Yorkshire

This article is about the English county. For other uses, see Yorkshire (disambiguation).

Yorkshire is the largest traditional county of England, covering some 6,000 sq. miles (15,000 km²) with a population of some five million. It is traditionally divided into West, North and East Ridings (from Old Norse þriðing, "third part", a legacy of the area's ninth century Scandinavian settlers). The county town, York, was not part of any riding.

In the mid-1970's, the counties and shires of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were all re-organised. As a result, in 1974, Yorkshire was divided into five new counties: North Yorkshire, the largest of the new counties, which included the old county town of York but the new county town of North Yorkshire is Northallerton); West Yorkshire, which was itself reorganised into a metropolitan county (no county town) in 1986; South Yorkshire, also a metropolitan county since 1986; Cleveland, abolished in 1996 with its four municipal districts now independent of any superior county administration but the municipalities reverted, for ceremonial purposes only, to the counties of Durham and (North) Yorkshire from which they were originally taken to create the county of Cleveland; and Humberside, which was also abolished in 1996, with the part taken from Lincolnshire returned, the city of Hull (Kingston-upon-Hull) made independent of any county, and the rest of the former Humberside County being renamed East Riding of Yorkshire.

Much of the old Yorkshire county is now represented by the region of Yorkshire and the Humber.

The emblem of Yorkshire is the White Rose of the House of York, and there is a Yorkshire Day celebrated on: August 1 amongst the celebrations there is a Civic gathering of Lord Mayors, Mayors and other Civic Heads from across the county and convened by the Yorkshire Society , in 2004 it was held in Leeds and in 2005 it will be held in Bradford hosted by the Bradford City Council. There is also an "anthem" for the county in the form of the folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" (on Ilkley Moor without a Hat).

The Yorkshire dialect is colloquially known as "Tyke", and this is also the affectionate term for a Yorkshireman. The social stereotype of a Yorkshireman has a tendency to include such accessories as a flat cap and a whippet. Among Yorkshire's unique traditions is the Long Sword dance, a traditional dance not found elsewhere in England. More recently, Yorkshire has been home to its own genre of techno music, Yorkshire Bleeps and Bass.

Contents

1 History 2 Villages, towns and cities in Yorkshire 3 Local government areas in ceremonial Yorkshire 4 See also 5 External links

History

The Ridings were divided further into wapentakes. In about 1823 these were

North Riding

• Allertonshire
• Birdforth
• Bulmer
• Gilling East and West
• Halikeld
• Hang East and West
• Langbaurgh East and West
• Pickering Lythe
• Ryedale
• Whitby Strand

East Riding

• Buckrose
• Dickering
• Harthill - Bainton beacon, Holme beacon, Hunsley beacon and Wilton beacon
• Holderness South Middle and North
• Howdenshire
• Ouse and Derwent

West Riding

• Agbrigg and Morley (Agbrigg and Morley divisions)
• Barkston Ash
• Ewcross
• Claro Lower and Upper
• Morley
• Osgoldcross
• Skyrack Lower and Upper
• Staincliffe East and West
• Staincross
• Strafforth and Tickhill Lower and Upper

Apart from these there were the Ainsty wapentake, the City of York (not part of any riding), and Hullshire (geographically in the East Riding though not part of it).

The Ridings were used as the basis of administrative counties upon the introduction of local government, in 1888, although many boroughs within the area were made county boroughs in their own right.

In 1974 this system was reformed, with the area being split between North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Humberside and Cleveland. South and West Yorkshire are termed metropolitan counties, as they cover mostly built-up areas. Additionally, small portions were ceded to the control of Cumbria, Lancashire, County Durham and Greater Manchester.

In 1986 the county councils of West and South Yorkshire were abolished, and in 1996 Humberside and Cleveland were broken up into districts, which became independent administrative counties (unitary authority areas) in their own right, as did an expanded City of York.

Villages, towns and cities in Yorkshire

See the list of places in Yorkshire.

Local government areas in ceremonial Yorkshire

• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Kingston upon Hull
• Middlesbrough
• North Yorkshire
  • Craven
  • Hambleton
  • Harrogate
  • Richmondshire
  • Ryedale
  • Scarborough
  • Selby
• Redcar and Cleveland
• Stockton-on-Tees south of the river
• South Yorkshire
  • Barnsley
  • Doncaster
  • Rotherham
  • Sheffield
• West Yorkshire
  • Bradford
  • Calderdale
  • Kirklees
  • Leeds
  • Wakefield
• York

See also

• Yorkshire County Cricket Club
• Yorkshire Pudding
• Yorkshire Wolds
• Yorkshire Dales
• North Yorkshire Moors
• Famous Yorkshire people
• Yorkshire Society
• England
• English (people)

External links

• The History of Yorkshire (http://www.britannia.com/history/yorkshire/)
• Samples of Yorkshire Dialect (http://www.yorkshire-dialect.org/)
• Yorkshire flags (http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-en-ys.html)da:Yorkshire

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