Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844

The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61), which came into effect on 20 October 1844, was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which eliminated many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes. The changes were based on recommendations by a boundary commission, headed by the surveyor Thomas Drummond and summarized in a schedule attached to the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832. This also listed civil parishes divided by county boundaries.[1]

Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844
Long titleAn Act to annex detached Parts of Counties to the Counties in which they are situated.
Citation7 & 8 Vict. c. 61
Territorial extentEngland and Wales
Dates
Royal assent6 August 1844
Commencement20 October 1844
Other legislation
Repealed byLocal Government Act 1972
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
See also: Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 and List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974

Provisions

The areas involved had already been reorganised for some purposes, a process which began with the Inclosure Acts of the later 18th century. A parish on a county boundary which used the open-field system could have its field strips distributed among the two counties in a very complicated way. Enclosure could rationalise the boundary in the process of allotting land to the various landowners. Two parishes mentioned in the 1844 Act had been subject to this procedure: Stratton Audley in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire (1770),[2] and Farndish in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.[3]

The systematic involvement of the House of Commons had begun with the publication in May 1825 of the "County Boundary: Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land". Each county's clerk of the peace had been asked to report on boundary anomalies, and their replies were collected and printed.[4] The process was not altogether satisfactory, witness the return of the Hertfordshire clerk: "There is much difficulty in answering the inquiries with any certainty. I do not know of any person having sufficient local knowledge of the County to give the information with accuracy".[5]

The Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 had abolished the outliers for parliamentary constituencies, whilst the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1839 allowed justices of the peace to act for exclaves surrounded by their county, and constabularies established under the County Police Act 1839 had jurisdiction over detached parts of other counties.

The 1832 Act included a schedule ("Schedule M") of county boundary anomalies to be acted upon, drawn up by a boundary commission headed by the surveyor Thomas Drummond.[6] This schedule included examples of salients and divided parishes as well as true exclaves.[7]

Section 1 of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 read in part as follows:

[F]rom and after the Twentieth Day of October next every Part of any County in England or Wales which is detached from the main Body of such County shall be considered for all Purposes as forming Part of that County of which it is considered a Part for the Purposes of the Election of Members to serve in Parliament as Knights of the Shire [...]

The Act went on to state (s. 2) that the parts transferred would be incorporated in an existing "Hundred, Wapentake, Ward, Rape, Lathe, or other like Division by which it is wholly or for the most Part surrounded, or to which it is next adjoining, in the County to which it will thenceforth belong, unless the Justices of the County, [...] shall declare it to be a new or separate Hundred or other like Division [...]."

The Act itself did not list the areas transferred; these had already been detailed in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832.[8]

The Act transferred the detached parts to different counties but not to different parishes. Unless the detached part was an entire parish, this resulted in many cases of a detached part in one county belonging to a parish in a different county. Later legislation, including the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act 1882, eliminated most instances of civil parishes belonging to two (or more) counties, and by 1901 Stanground in Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely were the sole remaining examples.[9]

Areas transferred

The Act affected twenty-seven counties. The largest changes were to County Durham, which lost large areas to Northumberland, as well as a single parish to Yorkshire. By no means all detached areas were changed: fifteen counties still had exclaves. Many of these outlying parts changed their administration in the 1890s following the passing of the Local Government Act 1894. Large detached blocks of Warwickshire and Worcestershire interspersed with Gloucestershire remained until 1931, Dudley in Worcestershire remained an exclave until 1966 while Flintshire retained two exclaves until 1974 – a large one (the English Maelor area) south-east of Wrexham in Denbighshire, and a single parish exclave (Marford and Hoseley) north of Wrexham.

Bedfordshire
Further information: Bedfordshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

  • The greater part of the parish of Meppershall in Hertfordshire. This parish contained a small counter-exclave of Bedfordshire, but the parish boundary otherwise coincided with the exclave.[19]
  • The part of the parish of Farndish in Northamptonshire. (Divided parish, not an exclave. However, before the parish was enclosed in 1800, its open field system had its field strips shared out among the two counties in an extremely complicated manner. The Enclosure Act rationalised the boundary and left no exclaves).[20]

Berkshire
Further information: Berkshire and List of Berkshire boundary changes

Transferred to other counties:

  • The part of the parish of Great Barrington in Berkshire transferred to Gloucestershire.
  • The townships of Little Faringdon and most of Langford proper (both in the ancient parish of Langford), exclave transferred to Oxfordshire.
  • The greater part of the parish of Shilton in Berkshire, transferred to Oxfordshire. The parish had an exclave comprising a 7 acre (2.8 ha) meadow next to the River Windrush south-east of Witney, which was already in Oxfordshire.[21]
  • Part of the parish of Shalbourne including the tithing of Oxenwood in Berkshire, transferred to Wiltshire only in 1895 -this was a salient, not an exclave.[22] Oxenwood was included in the 1844 Act by mistake, as it was erroneously listed as an exclave. The relevant Order was cancelled after the error was pointed out.[23][24]
  • The part of the parish of Inglesham in Berkshire transferred to Wiltshire -this was a salient, not an exclave, but inaccessible from the rest of the county. [25]

Transferred from other counties:

  • The part of the parochial chapelry of Hurst (in the parish of Sonning) in Wiltshire. Four exclaves, one large and three at Twyford two of the latter being tiny.[26]
  • The part of the parish of Shinfield in Wiltshire. Two exclaves. The larger contained the hamlets of Swallowfield and Riseley, the smaller that of Farley Hill.[27]
  • The part of the parish of Wokingham in Wiltshire, including the east end of the town with its parish church. This exclave joined to the large Hurst exclave via an isthmus the width of a road.[28]

Buckinghamshire
Further information: Buckinghamshire

Transferred to other counties:

  • The township of Studley (in the parish of Beckley) in Buckinghamshire, transferred to Oxfordshire. (Divided parish, not an exclave, and this township did not include the village of the same name which was in the adjacent Oxfordshire township of Horton-cum-Studley.)[29]
  • The parish of Caversfield transferred to Oxfordshire. Had two satellite exclaves, including half of the village of Stratton Audley (see below). These were transferred to the parish of Stratton Audley in 1888.[30]
  • The part of the extra-parochial place of Luffield Abbey in Buckinghamshire transferred to Northamptonshire.
  • The part of the so-called chapelry of Stratton Audley in Buckinghamshire transferred to Oxfordshire.[31] Before enclosure, in 1770 the parish of Stratton Audley had an open-field system the strips of which were divided between itself and Caversfield in a complicated manner, and the county boundary followed this. Enclosure consolidated the latter's share as two exclaves.[32] The 1832 schedule listed these as the "Chapelry of Stratton Audley", although there was never a chapel separate from the parish church.[33]

Transferred from other counties:

Cornwall
Further information: Cornwall

Transferred to other counties:

  • The part of the parish of Bridgerule in Cornwall, transferred to Devon (divided parish, not an exclave).

Transferred from other counties:

  • The part of the parish of Maker in Devon. (Two enclaves.)[36]
  • The part of the parish of North Tamerton in Devon, allegedly. The Ordnance Survey First Series in 1809[37] showed the county boundary here as it is now, but "Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land" to the House of Commons in 1825 had the Clerk for Devon report that the portion of the parish east of the Tamar was in the Black Torrington Hundred of Devon. His counterpart in Cornwall did not concur. If the former was correct, then this was a case of a Hundred of one county having a portion in another.[38]

Denbighshire
Further information: Denbighshire (historic)

Transferred to other counties:

Derbyshire
Further information: Derbyshire

Transferred to other counties:

Also:

Devon
Further information: Devon

Transferred to other counties:

  • The part of the parish of Maker in Devon transferred to Cornwall. (Two exclaves.)[39]
  • The part of the parish of North Tamerton in Devon, allegedly. The Ordnance Survey First Series in 1809[40] showed the county boundary here as it is now, but "Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land" to the House of Commons in 1825 had the Clerk for Devon report that the portion of the parish east of the Tamar was in the Black Torrington Hundred of Devon. His counterpart in Cornwall did not concur. If the former was correct, then this was a case of a Hundred of one county having a portion in another.[41]
  • The exclave including the parish of Thorncombe transferred to Dorset, also including the tithing of Beerhall and Easthay, a parish exclave belonging to Axminster.[42]

Transferred from other counties:

Dorset
Further information: Dorset

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

County Durham
Further information: County Durham

Transferred to other counties:

Gloucestershire
Further information: Gloucestershire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Hampshire
Further information: Hampshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

  • The detached part of the parish of Rogate in Sussex known as Bohunt west of Liphook, transferred to the parish of Bramshott.

Herefordshire
Further information: Herefordshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Hertfordshire
Further information: Hertfordshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Huntingdonshire
Further information: Huntingdonshire

Transferred from other counties:

  • The part of the township of Tetworth (in the parish of Everton) in Bedfordshire, comprising a single irregularly-shaped field in the north-west corner of the southern exclave of the township, north of Biggin Wood.[60][61]. (Tetworth, which became a separate civil parish, remained in two distinct parts, one of which was an exclave of Huntingdonshire until 1965.)

Monmouthshire
Further information: Monmouthshire (historic)

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

  • The hamlet of Bwlch Trewyn (in the parish of Cwmyoy), transferred from Herefordshire. (A salient, not an exclave. The actual exclave in the parish was called Fwddog, and the mistake was only rectified with its transfer in 1891.)[62]
  • Crooked Billet, a field of three acres (1.2 ha) in Trelleck parish just north of Devauden, transferred from Herefordshire.[63][64]

Montgomeryshire
Further information: Montgomeryshire

Transferred from other counties:

Northamptonshire
Further information: Northamptonshire

Transferred to other counties:

  • The part of the parish of Farndish in Northamptonshire, transferred to Bedfordshire. (Divided parish, not an exclave. However, before the parish was enclosed in 1800, its open field system had its field strips shared out among the two counties in an extremely complicated manner. The Enclosure Act rationalised the boundary and left no exclaves).[65]

Transferred from other counties:

Northumberland
Further information: Northumberland

Transferred from other counties:

Oxfordshire
Further information: Oxfordshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Shropshire
Further information: Shropshire
Dudley, shown on an 1814 map as being an exclave of Worcestershire locally situated in Staffordshire. Note also the exclave of Shropshire at Halesowen, abolished by this Act.

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Somerset
Further information: Somerset

Transferred to other counties:

Staffordshire
Further information: Staffordshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Sussex
Further information: Sussex

Transferred from other counties:

Transferred to other counties:

  • The detached part of the parish of Rogate known as Bohunt west of Liphook, transferred to the parish of Bramshott in Hampshire.

Warwickshire
Further information: Warwickshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Wiltshire
Further information: Wiltshire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

  • Part of the parish of Shalbourne including the tithing of Oxenwood in Berkshire, transferred to Wiltshire only in 1895 -this was a salient, not an exclave.[80] Oxenwood was included in the 1844 Act by mistake, as it was erroneously listed as an exclave. The relevant Order was cancelled after the error was pointed out.[81][82]
  • The part of the parish of Inglesham in Berkshire transferred to Wiltshire -this was a salient, not an exclave, but inaccessible from the rest of the county. [83]
  • The parish of Minety transferred to Wiltshire. This also abolished a small counter-enclave of the latter county, around the parish church.[84]

Worcestershire
Further information: Worcestershire

Transferred to other counties:

Transferred from other counties:

Yorkshire, North Riding
Further information: North Riding of Yorkshire

Transferred from other counties:

Scotland and Ireland

The 1844 act applied only to England and Wales. Most detached parts of Irish counties were removed under an 1836 act in conjunction with Griffith's Valuation.[87] Detached parts of Scottish counties persisted (apart from some exchanged between Inverness and Elgin in 1870[88][89]) until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which merged the fragmented county of Cromartyshire into Ross and Cromarty and provided for Boundary Commissioners for Scotland to consolidate all other county exclaves, except one in Dunbartonshire comprising Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch parishes.[90][89]

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References
  1. The Statutes of the United Kingdom Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816ff.
  2. "British History Online, Stratton Audley". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  3. "British History, Farndish". Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  4. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers
  5. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p. 11
  6. The Statutes of the United Kingdom, Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816
  7. The House of Lords 1873 p. 38
  8. Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, 2 & 3 Will. 4 c. 64; Section XXVI for general rule and Schedule M for list of the parts affected.
  9. 1901 Census of England and Wales, General Report: Administrative Counties and County Boroughs
  10. Ordnance Survey 6 inch Hertfordshire sheet XXVI 1884
  11. "Victoria County History Whipsnade". Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  12. The Statutes of the United Kingdom Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816,
  13. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p 3
  14. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 46 1834
  15. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheets Hertfordshire VI, VII 1884
  16. The Statutes of the United Kingdom Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816.
  17. Ordnance Survey First Edition sheet 52 1835
  18. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Cambridgeshre XLIV SE 1883
  19. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 46
  20. "British History, Farndish". Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  21. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Oxfordshire XXXII 1883
  22. "British History Online, Shalbourne". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  23. "British History Online, Shalbourne". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  24. Grose, D: The Flora of Wiltshire 1957 p. 58
  25. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Berkshire VII 1883
  26. "Historical Counties Map with Enclaves". Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  27. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 12 1817
  28. "Historical Counties Map with Enclaves". Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  29. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 45 1833
  30. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheets Oxfordshire XVII, XXIII 1888 revised
  31. "UK BMD, Bicester Registration District". Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  32. "British History Online, Stratton Audley". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  33. The Statutes of the United Kingdom, Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816
  34. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p. 14
  35. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 45 1837
  36. Wallis, J: The Cornwall Register 1847 p. 299
  37. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 26
  38. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers pp 5,7
  39. Wallis, J: The Cornwall Register 1847 p. 299
  40. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 26
  41. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers pp 5,7
  42. "Thorncombe's Changing Boundaries". Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  43. The Reliquary Vol. 13 1873 p. 28
  44. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Northumberland XVII 1865
  45. Youngs, F. A: Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England 1979 p. 1878
  46. Ordnance Survey First Edition sheet 34
  47. "GENUKI: Icomb". Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  48. "Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire 1901, Cwmyoy entry". Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  49. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p 3
  50. Gwent Local History: The Journal of Gwent Local History Council issue 56, Spring 1984 p. 27, available The National Library of Wales
  51. Youngs, F. A: Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England 1979 p. 1878
  52. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 46
  53. Ordnance Survey 6 inch Hertfordshire sheet XXVI 1884
  54. "Victoria County History Whipsnade". Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  55. The Statutes of the United Kingdom Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816
  56. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p 3
  57. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 46 1834
  58. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheets Hertfordshire VI, VII 1884
  59. The Statutes of the United Kingdom Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816.
  60. Ordnance Survey First Edition sheet 52 1835
  61. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Cambridgeshre XLIV SE 1883
  62. "Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire 1901, Cwmyoy entry". Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  63. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p 3
  64. Gwent Local History: The Journal of Gwent Local History Council issue 56, Spring 1984 p. 27, available The National Library of Wales
  65. "British History, Farndish". Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  66. The Reliquary Vol. 13 1873 p. 28
  67. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Northumberland XVII 1865
  68. County Boundary. Returns from Clerks of the Peace of Insulated Parcels of Land in the Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 21 1825, own page numbers p. 14
  69. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 45 1837
  70. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 45 1833
  71. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheets Oxfordshire XVII, XXIII 1888 revised
  72. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Oxfordshire XXXII 1883
  73. "UK BMD, Bicester Registration District". Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  74. "British History Online, Stratton Audley". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  75. The Statutes of the United Kingdom, Vols 30, 34 1832 p. 816
  76. "Historic Counties Map with Exclaves on Wikimapia". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  77. "Historical Counties Map with Enclaves". Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  78. Ordnance Survey First Series sheet 12 1817
  79. "Historical Counties Map with Enclaves". Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  80. "British History Online, Shalbourne". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  81. "British History Online, Shalbourne". Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  82. Grose, D: The Flora of Wiltshire 1957 p. 58
  83. Ordnance Survey 6 inch sheet Berkshire VII 1883
  84. Ordnance Survey First Edition sheet 34
  85. "GENUKI: Icomb". Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  86. "Historic Counties Map with Exclaves on Wikimapia". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  87. "cap. 84 : An Act to consolidate and amend the several Acts for the uniform Valuation of Lands and Tenements in Ireland; and to incorporate certain detached Portions of Counties and Baronies with those Counties and Baronies respectively whereto the same may adjoin or wherein the same are locally situate". The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 6 & 7 William IV. His Majesty's Statute and Law Printers. 1836. pp. 484–510.; "County (Ireland)". The Statutory Rules and Orders Revised, being the Statutory Rules and Orders (Other Than Those of a Local, Personal Or Temporary Character) in force on December 31, 1903. Vol.2 (2nd ed.). H.M. Stationery Office. 1904. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  88. "c.16: Inverness and Elgin County Boundaries Act, 1870". The Public General Acts. 33 & 34 Vict. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1870. pp. 111–114.
  89. "GIS boundary datasets created by the project". Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 25 April 2017. boundary and attribute data for the counties of Scotland as given in the 1851 census ... represents the counties of Scotland as they were before the boundary changes caused by Inverness and Elgin County Boundaries Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 16) and the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 50) which eliminated the detached portions of counties.
  90. Hay, Shennan (1892). Boundaries of counties and parishes in Scotland as settled by the Boundary Commissioners under the Local government (Scotland) act, 1889. Edinburgh: William Green. pp. xvii–xviii.

Sources
  • Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844
  • Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, Schedule M
  • Moule, Thomas (1836) Moule's English Counties in the 19th century, London: Simpkin & Marshall, republished (1990) as The County Maps of Old England by Thomas Moule, London: Studio Editions Ltd, ISBN 1-85170-403-5
  • Youngs, Frederic A. (1979) Guide to the local administrative units of England, Vol. 1: Southern England, Royal Historical Society, Guides and handbooks no. 10., London : University College, ISBN 0-901050-67-9
  • Youngs, Frederic A. (1991) Guide to the local administrative units of England, Vol. 2: Northern England, Royal Historical Society, Guides and handbooks no. 17., London : University College, ISBN 0-86193-127-0
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