List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974
Until 1844, many of the counties in England and Wales had exclaves entirely surrounded by other counties. Under the Counties Act 1844, many of these exclaves were absorbed by the county within which they were located. Nevertheless, a number of exclaves remained; these were dealt with in a piecemeal manner over a period of decades.
The Local Government Act 1894 empowered the county councils of administrative counties to exchange areas in order to make a more effective local government area. As the Local Government Act 1888 had redefined the lieutenancy and shrievalty to be based on administrative counties, the changes also affected them as well as judicial boundaries. Accordingly, many anomalies in county boundaries were removed in the next three years, including the elimination of outlying areas of Derbyshire and Huntingdonshire.
The last major transfer of areas was in 1931, when the boundaries of Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire were realigned. Following the creation of a new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough in 1965, and boundary changes at Dudley in 1966, Flintshire was left as the only county with detached areas — these remained right up to the abolition of the county council in 1974.
Areas transferred
Bedfordshire
The county had no detached portions after 1844, and one abolished then:- Balligdon Bottom, 160 acres, an exclave of Whipsnade parish in Beechwood Park. The area remained a parish exclave until it was added to Markyate parish in 1897.
Caernarvonshire
Denbighshire
The major semi-exclave of Caernarfonshire contained a semi-exclave of Denbighshire including the east part of Old Colwyn. This in turn had two semi-exclaves north of Penmaen-Rhôs, separated by a very narrow corridor. In addition, it was accompanied by two small true exclaves forming thin strips south-east of Old Colwyn. This total of five detached portions of Denbighshire belonged to the parish of Llandrillo yn Rhos, and was annexed to the semi-enclave of Caernarfonshire in 1879.Derbyshire
- The parish of Packington in Leicestershire included the chapelry of Snibston as a large detached portion to the east, separated by the parish of Ravenstone. The main body of Packington contained three larger exclaves of Derbyshire, with ten small ones. Ravenstone had one larger exclave, and Snibston had three. All seventeen exclaves were transferred to Leicestershire in 1844, the latter four forming part of the new parish of Ravenstone with Snibston. Packington was adjacent to the large Derbyshire exclave listed below.
- A block of parishes formed a large exclave of Derbyshire in Leicestershire: Appleby Magna North, Chilcote, Measham, Oakthorpe and Donisthorpe, Stretton en le Field and Willesley This was transferred to Leicestershire 1897. At the same time, the parishes of Netherseal and Overseal were received from Leicestershire in compensation. The village of Appleby Magna had been divided between the two counties, with three small exclaves of Derbyshire and four small counter-exclaves of Leicestershire. The fields of Donisthorpe had been allotted to the two counties in a very complicated manner, featuring irregular interlocking salients with five small exclaves of Derbyshire and twelve counter-exclaves of Leicestershire.
Flintshire
Gloucestershire
After 1844, Gloucestershire had no true exclaves. However, the north of the county had two pene-enclaves which were only joined to the rest of the county by narrow necks of land. These became Marston Sicca Rural District, Campden Rural District and Pebworth Rural District. In 1931 the county's boundaries with Warwickshire and Worcestershire were realigned, removing the salients from Gloucestershire; in compensation, Gloucestershire gained a number of detached Worcestershire parishes.Hampshire
- A three-acre detached portion of the parish of Steep, located in Borden Wood in the parish of Chithurst in Sussex, was transferred to the latter parish in 1883. The area consisted of woodland only, with no inhabitants or cultivation. The much larger exclave of Ambersham had previously been transferred to Sussex under the 1844 act.
- A detached part of the parish of Bramshott, known as Crouch House Farm, was transferred to the parish of Rogate in Sussex in 1895.
Herefordshire
- The parish of Cwmyoy in Monmouthshire included a detached portion of Herefordshire called Ffwddog. This was transferred to Monmouthshire in 1891.
Huntingdonshire
- The parish of Swineshead was an exclave of the county surrounded by Bedfordshire. In 1896, the parish was transferred to Bedfordshire in exchange for the parish of Tilbrook.
- The civil parish of Tetworth was in two parts, the southern being an exclave of Huntingdonshire separated from the rest of the county and the other half of the parish by a salient of Cambridgeshire. This situation remained until 1965, when the county of Huntingdon and Peterborough was formed, and parish and county boundaries were adjusted to remove the detached part. The exclave had been enlarged under the 1844 act by including part of Tetworth previously in Bedfordshire. Oddly, the parish church of Everton, Bedfordshire was in this enclave and not in its civil parish. This was because Everton and Tetworth had always remained a single ecclesiastical parish.
Lancashire
Additionally, the North Lonsdale area of Lancashire, or "Lancashire north of the sands", was cut off from the main body of Lancashire by Westmorland and Morecambe Bay. This area was transferred to Cumbria by the Local Government Act 1972.
Middlesex and the County of London
When the County of London was made in 1889, it was made up of parishes from Kent, Surrey and Middlesex. One Middlesex parish, Clerkenwell, had a detached part that became an exclave of London surrounded by Middlesex. The area – a residential area of north-central Muswell Hill – was absorbed by Middlesex in 1899.The formation of the County of London severed two small parts of the parish and urban district of South Hornsey to fall within it. This lasted ten years, then the whole of South Hornsey passed to the County of London. At the same time, the distant Muswell Hill outlier of the parish of Clerkenwell was transferred to Middlesex.
Staffordshire
In 1889, the extra-parochial place of Dudley Castle, formerly in Worcestershire, became an exclave of Staffordshire, surrounded by the county borough of Dudley, itself an exclave of Worcestershire. In 1894, the area became the only parish in Dudley Rural District. In 1929, it was absorbed by the civil parish and county borough of Dudley.Warwickshire
, Stretton-on-Fosse, and Whitchurch formed an exclave of Warwickshire, separated from the main part of the county by an exclave of four Worcestershire parishes. In 1931, the intervening area of Worcestershire was transferred to Warwickshire, so that the three parishes became joined to the rest of the county.Worcestershire
- In 1889, Dudley became a county borough, remaining, however, an exclave of Worcestershire for some purposes. In 1966 the county borough absorbed surrounding areas of the administrative county of Staffordshire and it became the overall lieutenancy and ceremonial county of Dudley.
- The parish of Edvin Loach was transferred to Herefordshire in 1893.
- Cutsdean, originally a chapelry in the parish of Bredon, became a civil parish in 1866. It was transferred to Gloucestershire in 1931.
- The parishes of Alderminster, Shipston-on-Stour, Tidmington, and Tredington were transferred to Warwickshire in 1931.
- The parishes of Blockley, Daylesford, and Evenlode were transferred to Gloucestershire in 1931.