# British Counties **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 7, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060 "2003-04-07T14:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/21 "2003-04-07T19:42:51Z")
Woah, when did Middlesex disappear? The Royal Mail still seems happy to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/22 "2003-04-07T19:56:19Z")
Middlesex hasn’t existed as an actual place for aaaages. Most of it got swallowed up into Greater London (cf: Uxbridge and so on. It’s on the tube, it must be in Greater London). But it still exists for the purposes of postcodes and addresses on letters. At least, I’ve been sending cards to my nan in Ruislip, Middlesex for years and they seem to get there. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/23 "2003-04-07T19:59:30Z")
Wow. I never knew. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/24 "2003-04-07T20:06:42Z")
Looking on the bright side, when I receive mail (ie mean actual _paper_ mail) addressed to the non-existent county of Lanarkshire, then it is obviously junk. But, I too, got bored with the number of times names have change since 1974. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/25 "2003-04-07T22:01:42Z")
Middle **sex** was filtered out of existence by over-zealous web decency software 😉 John Major brought Rutland back, IIRC. The postal service are pretty cluey. You can put the most vague, inexact addresses and they do their utmost to find the right place. I don’t know how much this is to do with not having much of a “return” address culture in the UK, or because how many letters are sent by poor old grannies with spidery writing who can’t manage new-fangled postcodes (as younger generations prefer email). In some small villages you can probably successfully get a letter delivered to “Marjorie Hartleworth, Littleton-under-Snedd” alone, if the village is small enough and the village postie willing. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/26 "2003-04-07T22:41:51Z")
Please address your complaints to: Mr Gobfrey Shurdlu Sunshine Desserts Shitlington Hall, Cuntgropelane Shitterton, Dorset ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/27 "2003-04-07T22:51:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Morrigoon \* > \*\*So, since Leeds is in Yorkshire, how come when I lived there my address never included Yorkshire? Instead, it was Woodlesford, Leeds, as if you could be in two cities at once, or did Leeds suddenly become a county as well? \*\* Surely Leeds _can_ be a county if you’re counting Woodlesford as a city? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/28 "2003-04-07T22:55:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by istara \* > \*\*In some small villages you can probably successfully get a letter delivered to “Marjorie Hartleworth, Littleton-under-Snedd” alone, if the village is small enough and the village postie willing. \*\* BTW, it’s Marjorie’s birthday Thursday week if you’re interested. She’s 83 and has still got all her own teeth\* \*keeps 'em in a jar. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/29 "2003-04-08T00:18:53Z")
I want the Isle of Ely back – and Hallamshire! ::: grumbles ::: Things just haven’t been the same since those newfangled Tudors took over! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/30 "2003-04-08T00:54:17Z")
This is precisely why my ancestors came to the New World. [sub]_Woodlesford?_ For real?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/31 "2003-04-08T01:01:16Z")
Berkshire = Berks. Weirdly enough. Signed, Former denizen, RG15DX ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/32 "2003-04-08T01:02:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rodd Hill \* > \*\*Please address your complaints to: > > Mr Gobfrey Shurdlu > Sunshine Desserts > Shitlington Hall, > Cuntgropelane > Shitterton, Dorset \*\* Or send a damp postcard to: Tristan & Isolde Lambert-Collings-Woodduck 17 Mount Rainer Fruitbat-up-the-Khyber Saturday, Wessex PJX18 2FU ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/33 "2003-04-08T01:17:23Z")
Things aren’t **that** much better over here in the newer world. My state has 120 counties. Who can remember that many?! I guess we’re kinda territorial people. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/34 "2003-04-08T06:13:34Z")
Yeah, but at least we don’t name 'em Woodlesford. We have somber, dignified names. Like Great Neck. ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/35 "2003-04-08T08:12:58Z")
All my mail (from major financial institutions etc) is addressed to me in Manchester, _Lancashire_. It totally baffles me. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/36 "2003-04-08T08:21:24Z")
The West Midlands is a weird one. It used to be part of Warwickshire (hence the Warwickshire Cricket Ground being in Edgbaston) but Birmingham, Coventry and some other bits and pieces got moved into the nwely cerated West Midlands. Anyway, it seems a large percentage of West Midlands residents can’t handle the fact that they are no longer in Warwickshire and insist that they still live there. Coventry even has “Welcome to the Coventry, the City is Shakespeare Country” signs, even though Shakespeare was born in a (now) completely different county. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/37 "2003-04-08T09:32:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rodd Hill \* > \*\*Please address your complaints to: > > Mr Gobfrey Shurdlu > Sunshine Desserts > Shitlington Hall, > Cuntgropelane > Shitterton, Dorset \*\* Oh, for flip’s sake … it’s _Gropecunt_ Lane. How are the Post Office supposed to manage if you can’t get these simple little details right? (Factual note: I think Gropecunt Lane in Oxford has actually been renamed. But to what, I don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/38 "2003-04-08T09:57:18Z")
The Royal Mail does (IMHO) a remarkable job of routing post, in the past I have tested this by sending letters to people with the scantiest of addresses (such as name and postcode only or name and town only; they all arrived (a day or two later than expected). ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/39 "2003-04-08T10:14:20Z")
A postcode is generally accurate down to about six individual addresses (I used to work for the Post Office), so in theory all you need is a house number and a postcode in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060/40 "2003-04-08T10:43:06Z")
That can vary a bit - I have two friends who happen to live in the same street (at numbers 6 and 19), and have the same postcode. But, yes, in theory all you need is the house number and postcode. Which does not explain why I keep getting the mail for number 78 (hint: 78 != my flat number.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-counties/167060.md?page=3)