Ceremonial counties of England

"Ceremonial counties" redirects here. For those used for a similar ceremonial purpose in Wales, see Preserved counties of Wales.
Not to be confused with the Historic counties of England.

Ceremonial counties of England
and
shrieval counties of England
LocationEngland
Number48
Populations8,000 (City of London) to 8,167,000 (Greater London)[1]
Areas3km² to 8,611 km²
Densities62/km² to 4,806/km²

Ceremonial counties,[2] formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies,[3] are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch's representative in an area.[4] Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area.[5]

The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997, and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887. Both are defined as groups of local government counties.

  1. ^ Table 2 2011 Census: Usual resident population and population density, local authorities in the United Kingdom UK Census 2011 UK usual resident population Greater London excluding City of London
  2. ^ "Ceremonial Counties" (PDF). Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference sched_1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Document (01) The Lord-Lieutenant". council.lancashire.gov.uk. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  5. ^ "High Sheriff of Lancashire". www.highsheriffoflancashire.co.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2023.