Talk:Saddleworth

According to Wikipedia:Saddleworth, the West Riding was abolished in 1974 and Saddleworth became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. Robin Patterson (talk) 12:48, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

That pertains to the administrative arrangements. The ancient and geographical county, riding and wapentake remain unaltered. Wikipedia has a strange fascination with framing everything according to who empties the bins or runs the schools, which of course is ever changing. Wikishire lists places in their geographical scope first and foremost with reference to administrative matters where relevant. Owain (talk)

I appreciate that the historic counties are the ones most thought of by the main contributors to this wiki (and by me when researching ancestors). Maybe you should clarify that on the main page, because many 21st-century people are more aware of the local council area than of the historic county that may have a similar name. But you might also concede that there's nothing obviously geographical about the separation of parts of some counties such as Dunbartonshire? Robin Patterson (talk) 14:19, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

The various policies mention the fact that the Wiki is organised this way, but I concede it perhaps could be clearer. If you can help in making them clearer and easier to find then please do! By and large the counties do follow geographical features, such as watersheds, rivers and so on but as you note, there are some exceptions. The various detached parts for instance may not seem particularly geographical, but we use that term as opposed to 'administrative', and of course they indicate the history of the area and are delightfully idiosyncratic. Owain (talk) 17:42, 11 June 2016 (UTC)