Our Counties Association of British Counties 2014 Annual St Abbs, Berwickshire Government Statement 1974: “The new county boundaries are for administrative areas and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change.” ABC is dedicated to preserving our traditional counties and is a non-profit, non-political group Association of British Counties President: Michael Bradford Chairman: Peter Boyce Vice-chairman: Rupert Barnes Treasurer: Colin Foster Membership secretary: Tim Butterworth A message from the editor: As always, this My holiday took me around the annual relies on contributions from our border counties of Selkirkshire, Peebles- members. It is vital to get submissions shire, Roxburghshire and what surely from members which can be on any must be the jewel in the Lowlands’ crown, subject germane to the counties. I cannot Berwickshire. Although the county names emphasise this enough. And thank you to are returning, signs declaring these everyone who has submitted a piece, counties are non-existent. The “Scottish especially our vice-chairman, Rupert Borders” region is still being used by the Barnes, who is always ready with an article tourist boards although, as I have seen, not if it’s needed. by anyone else. When will the Scottish Tourist Board join them? They are On holiday in Scotland earlier in the year, I seriously behind the times on this issue. found myself having a walk along an My dream would be to see a abandoned railway line that is now a “Dumfriesshire” sign when travelling north public footpath in Pentcaitland, East and a “Cumberland” sign when going Lothian. Along the way I spied this sign south. I would not then have to go out of which commemorated a local mine and my way to avoid looking at what stands was amused to see the alternative name there now! for East Lothian, Haddingtonshire, men- Awhile ago I became a professional tioned on it. I wonder how many instances quiz writer. It’s a job I enjoy, am good at of “Haddingtonshire”, “Linlithgowshire” and make a little extra money with on the and “Edinburghshire” still remain. side. But I have a confession to make: I use Wikipedia to help write questions. It’s a matter of necessity, you see, as I get paid by the question and trawling through numerous websites for the information I need is very time-consuming. However, I avoid Wikipedia like the plague whenever I am writing questions about Britain as their county ignorance knows no bounds. They insist on citations for the verification of facts but ignore this when it comes to UK geography. It’s mind-boggling. ABC Annual 2014 Page 4 picture credit: The copyright of Editor: Mari Foster this image is owned by David Luther Contact address: 340 Warrington Road, Thomas and is licensed for reuse under Glazebury, Warrington, Lancashire, WA3 5LB the Creative Commons Attribution- Email: [email protected] ShareAlike 2.0 license. 2 Notes from the Chairman Online Map of the Counties eBay County Confusion The excellent wikishire has published a For years my son has been receiving magnificent new map of the counties of the parcels addressed to “Whitchurch, Cardiff, United Kingdom. The map is searchable, Vale of Glamorgan”. The other day, when scrollable and can be zoomed in to show setting up an eBay account for myself I details to street level. Check it out at: found out why! www.wikishire.co.uk/map/ Often when asked for one’s address online, one is presented with a drop-down list of counties from which to choose. These lists can contain a bizarre mix of “counties” with little consistency or thought involved. A not untypical, but especially irritating example, is provided by eBay. For Northern Ireland the six historic counties are listed. No problem there then. But sadly, the rest of the UK does not Help Save Us a Stamp! receive the same treatment. The ever-rising cost of postage makes it For England, the list seems to prohibitively expensive to send out notices comprise some kind of composite of the for meetings and events by post. The former postal counties and ceremonial Committee feels that this money would be counties, including such long-dead entities better spent supporting the activities of as Avon and Cleveland and areas such as the Association. Where feasible we will Greater Manchester which were never continue to give notice of meetings and permitted within postal addresses. events in Our Counties. We will continue Missing are Westmorland, Cumberland to publish notice of all meetings and events and Huntingdonshire! on our website (abcounties.com) and on For Scotland and Wales, the modern social media. We will also send email local government unitary authority names notifications of meetings to all members are listed, even though many of these are for whom we have an email address. If we totally unsuitable in a postal address do not already have your current email because they contain place names which address please let us know by emailing would clash with the post town. [email protected]. If you do not So what are you meant to put if you have email, please write to us to indicate live in Cardiff? The answer seems to be that you wish to continue to receive “Cardiff, Cardiff”. The stupidity of this paper notices of events not already doesn’t seem to have occurred to eBay. My published in Our Counties or other mail- son clearly reached for the nearest thing to outs. Please write to: Tim Butteworth, Glamorgan that he could see. I imagine Membership Secretary, 37 Park Way, many others do the same. Knaresborough, Yorkshire, HG5 9DW. We If you use eBay, get in touch and ask thank you for your understanding and that they add all of the historic counties of continued support. the UK to their lists, at least to give people (The cost of large, 2nd class stamps is the option to use them if they want. Get in rising to 73p. If you would prefer to touch with any company you see online or receive the Annual in PDF format, please off and let them know when county email me at the address on page 2-ed. ) confusion reigns. 3 County Cricket-the Beginning of the End? the whole county basis of T20 cricket Mari Foster wrote an excellent article on being done away with by the back door, county cricket in the 2013 edition of the just what the paymasters want. annual. In this, she noted the continuing Why not visit Warwickshire CCC’s threat to the county basis of professional Facebook page and let them know about cricket in England and Wales. A major this betrayal of our game and our counties. threat is the notion of teams representing city-based franchises in the 20/20 compe- The Four Shire Stone tition, renamed The Big Blast for 2014. Some of you may have won- This model has been a massive success in dered what the pillar featured India and Australia and many in media in the logo of the Historic have been calling for this to replace coun- Counties Trust is. It is the Four ties in the T20 format. The England and Shire Stone and my favourite Wales Cricket Board (and fans) have county border marker, if only resisted such calls. However, there has because it is unique ( I think) been a very disturbing development. in being the only one which marks the In December 2013, Warwickshire point where four counties meet. County Cricket Club announced that its The stone is actually a 12-foot high team in the Big Blast would henceforth be monument and lies 1½ miles east of known as the “Birmingham Bears”. This Moreton-in-Marsh just off the A44, at the has been okayed by the England and Wales junction of this road with an unclassified Cricket Board. The reason for the change road to Great Wolford. It marks the point appears to be closely linked with the club’s where the main bodies of Warwickshire, relationship to Birmingham City Council Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire meet. which lent the club £20 million towards its “But that’s three counties, not four!” The new £32 million pavilion. In attempting to fourth county is a detached part of explain the change Chief Executive Coli Worcestershire, the parish of Evenlode. Povey said, “The ECB is repositioning the The origins of the stone are whole tournament, to give it a facelift, and unknown. A tapestry woven in the 1580s are very keen to drive attendances in the shows a square with a circle and is big cities.” The implications of this state- labelled “Fowre Sheer Ston” so some kind ment are chilling for those of us who love of marker has clearly been present here county cricket. They want a small number for many centuries. The present stone is of big-city clubs, not 18 counties. thought to date from the late 17th century. T20 cricket is the only form of mass- In 1779 Samuel Rudder described it as: “A spectator sport still based on the counties. handsome pedestal about 12 feet high with Whilst it isn’t a form of the game which a dial on the top and an inscription to appeals to all traditionalists, no one can inform travellers that this is the Four Shire deny its popularity. Middlesex and Surrey Stone”. No known record exists of who regularly attract crowds of more than erected it or who paid for it. 15,000 to games. The Lancashire v It’s prevalence in old picture post- Yorkshire match sells out at Old Trafford.