The data are provided free of charge for all personal, educational, non-commercial and commercial use. No specific permission is required. However, we would appreciate an appropriate acknowledgement of the use of the data.
Lookup the county name for a given postcode, or generate a CSV file of counties for a series of postcodes.
Lookup county names for Unique Property Reference Numbers.
Lookup county names for places using Ordnance Survey National Grid co-ordinates or grid reference.
Generate a list of postcodes or UPRNs for a given county.
Download a database or CSV file of every postcode, county and grid reference.
Show county populations.
These border datasets conform to the Historic Counties Standard (HCS). The HCS Definition A datasets treat detached parts of counties as part of their host county, whereas the HCS Definition B datasets include them separately.
The full-resolution polygons are suitable for 1:5,000-scale applications. The simplified sets are usable at scales greater than 1:50,000. A set of border lines is also available, for applications where a coastline is provided separately.
The data are available in ESRI Shapefile (SHP) format, in both OSGB and WGS84 spatial reference systems, and also in KML/KMZ format.
Last updated on 7 May 2021.
| Great Britain & Ireland | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-resolution polygons | Simplified polygons | Border lines only | ||||
| OSGB SHP 42.96 MB |
WGS84 SHP 94.89 MB |
KMZ 50 MB |
OSGB SHP 5.79 MB |
WGS84 SHP 5.64 MB |
KMZ 6.21 MB |
WGS84 SHP 6.3 MB |
| United Kingdom | ||||||
| Full-resolution polygons | Simplified polygons | Border lines only | ||||
| OSGB SHP 30.85 MB |
WGS84 SHP 33.83 MB |
KMZ 37.59 MB |
OSGB SHP 4.2 MB |
WGS84 SHP 4.17 MB |
KMZ 4.6 MB |
WGS84 SHP 5.23 MB |
| Great Britain | ||||||
| Full-resolution polygons | Simplified polygons | Border lines only | ||||
| OSGB SHP 29.21 MB |
WGS84 SHP 32.26 MB |
KMZ 35.82 MB |
OSGB SHP 3.99 MB |
WGS84 SHP 3.98 MB |
KMZ 4.39 MB |
WGS84 SHP 5.07 MB |
| Great Britain & Ireland | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-resolution polygons | Simplified polygons | Border lines only | ||||
| OSGB SHP 44.16 MB |
WGS84 SHP 46.41 MB |
KMZ 51.3 MB |
OSGB SHP 6 MB |
WGS84 SHP 5.83 MB |
KMZ 6.42 MB |
WGS84 SHP 6.9 MB |
| United Kingdom | ||||||
| Full-resolution polygons | Simplified polygons | Border lines only | ||||
| OSGB SHP 31.94 MB |
WGS84 SHP 34.92 MB |
KMZ 38.77 MB |
OSGB SHP 4.38 MB |
WGS84 SHP 4.34 MB |
KMZ 4.79 MB |
WGS84 SHP 5.78 MB |
| Great Britain | ||||||
| Full-resolution polygons | Simplified polygons | Border lines only | ||||
| OSGB SHP 30.3 MB |
WGS84 SHP 33.35 MB |
KMZ 36.99 MB |
OSGB SHP 4.17 MB |
WGS84 SHP 4.15 MB |
KMZ 4.58 MB |
WGS84 SHP 5.61 MB |
Where there is nothing listed in the Definition B column, this is because the county has no detached parts and therefore the data in the Definition A column are suitable for either HCS definition.
Download a Shapefile, SVG or KMZ of individual counties.
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Yorkshire ridings (Definition A).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Yorkshire ridings (Definition B).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Parts of Lincolnshire (Definition A).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Parts of Lincolnshire (Definition B).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Ridings of Lindsey (Definition A).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Ridings of Lindsey (Definition B).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Ridings of Tipperary.
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Ridings of Cork (Definition A).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Ridings of Cork (Definition B).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Rapes of Sussex (Definition A).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Rapes of Sussex (Definition B).
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Lathes of Kent.
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Districts of Ayrshire.
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Wards of Lanarkshire.
Download a Shapefile (WGS84) or KML of the Sheadings of the Isle of Man.
These SVG maps are generated at a nominal horizonal resoluton of 1,000 pixels.
