# Why does Britain have counties but no counts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-britain-have-counties-but-no-counts/362976 "2006-07-02T22:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-britain-have-counties-but-no-counts/362976/21 "2006-07-03T20:42:13Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > … > Anglo-Saxon kingdoms provide the names of Essex, Northumberland, and Middlesex (which doesn’t exist any longer). Even though it’s gone, Middlesex still has a cricket team! ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-britain-have-counties-but-no-counts/362976/22 "2006-07-03T21:29:29Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Anglo-Saxon kingdoms provide the names of Essex, Northumberland, and Middlesex (which doesn’t exist any longer). Middlesex was never a kingdom in its own right. At various times it was part of Mercia or Wessex. And many people would dispute the statement that “Middlesex doesn’t exist any longer”. What doesn’t exist any more is Middlesex county council, which dates back no further than the 19th century. Plenty of people still call it Middlesex, and the Post Office has no objection to the use of Middlesex in postal addresses. And as noted above, it still has a cricket team; and I recently had to visit the Central Middlesex Hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-britain-have-counties-but-no-counts/362976/23 "2006-07-03T21:43:58Z")
Apparently, looking at the Wikipedia talk pages on the traditional counties, there is a pretty big disagreement on what the “real” counties are and whether they can be changed or eliminated just because administrative boundaries might be moved around occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-britain-have-counties-but-no-counts/362976/24 "2006-07-03T22:37:11Z")
> [@Alive At Both Ends](#): > > Middlesex was never a kingdom in its own right. At various times it was part of Mercia or Wessex. Sorry, yes, that was a mis-edit error on my part. > [@](#): > > And many people would dispute the statement that “Middlesex doesn’t exist any longer”. What doesn’t exist any more is Middlesex county council, which dates back no further than the 19th century. Plenty of people still call it Middlesex, and the Post Office has no objection to the use of Middlesex in postal addresses. And as noted above, it still has a cricket team; and I recently had to visit the Central Middlesex Hospital. The Post Office’s recommended address format does not include ‘Middlesex’. Being willing to accomodate such fallacies (alongside ‘Manchester, Lancashire’ or ‘Altrincham, Cheshire’) is just common sense, provided the correct postcode is provided so that they can ignore everything else. I’m pretty sure a railway company had ‘West Anglia’ in its name…did this prove the existence of West Anglia? 😉 > [@acsenray](#): > > Apparently, looking at the Wikipedia talk pages on the traditional counties, there is a pretty big disagreement on what the “real” counties are and whether they can be changed or eliminated just because administrative boundaries might be moved around occasionally. Huge disagreements, in some situations. Counties do form part of local identities, and this conflicts with the idea of border changes, consolidation into urban administrative systems, or whatever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-britain-have-counties-but-no-counts/362976.md?page=1)