Ancestry tree rubbish

[macwil]

The local government reorganisation in 1974 did not move places to different counties, it just placed them in different organisational units. 

Not quite true.  In my part of the world, Warrington is an ancient town, always on the north bank of the Mersey and therefore originally in Lancashire.  Authority decided that it really belongs in Cheshire, a daft decision because that county has been largely non-industrial while southern Lancs became a mess of mining and industry long ago - including Warrington, which just avoided becoming part of Greater Manchester.

In any case a main river is a natural boundary, so why mess about?  Runcorn + Widnes = Halton (or Widcorn); Halton, the unitary authority, took its name from a Norman castle on the south side of the river.

Definitely NOT true!
The whole of Lancashire north of Morecombe Bay plus parts of West Riding of Yorkshire were merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form the third largest English county, Cumbria.
Other parts of West Riding of Yorkshire were moved into Lancashire!! 

Cumberland and Westmorland no longer exist except as historical entities.

[Edward Scott]

Cumbria is not a 'traditional' county and therefore does not exist as far as Ancestry and the place name database is concerned. Reconciling places in the modern ceremonial and non-metropolitan county will come under their original county.

The county of Cumbria was created in 1974 from the traditional counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, the Cumberland County Borough of Carlisle, along with the North Lonsdale or Furness part of Lancashire, usually referred to as "Lancashire North of the Sands", (including the county borough of Barrow-in-Furness) and, from the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Sedbergh Rural District.[2] It is governed by Cumbria County Council.

Edward

[coombs]

Gorleston, Bradwell, Hopton, Corton and Burgh Castle (plus some other villages in the area) were once in Suffolk until 1974. They then became parts of south east Norfolk.

Many parts of Berkshire was transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974. Norfolk and Oxfordshire have got bigger, whereas Suffolk and Berkshire have shrunk.

[Edward Scott]

The real Counties are the same size, it is the administrative bit that has changed. 

London now includes huge chunks of Middlesex, Surrey, Essex, Hertfordshire and probably others.

Edward

[youngtug]

When I drive along the A420 I leave Wiltshire and enter Oxfordshire. It used to be Berkshire, so how is this just administrative ?

[Edward Scott]

When I drive along the A420 I leave Wiltshire and enter Oxfordshire. It used to be Berkshire, so how is this just administrative ?

Sorry but which village / town are you referring to?

[youngtug]

Swindon, Wiltshire to Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. Used to be Berkshire.

[Edward Scott]

Ok, I think I now understand your comment.

County boundaries had barely changed for centuries until the Local Government Act 1972 which came into effect in 1974. The changes were, in theory, partially designed to reduce administrative costs.

So I see the ‘new’ Counties as being administrative & not traditional (perhaps historic is a better word).

The historical northern boundary for Berkshire had been the River Thames but for the new efficient administrative reasons it changed hands.

Middlesex had totally vanished in an earlier act from 1963, Sunbury and Staines, both being north of the Thames, became part of Surrey which historically had only been south of the river.

Surrey later lost many parts to what is now London, eg Lambeth, Kent lost Greenwich, Essex lost East & West Ham (these are all just examples).

If I start to enter Shrivenham in FTM the county shows up as Berkshire. For whatever reason Ancestry drew a line in the sand and have pretty much stuck to where places being in their historic counties.

Coming back to signs, they demark the administrative rather than historic County lines.

[andrewalston]

The local government reorganisation in 1974 did not move places to different counties, it just placed them in different organisational units. 

Not quite true.  In my part of the world, Warrington is an ancient town, always on the north bank of the Mersey and therefore originally in Lancashire.  Authority decided that it really belongs in Cheshire, a daft decision because that county has been largely non-industrial while southern Lancs became a mess of mining and industry long ago - including Warrington, which just avoided becoming part of Greater Manchester.

In any case a main river is a natural boundary, so why mess about?  Runcorn + Widnes = Halton (or Widcorn); Halton, the unitary authority, took its name from a Norman castle on the south side of the river.

From the Friends of Real Lancashire (where you can read the government's official statements - http://www.forl.co.uk/online-resources/official-statements )

The Government at that time stated that the "new counties" were administrative areas only, and that the boundaries of traditional counties such as Lancashire had not been changed. Unfortunately, the media refer to these administrative areas all too frequently and ignore the fact that places such as Barrow-in-Furness, Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington, etc. are still in Lancashire.
If administrative areas had not been called counties much of this confusion would have been avoided. The Royal Mail has at last dropped the use of administrative county names in postal addresses, and names such as Cumbria and Merseyside do not appear in the current Royal Mail Postal Address Book.