1. Introduction to Project
2. Project Description
4. Data Download
5. Terms of Data Use

3. Data Description

This section describes the format and contents of the data available on the Data Download section. Two products can be downloaded.
 Historic County Borders Database: attribute data on each border segment;
 Digitised Historic County Border Data: in Shape (SHP) file format.

Historic County Borders Database

This database contains an entry for each segment of historic county border which has so far been digitised and relased via the Download page. An illustrative extract of the database is presented below:

Segment CodeSegment NameGrid Ref 1Grid Ref 2HCS No.1HCS No. 2Notes
0002CMB-NRKTF478176TL6528481761Primary Source Data.
0003CMB-LNCTF257075TF4781761752Primary Source Data.
0004CMB-NRNTL194982TF2570751762Primary Source Data.
0005CMB-HNTTL190545TL1949821743Primary Source Data.
0006BED-CMB_1TL190545TL1865320917Primary Source Data.
0007BED-CMB_2TL209511TL2634400917Primary Source Data.
0031ESE-SFFTL649435TM2143283481Primary Source Data. River artificially straightened at TL874407, old course left as border.

Segment code - each segment has a unique 4-digit 'Segment Code'. This is numbered from '0001' - based on the date of digitisation'.

Segment Name - each segment has a unique 'Segment Name'. This formed from the Historic Counties Standard Codes for each of the two counties which share the segment, i.e.

CMB-NRKCambridgeshire - Norfolk
CMB-LNCCambridgeshire - Lincolnshire

The order of preference is based on alphabetical order. Where two counties have more than one segment of border in common, this is distinguised by adding a suffix to each segment, i.e.

BED-CMB_1Bedfordshire - Cambridgeshire (Segment 1)
BED-CMB_2Bedfordshire - Cambridgeshire (Segment 2)

Where a county has a seaward border, this is formed as:

CNW-SEACornwall - Sea
DVN-SEA_1Devon - Sea (Segment 1)
DVN-SEA_2Devon - Sea (Segment 2)

Where a segment involves part of a detached part, this is denoted thus:

BED-HNT(D2)Bedfordshire - Huntingdonshire (Detached Part 2)
CMB-HNT(D2)Cambridgeshire - Huntingdonshire (Detached Part 2)

Each island forms a single segment, denoted thus:

SMS-ISL_1Somerset Island 1
SMS-ISL_2Somerset Island 2

Grid Ref 1 - The National Grid reference for the start of the segment.

Grid Ref 2 - The National Grid reference for the end of the segment.

HCS No. 1 - The Historic Counties Standard Number for the first county identified in the Segment Name.

HCS No. 2 - The Historic Counties Standard Number for the second county identified in the Segment Name.

Notes - Any comments relating to the segment.


Digitised Historic County Border Data

The digitised border data are being made available in Arview Shape (SHP) format (originally developed by ESRI). Each Shape file contains a group of polygon objects (one for each historic county contained therein).

The data are available as a set of groupings of historic counties. For example, Grp1 (Southern England) contains the digitised borders of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Middlesex, Norfolk Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire.

To obtain the data for Grp1, download the file GRP1_SEngland.zip from the Download page. On Un-Zipping this file, the 3 files which together form a SHP record are obtained:

GRP1_SEngland.SHPcontains the digitised polygons
GRP1_SEngland.DBFa database file containing attribute data relating to the polygons
GRP1_SEngland.SHXan index file

The DBF file contains the following attribute data for the polygons:

IDHCS_CODE NAME
17CMBCAMBRIDGESHIRE
42HTFHERTFORDSHIRE
55MSXMIDDLESEX
09BEDBEDFORDSHIRE
43HNTHUNTINGDONSHIRE

ID - the Historic Counties Standard Number.

HCS_CODE - the Historic Counties Standard Code.

NAME - the historic county name as listed in the Historic Counties Standard.

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