England’s largest county was for centuries divided into three ridings – north, east and west – but these were wiped from the map in 1974. Some areas were handed to neighbouring counties ...

Counties in the south of England are dominated by the political and economic giant of London (above, Piccadilly Circus in 1972). But as author Matthew Engel discovered, in some counties the ...

England's counties are the source of much regional pride, not least on cricket pavilions. To identify as a Yorkshirewoman or a Devonian or a Northumbrian is to invite certain expectations about ...

They formed the building blocks of larger political units and some, like Yorkshire, went on to become modern-day counties. A key question for modern politics is how the new devolution deals will ...

One of the earliest known examples of a modern car wash is among a number of sites newly listed by Historic England. The Grade II Barkway Carriage Wash in Hertfordshire is on a list of 44 sites ...

Historic England describes the building, which has been on the heritage list since 1951, as an "exceptional time capsule spanning 500 years of architectural design".