuart King James I used the locale for hunting and facilitated the construction of a waterway, the New River , supplying drinking water to London. As London grew, Hertfordshire became conveniently close to the English capital; much of
1820-823: The UK Cereal Partners factory and in pharmaceuticals it hosts Roche UK's headquarters (subsidiary of the Swiss Hoffman-La Roche ). GlaxoSmithKline has plants in Ware and Stevenage . Hemel Hempstead has large premises of Dixons Carphone . The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), the trade association for UK pharmacies, is based in St Albans . Kings Langley has the plant-office of Pure , making DAB digital radios . Watford hosts national companies such as J D Wetherspoon , Camelot Group , Bathstore , and Caversham Finance (BrightHouse). It
1885-470: The Unready . A century later, William of Normandy received the surrender of some senior English Lords and Clergy at Berkhamsted , before entering London unopposed and being crowned at Westminster . Hertfordshire was used for some of the new Norman castles at Bishop's Stortford , and at King's Langley , a staging post between London and the royal residence of Berkhamsted . The Domesday Book recorded
1950-528: The area until his death. Big Brother UK and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? have been filmed there. EastEnders is filmed at Elstree. Hertfordshire has seen development at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden ; the Harry Potter series was filmed here and the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye . On 17 October 2000, the Hatfield rail crash killed four people with over 70 injured. The crash exposed
2015-575: The area was owned by the nobility and aristocracy , this patronage helped to boost the local economy. However, the greatest boost to Hertfordshire came during the Industrial Revolution , after which the population rose dramatically. In 1903, Letchworth became the world's first garden city and Stevenage became the first town to redevelop under the New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). The first shooting-down of
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2080-716: The beginning of the Bronze Age . This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age . Following the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 , the Catuvellauni tribe accepted peace and adapted to the Roman life; resulting in the development of several new towns, including Verulamium (St Albans) where in c. 293 the first recorded British martyrdom is traditionally believed to have taken place. Saint Alban ,
2145-492: The county are: Waltham Cross , Broxbourne , is the location of the Lee Valley White Water Centre , a purpose-built venue opened in 2010 for the 2012 Summer Olympics . The site consists of two white water courses; one 300m Grade IV "Olympic" run; and one 160m Grade III "legacy" run. During the games the center was the venue for the canoe and kayak slalom events . Lee Valley has since hosted
2210-407: The county as having nine hundreds . Tring and Danais became one— Dacorum —from Danis Corum or Danish rule harking back to a Viking not Saxon past. The other seven were Braughing , Stevenage , Cashio , Buntingford , Hertford , Hitchin and Odsey . In the later Plantagenet period, St. Albans Abbey was an initial drafting place of what was to become Magna Carta . And in the later Wars of
2275-515: The county is at 244 m (801 ft) ( AOD ) on the Ridgeway long distance national path, on the border of Hastoe near Tring with Drayton Beauchamp , Buckinghamshire. At the 2011 census, among the county's ten districts, East Hertfordshire had the lowest population density (290 people per km ) and Watford the highest (4210 per km ). Compared with neighbouring Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire lacks large towns or cities on
2340-600: The county. Yorkshire had three lieutenancies, one for each riding, but was a single judicial county with one sheriff, and was counted as one geographical county by Ordnance Survey. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972 under the Courts Act 1971 which abolished the quarter sessions and assizes . Sheriffs continued to be appointed for each county despite the loss of the judicial functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate appointing their own sheriffs. The counties corporate were all included in
2405-460: The creation of county councils in 1889, there were counties for judicial and shrieval purposes, counties for lieutenancy purposes, and administrative counties and county boroughs for the purposes of local government. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the group of administrative counties and county boroughs created within each judicial county. The Ordnance Survey used the term 'geographical county' to refer to this wider definition of
2470-438: The definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997. In legislation the lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996. The shrieval counties are defined by
2535-542: The development of interior decor. Historic England increased the buildings' listed status to Grade Two* in 2020. On 1 October 1951 the parish of Bishops Hatfield was abolished to form Hatfield, part also went to Welwyn Garden City . In 1951 the parish had a population of 13,834. [REDACTED] Media related to Old Hatfield at Wikimedia Commons Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( / ˈ h ɑːr t f ər d ʃ ɪər / HART -fərd-sheer or /- ʃ ər / -shər ; often abbreviated Herts )
2600-483: The edge of Hemel Hempstead. Hertfordshire is located in the south-eastern part of England and is the county immediately north of London. It is officially part of the East of England region, a mainly statistical unit . To the east is Essex , to the west is Buckinghamshire and to the north are Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire . A significant minority of the population across all districts commute to Central London . The county's boundaries were roughly fixed by
2665-586: The former judicial counties up until 1974. In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a new system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was introduced instead. Sheriffs were renamed 'high sheriffs' and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new versions of the counties. The counties of Avon , Cleveland and Humberside , each of which had only been created in 1974, were all abolished in 1996. They were divided into unitary authorities ; legally these are also non-metropolitan counties. As part of these reforms, it
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2730-576: The headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne ; both flow south and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much of the county is covered by the Metropolitan green belt . Since 1903, Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city while Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain 's New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). Services have become
2795-557: The largest sector of the county's economy. The county's landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, to Leavesden Film Studios . The volume of intact medieval and Tudor buildings surpasses London, in places in well-preserved conservation areas , especially in St Albans , which includes remains of the Roman town of Verulamium . In 913, Hertfordshire
2860-692: The midst of the Norse invasions, Hertfordshire was on the front lines of much of the fighting. King Edward the Elder , in his reconquest of Norse-held lands in what was to become England , established a " burh " or fort in Hertford, which was to curb Norse activities in the area. His father, King Alfred the Great , established the River Lea as a boundary between his kingdom and that of the Norse lord Guthrum , with
2925-499: The new areas. No such amendment was made in 1997 when Rutland was made a unitary authority or in 1998 when Herefordshire and Worcestershire were re-established; those three therefore have been given their own lieutenants again since the passing of the 1997 Act. The actual areas of the ceremonial counties have not changed since 1998. These are the 48 counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies in England, as currently defined: After
2990-644: The north and eastern parts of the county being within the Danelaw . There is little evidence however of Norse placenames within this region, and many of the Anglo-Saxon features remained intact to this day. The county however suffered from renewed Norse raids in the late 10th to early 11th centuries, as armies led by Danish kings Swein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great harried the country as part of their attempts to undermine and overthrow English king Athelred
3055-490: The north and west of the county, forming the Chiltern Hills and the younger Palaeocene , Reading Beds and Eocene , London Clay which occupy the remaining southern part. The eastern half of the county was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age and has a superficial layer of glacial boulder clays . Much of the west – and much more in the east – have richly diverse countryside. These range from beech woods of
3120-420: The other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch 's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area. The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997 , and
3185-569: The promise to build a church. Over the years, needs evolve at the same time as a village gets bigger and grows up with new religious buildings. Over the years, and during 4 centuries, successively the site has belonged to the Monks, to the Abbots and to the Bishop of Ely until John Morton (cardinal) who builds there in 1485, near a parish church named St Etheldreda what is going to become Bishop Hatfield. The construction made of red bricks bearing
3250-651: The purple star-shaped flower with yellow stamens, the Pasqueflower is among endemic county flowers . The rocks of Hertfordshire belong to the great shallow syncline known as the London Basin . The beds dip in a south-easterly direction towards the syncline's lowest point roughly under the River Thames . The most important formations are the Cretaceous Chalk , exposed as the high ground in
3315-480: The right to appoint their own sheriffs and hold their own courts. Whilst in theory the counties corporate could have had separate lieutenants appointed for them, in practice all of them except London shared a lieutenant with the wider county from which they had been created. London had instead a commission of lieutenancy , headed by the Lord Mayor . The long-standing practice of appointing lieutenants jointly to
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#17327914085703380-528: The same town, Airbus (Defence & Space Division) produces satellites. Hatfield was where de Havilland developed the first commercial jet liner, the Comet . Now the site is a business park and new campus for the University of Hertfordshire . This major employment site notably hosts EE , Computacenter and Ocado groceries and other goods e-commerce. Welwyn Garden City hosts Tesco 's UK base, hosts
3445-470: The scale of Luton or Milton Keynes , whose populations exceed 200,000, but its overall population (1.2 million in 2021) is greater than those of the two aforementioned counties. The River Lea near Harpenden runs through Wheathampstead , Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, Ware, and Broxbourne before reaching Cheshunt and ultimately the River Thames. The far west of the county is the most hilly, with
3510-595: The shortcomings of Railtrack , and resulted in speed restrictions and major track replacement. On 10 May 2002, seven people died in the fourth of the Potters Bar rail accidents ; the train was travelling at high speed when it derailed and flipped into the air when one of the carriages slid along the platform where it came to rest. In early December 2005, there were explosions at the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal at Buncefield on
3575-450: The shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887 . Both are defined as groups of local government counties. The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising the militia , overseen by a sheriff . From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriff's functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate , which gave them
3640-541: The south. A village grew up adjacent to the estate of Bishops palace. The parish church of St Etheldreda's Church , Hatfield was named by the Bishops after their patron saint Æthelthryth . A market was once held in Fore Street. When Hatfield was developed as a new town after World War Two, Old Hatfield was deliberately left unspoilt by development and through traffic and so retains an historic feel. Old Hatfield
3705-546: The wider county and any counties corporate it contained was formalised by the Militia Act 1882. Apart from the inclusion of the counties corporate, the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy generally corresponded to the judicial counties. The exception was Yorkshire, which was one judicial county, having a single Sheriff of Yorkshire , but from 1660 onwards each of Yorkshire's three ridings had its own lieutenant. In 1889 elected county councils were established under
3770-555: Was watercress , based in Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted supported by reliable, clean chalk rivers. This is a table of trends of regional gross value added of Hertfordshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Hertfordshire has the main operational and/or headquarters UK site of some very large employers. Clockwise from north: In Stevenage (a subsidiary of: BAE Systems , Airbus and Finmeccanica ) MBDA , develops missiles . In
3835-465: Was called an administrative county . As such, some of the judicial or lieutenancy counties comprised several administrative counties and county boroughs. The Ordnance Survey adopted the term 'geographical county' to describe the widest definition of the county. In most cases this was the lieutenancy county; the exceptions were Yorkshire, where the judicial county was larger on account of it being split into its three ridings for lieutenancy purposes, and
3900-422: Was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from the local government counties in some cases, effectively reverting to the pre-1974 arrangements for lieutenancies. Whereas the lieutenancies had been defined slightly differently from the shrieval counties prior to 1974, it was decided in 1996 that the high sheriffs and lieutenants should be appointed to the same areas. Regulations amending
3965-656: Was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons . By the 6th century, the majority of the modern county was part of the East Saxon kingdom. This relatively short-lived kingdom collapsed in the 9th century, ceding the territory of Hertfordshire to the control of the West Anglians of Mercia . The region finally became an English shire in the 10th century, on the merger of the West Saxon and Mercian kingdoms. In
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#17327914085704030-402: Was named as Hatfield House , a Jacobean architectural style construction. Today, both buildings, grade I listed building, with parks and Elizabeth 's Knot Garden are open to the public and can be visited, in the vicinity of Hatfield township. 1, 3 & 5 Park Street features two very rare 17th century wall paintings featuring grotesques and a cloth like texture, providing valuable insight into
4095-474: Was placed entirely in Norfolk for those purposes. The county borough of Stockport straddled Cheshire and Lancashire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes - it was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes in 1956 but continued to straddle the two counties for lieutenancy purposes until 1974. More significant changes to the geographical counties were made in 1965 with the creation of Greater London and of Huntingdon and Peterborough , which resulted in
4160-464: Was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder . Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. Many of the names of the current settlements date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with many featuring standard placename suffixes attributed to
4225-526: Was transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire as a result of being absorbed into the County Borough of Reading in 1911. The lieutenancies and judicial / shrieval counties were defined as groups of administrative counties and county boroughs, and so were automatically adjusted if the boundaries of those administrative areas changed. There were two exceptions to this rule (one only briefly). The county borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes until 1891 when it
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