This counties select list was last updated on the 8th March 2007, and should be accurate for that date (and I should imagine, far beyond). If you spot any inaccuracies, please let me know.
The English counties were updated in 2008 to use the list of ceremonial counties as defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 (Wikipedia has more info on counties).
Listed and grouped by Region
<select name="county">
<optgroup label="England">
<option>Bedfordshire</option>
<option>Berkshire</option>
<option>Bristol</option>
<option>Buckinghamshire</option>
<option>Cambridgeshire</option>
<option>Cheshire</option>
<option>City of London</option>
<option>Cornwall</option>
<option>Cumbria</option>
<option>Derbyshire</option>
<option>Devon</option>
<option>Dorset</option>
<option>Durham</option>
<option>East Riding of Yorkshire</option>
<option>East Sussex</option>
<option>Essex</option>
<option>Gloucestershire</option>
<option>Greater London</option>
<option>Greater Manchester</option>
<option>Hampshire</option>
<option>Herefordshire</option>
<option>Hertfordshire</option>
<option>Isle of Wight</option>
<option>Kent</option>
<option>Lancashire</option>
<option>Leicestershire</option>
<option>Lincolnshire</option>
<option>Merseyside</option>
<option>Norfolk</option>
<option>North Yorkshire</option>
<option>Northamptonshire</option>
<option>Northumberland</option>
<option>Nottinghamshire</option>
<option>Oxfordshire</option>
<option>Rutland</option>
<option>Shropshire</option>
<option>Somerset</option>
<option>South Yorkshire</option>
<option>Staffordshire</option>
<option>Suffolk</option>
<option>Surrey</option>
<option>Tyne and Wear</option>
<option>Warwickshire</option>
<option>West Midlands</option>
<option>West Sussex</option>
<option>West Yorkshire</option>
<option>Wiltshire</option>
<option>Worcestershire</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label="Wales">
<option>Anglesey</option>
<option>Brecknockshire</option>
<option>Caernarfonshire</option>
<option>Carmarthenshire</option>
<option>Cardiganshire</option>
<option>Denbighshire</option>
<option>Flintshire</option>
<option>Glamorgan</option>
<option>Merioneth</option>
<option>Monmouthshire</option>
<option>Montgomeryshire</option>
<option>Pembrokeshire</option>
<option>Radnorshire</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label="Scotland">
<option>Aberdeenshire</option>
<option>Angus</option>
<option>Argyllshire</option>
<option>Ayrshire</option>
<option>Banffshire</option>
<option>Berwickshire</option>
<option>Buteshire</option>
<option>Cromartyshire</option>
<option>Caithness</option>
<option>Clackmannanshire</option>
<option>Dumfriesshire</option>
<option>Dunbartonshire</option>
<option>East Lothian</option>
<option>Fife</option>
<option>Inverness-shire</option>
<option>Kincardineshire</option>
<option>Kinross</option>
<option>Kirkcudbrightshire</option>
<option>Lanarkshire</option>
<option>Midlothian</option>
<option>Morayshire</option>
<option>Nairnshire</option>
<option>Orkney</option>
<option>Peeblesshire</option>
<option>Perthshire</option>
<option>Renfrewshire</option>
<option>Ross-shire</option>
<option>Roxburghshire</option>
<option>Selkirkshire</option>
<option>Shetland</option>
<option>Stirlingshire</option>
<option>Sutherland</option>
<option>West Lothian</option>
<option>Wigtownshire</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label="Northern Ireland">
<option>Antrim</option>
<option>Armagh</option>
<option>Down</option>
<option>Fermanagh</option>
<option>Londonderry</option>
<option>Tyrone</option>
</optgroup>
</select>
This list was compiled from a variety of sources, both online and offline, and no guarantee is made as to its accuracy. Please report any mistakes to dave@addedbytes.com.
27 Comments
That is very useful!
#1, foamcow, United Kingdom, 24 June 2005. Reply to this.
Thanks, just used it !!! Saved me a lot of work. Thank you very much sir
#2, Rick, United Kingdom, 7 November 2005. Reply to this.
Cheers, saved me a lot of time.
#3, TimC, United Kingdom, 8 December 2005. Reply to this.
This list does not have the new counties, eg West Midlands.
#4, CoolBlue, United Kingdom, 9 December 2005. Reply to this.
;) shouldnt tyne and wear be in there somewhere?
#5, flame, United Kingdom, 17 January 2006. Reply to this.
i see merseyside is missing too
#6, bob.smith, United Kingdom, 7 March 2006. Reply to this.
London ?
#7, Keith, UK, United Kingdom, 11 April 2006. Reply to this.
I think The Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Isle of Wight are in the UK too.
#8, Eutectic, United Kingdom, 11 April 2006. Reply to this.
Channel Islands, Isle of Man are definitely NOT in the UK. However the Isle of Wright is as part of Hampshire.
The UK means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
#9, Paul, United Kingdom, 12 August 2006. Reply to this.
PS: Great Britain comprises England, Scotland and Wales.
The Channel Islands has two primarily local governments in Jersey and in Guernsey. The Isle of Mann has its own local government too.
All three separate legal jurisdictions claim to be independent of the UK but, in reality, they do whatever the UK's government in London requires. The Jersey and Guernsey "countries" are associate members of the EU and part of the EEA (European Economic Area).
All have their own money and laws, similar to Scotland in many respects, but are nevertheless tightly integrated in to the UK's structure, for example with police, customs, telephone codes, telex codes, immigration policies, foreign affairs, defence, security service (MI5), airport designation codes (ICAO examples EGJJ, EGJB and EGNS) but not Internet country codes or driver and vehicle licensing.
Its a fascinating topic.
#10, Paul, United Kingdom, 12 August 2006. Reply to this.
Sussex is actually split up into East Sussex and West Sussex
#11, Simon, United Kingdom, 20 August 2006. Reply to this.
this list is 34 years out of date. it's pre 1972 when the boundries changed.
#12, dave, United Kingdom, 3 November 2006. Reply to this.
Paul (#9):
The Isle of Wight is not a part of Hampshire, but a county in its own right.
#13, Jason, United Kingdom, 29 June 2007. Reply to this.
MySQL to create table with this same info in it. Hope it's of use.
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `g_counties`;
CREATE TABLE `g_counties` (
`county_id` int(9) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
`country_id` int(9) unsigned NOT NULL,
`group_name` varchar(125) default NULL,
`county_name` varchar(125) default NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`county_id`),
KEY `p_id` (`county_id`),
KEY `s_id` (`country_id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
INSERT INTO g_counties VALUES
('', '', 'England', 'Bedfordshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Bedfordshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Berkshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Buckinghamshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Cambridgeshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Cheshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Cornwall'),
('', '', 'England', 'Cumberland'),
('', '', 'England', 'Derbyshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Devon'),
('', '', 'England', 'Dorset'),
('', '', 'England', 'Durham'),
('', '', 'England', 'Essex'),
('', '', 'England', 'Gloucestershire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Hampshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Herefordshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Hertfordshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Huntingdonshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Kent'),
('', '', 'England', 'Lancashire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Leicestershire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Lincolnshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Middlesex'),
('', '', 'England', 'Norfolk'),
('', '', 'England', 'Northamptonshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Northumberland'),
('', '', 'England', 'Nottinghamshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Oxfordshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Rutland'),
('', '', 'England', 'Shropshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Somerset'),
('', '', 'England', 'Staffordshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Suffolk'),
('', '', 'England', 'Surrey'),
('', '', 'England', 'Sussex'),
('', '', 'England', 'Warwickshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Westmorland'),
('', '', 'England', 'Wiltshire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Worcestershire'),
('', '', 'England', 'Yorkshire');
INSERT INTO g_counties VALUES
('', '', 'Wales', 'Anglesey'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Brecknockshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Caernarfonshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Carmarthenshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Cardiganshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Denbighshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Flintshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Glamorgan'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Merioneth'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Monmouthshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Montgomeryshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Pembrokeshire'),
('', '', 'Wales', 'Radnorshire');
INSERT INTO g_counties VALUES
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Aberdeenshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Angus'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Argyllshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Ayrshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Banffshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Berwickshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Buteshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Cromartyshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Caithness'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Clackmannanshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Dumfriesshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Dunbartonshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'East Lothian'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Fife'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Inverness-shire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Kincardineshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Kinross'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Kirkcudbrightshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Lanarkshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Midlothian'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Morayshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Nairnshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Orkney'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Peeblesshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Perthshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Renfrewshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Ross-shire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Roxburghshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Selkirkshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Shetland'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Stirlingshire'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Sutherland'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'West Lothian'),
('', '', 'Scotland', 'Wigtownshire');
INSERT INTO g_counties VALUES
('', '', 'Northern Ireland', 'Antrim'),
('', '', 'Northern Ireland', 'Armagh'),
('', '', 'Northern Ireland', 'Down'),
('', '', 'Northern Ireland', 'Fermanagh'),
('', '', 'Northern Ireland', 'Londonderry'),
('', '', 'Northern Ireland', 'Tyrone');
#14, Josh, Unknown, 4 July 2007. Reply to this.
Thanks for the MySQL data. Bedfordshire is in there twice though.
Steve
#15, Steve, United Kingdom, 9 July 2007. Reply to this.
i like the way you all start bitching over something that is free.
#16, lostreality, United Kingdom, 11 October 2007. Reply to this.
A fantastic bit of free information:
This took some time and is incredibly useful. Thank you very, very much.
Aled :)
#17, aledrees, United States, 31 December 2007. Reply to this.
An invaluable and fantastic resource for all our combo box needs! I recommended this to all my students!
#18, Martin Callaghan, United Kingdom, 14 January 2008. Reply to this.
Here is a php version using a foreach loop
<?php
echo "<select name=\"ud_county\">";
// foreach example - loop through each entry in an array
$ukcounties = array("Aberdeenshire"," Anglesey"," Angus"," Antrim"," Argyllshire"," Armagh"," Ayrshire"," Banffshire"," Bedfordshire"," Berkshire"," Berwickshire"," Brecknockshire"," Buckinghamshire"," Buteshire"," Caernarfonshire"," Caithness"," Cambridgeshire"," Cardiganshire"," Carmarthenshire"," Cheshire"," Clackmannanshire"," Cornwall"," Cromartyshire"," Cumberland"," Denbighshire"," Derbyshire"," Devon"," Dorset"," Down"," Dumfriesshire"," Dunbartonshire"," Durham"," East Lothian"," Essex"," Fermanagh"," Fife"," Flintshire"," Glamorgan"," Gloucestershire"," Hampshire"," Herefordshire"," Hertfordshire"," Huntingdonshire"," Inverness-shire"," Kent"," Kincardineshire"," Kinross"," Kirkcudbrightshire"," Lanarkshire"," Lancashire"," Leicestershire"," Lincolnshire"," Londonderry"," Merioneth"," Middlesex"," Midlothian"," Monmouthshire"," Montgomeryshire"," Morayshire"," Nairnshire"," Norfolk"," Northamptonshire"," Northumberland"," Nottinghamshire"," Orkney"," Oxfordshire"," Pembrokeshire"," Peeblesshire"," Perthshire"," Radnorshire"," Renfrewshire"," Ross-shire"," Roxburghshire"," Rutland"," Selkirkshire"," Shetland"," Shropshire"," Somerset"," Staffordshire"," Stirlingshire"," Suffolk"," Surrey"," Sussex"," Sutherland"," Tyrone"," Warwickshire"," West Lothian"," Westmorland"," Wigtownshire"," Wiltshire"," Worcestershire"," Yorkshire");
foreach ( $ukcounties AS $elements )
{
print "<option value=\". $elements .\">". $elements ."</option>;/n";
}
echo "</select>";
?>
#19, Adrian, United Kingdom, 15 January 2008. Reply to this.
Defining what should be in a list of counties these days is not straightforward. Administratively, most large conurbations do not have a county level. For example, Nottingham is a unitary authority that is not, administratively, within Nottinghamshire. Probably the most useful definition to use, in England at least, is the ceremonial counties.
This list appears to be a pre 1974 list of counties. For example, Westmorland hasn't existed since 1974 and Yorkshire was split into four then. Huntingdonshire is no longer a county (Huntingdon is a district within Cambridgeshire), and I'm not sure it has been since 1965.
The list's biggest problem is that the areas missing from it tend to be those in which the population is concentrated, so a lot of people will be unable to find something to match themselves. Greater London, West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Tyne and Wear and Bristol for example.
#20, ChrisH, United Kingdom, 20 January 2008. Reply to this.
All all versions "Tyne & Wear" is missing.
Thought i'd let you all know for future reference.
The county does exist I have lived there for 30 years!!!!
A great list none the less, thank you
<---------------------
(Don't know why my location on the Left states USA i'm in the UK?
#21, Nathan H, United States, 23 February 2008. Reply to this.
I've updated the list to use a more recent list of English counties (as defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997, which would seem to be appropriate). Some of the missing ones above are now in the list, and others, it seems, should not be. Anyway, at least London is now listed properly!
#22, Dave Child, United Kingdom, 8 March 2008. Reply to this.
Thanks Adrian for the script, running your script produced something like this when the HTML page source is viewed:
<select name="ud_county"><option value=". Aberdeenshire .">Aberdeenshire</option>;/n<option value=". Anglesey .">
Notice the . before and after the values?
So, I've modified it to remove the dots and properly format the output:
<?php
echo "<select name=\"ud_county\">\n";
// foreach example - loop through each entry in an array
$ukcounties = array("Aberdeenshire","Anglesey","Angus","Antrim",
"Argyllshire","Armagh","Ayrshire","Banffshire",
"Bedfordshire","Berkshire","Berwickshire","Brecknockshire",
"Buckinghamshire","Buteshire","Caernarfonshire",
"Caithness","Cambridgeshire","Cardiganshire",
"Carmarthenshire","Cheshire","Clackmannanshire",
"Cornwall","Cromartyshire","Cumberland",
"Denbighshire","Derbyshire","Devon","Dorset","Down",
"Dumfriesshire","Dunbartonshire","Durham","East Lothian","Essex","Fermanagh","Fife","Flintshire",
"Glamorgan","Gloucestershire","Hampshire",
"Herefordshire","Hertfordshire","Huntingdonshire",
"Inverness-shire","Kent","Kincardineshire","Kinross",
"Kirkcudbrightshire","Lanarkshire","Lancashire",
"Leicestershire","Lincolnshire","Londonderry",
"Merioneth","Middlesex","Midlothian","Monmouthshire",
"Montgomeryshire","Morayshire","Nairnshire","Norfolk",
"Northamptonshire","Northumberland",
"Nottinghamshire","Orkney","Oxfordshire",
"Pembrokeshire","Peeblesshire","Perthshire",
"Radnorshire","Renfrewshire","Ross-shire",
"Roxburghshire","Rutland","Selkirkshire","Shetland",
"Shropshire","Somerset","Staffordshire","Stirlingshire",
"Suffolk","Surrey","Sussex","Sutherland","Tyrone",
"Warwickshire","West Lothian","Westmorland","Wigtownshire","Wiltshire",
"Worcestershire","Yorkshire");
foreach ( $ukcounties AS $elements )
{
print "<option value=\"$elements\">". $elements ."</option>;\n";
}
echo "</select>";
?>
Thanks guys,
Nice job.
#23, Evans, Unknown, 1 June 2008. Reply to this.
Thanks for the code, it will come in handy someday.
Cheers
#24, Henry, Unknown, 20 July 2008. Reply to this.
How lucky am I to find this page! I was just looking for something similar for a directory of self catering and bed and breakfast property that I am working on, and was getting confused with all the different lists I was finding. This one - the updated version seems to be the most accurate I list have found.
#25, Robin, France, 1 September 2008. Reply to this.
I am VERY grateful for this code. I DO appreciate all free stuff, after all it takes time and effort to do this stuff. I don't mean to bring any negative comments here, just to add some input. I live in Bristol, used to be in the county of Avon, now it's called the county of Bristol. Neither of which is in the above code, maybe tis a full time job keeping abreast of all the changing county lines across the UK. Thanks for the code though.
#26, John, United Kingdom, 26 October 2008. Reply to this.
Thanks for this, saved me alot of time!
#27, Lee, Norwich, 14 April 2009. Reply to this.