Historical and alternative regions of England

Cultural Informal and overlapping regional designations are often used to describe areas of England. They include: Midlands, often considered interchangeable with Mercia

Welsh Marches Staffordshire Potteries Three Counties Northern England Scottish Marches Southern England Home Counties M4 corridor Thames Valley Cinque Ports West Country, often considered interchangeable with Wessex

Heptarchy Heptarchy, former kingdom names which did not become counties have continued to be recognised by organisations as regions: , generally interchangeable the West Country excluding Cornwall , often considered interchangeable with the Midlands , associated mainly with the Viking age rump kingdom of Northumbria (the counties of Durham and Northumberland) however can be considered interchangeable with Northern England

Counties Historic counties and the Yorkshire Ridings are no longer used as units for administrative or ceremonial purposes. These have continued to be recognised in sport and used by organisations as regional units.

(historic)

National parks National parks include: Peak District Lake District Dartmoor Exmoor North York Moors Northumberland National Park The Broads New Forest Yorkshire Dales South Downs

Britain in Bloom regions Britain in Bloom divides England into 12 regions. Mixture of government regions with some altered names. It also includes Cumbria, Thames-and-Chilterns (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire) and part of south east and south west as South-and-South-West.

National Trust The National Trust has 10 regional offices in England. These are Devon and Cornwall – part of the official South West region East of England – as region East Midlands – as region North East England – North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber North West England – as region Thames and Solent – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire South East England – East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex West Midlands – as region Wessex – South West England without Devon and Cornwall

Historical

500–1066

After the end of the Roman occupation of Britain, the area now known as England became divided into seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. A number of other smaller political divisions and sub-kingdoms existed. The kingdoms were eventually united into the Kingdom of England in a process beginning with Egbert of Wessex in 829 and completed by King Edred in 954.

1655–1657

During The Protectorate, Oliver Cromwell experimented with the Rule of the Major-Generals. There were ten regional associations covering England and Wales administered by majors-general. Ireland under Major-General Henry Cromwell, and Scotland under Major-General George Monck were in administrations already agreed upon and were not part of the scheme.

World War II {| | In the Second World War, England was divided into ten civil defence regions: Northern: Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire, North Riding North Eastern: Yorkshire, East and West Riding North Midland: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland Eastern: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk London: larger area than County of London/Middlesex, possibly same as Metropolitan Police District Southern: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire South Western: Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire Midland: Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire North Western: Cheshire, Cumberland, Lancashire and Westmorland South Eastern: Kent, Surrey and Sussex |}

1945–1994

Economic planning regions Eight economic planning regions were named by the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, George Brown in December 1964. These were:

Northern – Cumberland, Durham, North Riding of Yorkshire, Northumberland, Westmorland North-West – Cheshire, Lancashire, High Peak area of Derbyshire Yorkshire and Humberside – East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of Yorkshire – Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey East Midlands – Derbyshire (minus High Peak), Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Parts of Holland, Lincolnshire, Parts of Kesteven, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland West Midlands – Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire South West – Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire South East – Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Greater London, Hampshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Sussex East Anglia – Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and Peterborough

Standard statistical regions Before the adoption of the government office regions for statistics, there were eight 'standard statistical regions':

North – current North East plus Cumbria North West – current North West less Cumbria Yorkshire and Humberside – as current Yorkshire and The Humber West Midlands – as now East Midlands – as now East Anglia – Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire South West – as now South East – as now, plus Greater London, Bedfordshire, Essex, and Hertfordshire

Civil defence regions The present government office regions closely resemble Civil Defence Regions. During the latter part of the Cold War, the United Kingdom was divided into 11 such regions, most of which were divided themselves into sub-regions. The regions were numbered as shown in the list, numbers for sub-regions were of the form 11.

The regions were based on pre-Second World War regions, but were substantially altered in the 1970s, with the merger of South East and Southern regions, and alterations in the north. They were again altered in 1984, to merge the English regions 1 and 2 to become a single North East region, and Scotland's two southern regions (East and West Zones) becoming a single South Zone.

1980s From the mid-1980s, the eight English Civil Defence Regions were as follows (using 1974/1975 boundaries):

North East England (North East England) – Cleveland/Durham/Northumberland/Tyne and Wear (Yorkshire and the Humber) – Humberside/North Yorkshire/South Yorkshire/West Yorkshire East Midlands Derbyshire/Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire Leicestershire/Northamptonshire East of England (East Anglia) – Cambridgeshire/Norfolk/Suffolk Bedfordshire/Essex/Hertfordshire Greater London – see Civil defence centres in London for sub-regions South East England East Sussex/Kent/Surrey/West Sussex Berkshire/Buckinghamshire/Hampshire/Isle of Wight/Oxfordshire South West England Avon/Dorset/Gloucestershire/Somerset/Wiltshire Cornwall/Devon West Midlands Staffordshire/Warwickshire/West Midlands Hereford and Worcester/Shropshire North West England Cumbria/Lancashire Cheshire/Greater Manchester/Merseyside

Redcliffe-Maud provinces

The Redcliffe-Maud Report produced by the Royal Commission on local government reform in 1969 recommended the creation of eight provinces. In approximate terms, these were to be:

North East – per North East England Yorkshire – per Yorkshire and the Humber North West – per North West England, excluding southern Cheshire West Midlands – per West Midlands, including southern Cheshire East Midlands – per East Midlands, less Northamptonshire and mid Lincolnshire South West – per South West England East Anglia – Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex, southern Lincolnshire South East – South East England and Greater London with Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, southern Essex

See also List of ITV regions BBC English Regions International Territorial Level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics The United States of Europe, A Eurotopia?

References

. . Types of subdivision in the United Kingdom