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From Conservapedia - Reading time: 1 min

The Traditional Counties of the United Kingdom , also called ancient counties, are the original counties of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland that have existed since ancient times. They usually refer to counties that have existed before having their boundaries changed and parts of their original land being given to new counties like Merseyside or West Midlands (or in some cases, some counties are dissolved, e.g. Middlesex and Huntingdonshire) in 1965 and 1974. Some further local government reforms in 1996 and 2009-2010 broke up counties into unitary authorities, while still keeping the ceremonial counties.

The traditional counties still exist though, as cultural regions, and are a source of pride for their inhabitants. Most of them, albeit with significantly-altered boundaries, form ceremonial and non-metropolitan counties in the UK.

There is an organization in England called the Association of British Counties, who has the goal of increasing awareness of the counties in the minds of the Britons.