The historic counties of Britain — formed between the 9th and 16th centuries — are the framework through which a thousand years of records, landscape, and local identity are organised.
39 English · 33 Scottish · 13 Welsh counties
The 39 traditional counties of England. Cards showing Domesday settlements link through to village records from the 1086 survey.
34 of 39 counties were recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
The 33 traditional counties of Scotland, established as sheriffdoms from the 12th century.
The 13 historic counties of Wales, created under the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535–42.
Britain's historic counties were not created all at once. England's shires emerged from the reconquest of the Danelaw in the 9th and 10th centuries, Scotland's sheriffdoms from the feudal reorganisation of the 12th century, and Wales's counties from the Tudor Acts of Union. All three systems persisted, with modifications, until the local government reorganisations of the 1970s.
For historical research, the old county boundaries remain essential: every historical record from Domesday to Victorian census returns is organised by historic county. Aubrey uses these frameworks when interpreting records for any location in Britain.