Until 1844, many of the counties in England and Wales had exclaves (detached parts) entirely surrounded by other counties. Under the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, many of these exclaves were absorbed by the counties within which they were located. The process was based on a schedule attached to the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, drawn up by a boundary commission headed by the surveyor Thomas Drummond. 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, Lancashire and Flintshire were left as the only counties with detached areas; these remained right up to the abolition of the respective county councils in 1974.

Terminology

Areas transferred

Total number of exclaves

The following list has 204 exclaves in total, including 11 semi-exclaves with a coastline and generating 76 legal issues. The semi-exclaves were in Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, Devon, County Durham and Lancashire. Riparian semi-exclaves are not counted. After 1844, 106 exclaves survived which amounted to 28 surviving legal issues (multi-parish exclaves counted singly). The 1844 Act resulted in a list of individual legal enactments targeting boundary anomalies. It counted a set of exclaves belonging to a single parish or township as a single legal issue. Conversely, a single exclave containing territory of two parishes was treated as two legal issues. Counter-exclaves were not regarded as separate legal issues, because they vanished when the exclave concerned was abolished. In contrast, after 1844 legal issues concerning exclaves could be bundled together and dealt with by a single legal order, as happened in the 1931 re-ordering of the boundaries of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

Bedfordshire

The county had one exclave after 1844, and eight abolished then (pre-1844 total 9, legal 3; post-1844 total 1, legal 1): Abolished in 1844:

Berkshire

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and three were abolished then (pre-1844 total 3, legal 3; post-1844 total 0): Two pene-exclaves were abolished after 1844: Riparian semi-exclaves at Oxford:

Buckinghamshire

The county had four exclaves after 1844, and five abolished then (pre-1844 total 9, legal 6; post-1844 total 4, legal 2): Abolished in 1844: One pene-exclave was abolished after 1844: Three riparian semi-exclaves survived on the River Thames until fairly recently:

Cambridgeshire

The historic county had no exclaves, with one dubious exception:

Caernarvonshire

The county had two exclaves after 1844 (pre-1844 total 2, legal 1; post-1844 total 2, legal 1):

Cheshire

The county had no exclaves in other counties. However, it did have a counter-enclave: Riparian semi-exclaves:

Cornwall

The county had one riparian semi-exclave after 1844:

Denbighshire

The county had two exclaves and three semi-exclaves after 1844, and one abolished then (pre-1844 total 6, legal 2; post-1844 total 5, legal 1): One exclave was abolished in 1844: Riparian semi-exclaves: The River Dee formed the border from near Chester to near Chirk, but was liable to change course and drop meanders. As a result, there were two riparian semi-exclaves on the border with the exclave of Flintshire known as English Maelor:

Derbyshire

The county had twenty-nine exclaves after 1844, one very large and the rest small (or tiny) satellites of it, totalling 8285 acre, and one abolished then (pre-1844 total 30, legal 4; post-1844 total 29, legal 3): One exclave was abolished in 1844: Riparian semi-exclaves:

Devon

The county had no exclaves after 1844; one exclave and two semi-exclaves were abolished then (pre-1844 total 3, legal 3; post-1844 total 0):

Dorset

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and one was abolished then (pre-1844 total 1, legal 1; post-1844 total 0):

County Durham

The county had no exclaves after 1844; one exclave and three semi-exclaves were abolished then (pre-1844 total 4, legal 5; post-1844 total 0):

Flintshire

Flintshire was unique in maintaining two exclaves until 1974. Historically there were eight (pre-1844 total 8, legal 4; post-1844 total 8, legal 4): Riparian semi-exclaves: The River Dee formed the border of Denbighshire with the exclave of English Maelor, but was liable to change course and drop meanders. As a result, there were riparian semi-exclaves on this border:

Gloucestershire

After 1844, Gloucestershire had no true exclaves and six were abolished then (pre-1844 total 6, legal 6; post-1844 total 0). However, the north of the county had two pene-enclaves (that is, areas only accessible by public highway through another territory) which were only joined to the rest of the county by narrow necks of land. These became Marston Sicca Rural District, and portions of Campden Rural District and Pebworth Rural District in 1894. 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. Six exclaves were abolished in 1844:

Hampshire

The county had two small exclaves after 1844, and one was abolished then (pre-1844 total 3 legal 3; post-1844 total 2, legal 2): A large exclave was abolished in 1844:

Herefordshire

The county had one exclave after 1844, and three were abolished then (pre-1844 total 5, legal 5; post-1844 total 1, legal 1): Abolished in 1844:

Hertfordshire

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and six were abolished then (pre-1844 total 5, legal 2; post-1844 total 0):

Huntingdonshire

The county had two exclaves after 1844 (pre-1844 total 2, legal 2; post-1844 total 2, legal 2):

Kent

The county had two riparian semi-exclaves after 1844:

Lancashire

The historic county of Lancashire had no true exclaves, although a large part of it was separated from the rest at high tide and counted as a semi-exclave (total 1): Administrative exclave: Riparian semi-exclaves:

Leicestershire

The county had no exclaves, except sixteen small counter-exclaves in its large enclave of Derbyshire (q.v.) (pre-1844 total 16, legal 0; post-1844 total 16, legal 0):

Lincolnshire

The county had three exclaves after 1844 (pre-1844 total 3 legal 1; post-1844 total 3, legal 1):

City of London

The City of London has kept its ancient boundaries, which have no exclaves. However, the entire length of Old London Bridge was in its territory, until it was demolished in 1831. Technically this left a short stretch of the River Thames tidal foreshore in Southwark as a riparian semi-exclave of the city, just east of the present London Bridge.

Middlesex and the County of London

There had been only one historical exclave of the county, abolished before 1844: When the County of London was constituted in 1889, it was made up of parishes from Kent, Surrey and Middlesex. Whereas Middlesex had no county exclaves, it had several parish exclaves and three of these caused anomalies in the new county's boundaries:

Monmouthshire

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and one was abolished then (pre-1844 total 1, legal 1; post-1844 total 1, legal 1):

Montgomeryshire

The county had one exclave after 1844 (pre-1844 total 1 legal 1; post-1844 total 1, legal 1): Riparian semi-exclaves:

Norfolk

The county had no exclaves in other counties, and very compact boundaries. However, it did have a counter-enclave:

Northamptonshire

The county had eight small exclaves after 1844 (pre-1844 total 8, legal 1; post-1844 total 8, legal 1): Pene-exclave: The parish of Lutton was divided between Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire until 1886, when it was unified in the former county. Previously, two fields of Lutton Lodge Farm formed a pene-exclave with an isthmus only about two yards wide. The old name was Luddington-in-the-Wold.

Northumberland

The county had no exclaves, except for the Moot Hall at Newcastle upon Tyne which was the old county administrative headquarters.

Nottinghamshire

The county had ten exclaves after 1844 (pre-1844 total 10, legal 1; post-1844 total 10, legal 1): Pene-exclave: Riparian semi-exclave:

Oxfordshire

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and four were abolished then (pre-1844 total 4, legal 4; post-1844 total 0):

Shropshire

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and a total of eleven were abolished then (pre-1844 total 11 legal 1; post-1844 total 0). Riparian semi-exclaves:

Somerset

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and one was abolished then (pre-1844 total 1, legal 1; post-1844 total 0):

Staffordshire

The county had four exclaves after 1844, a fifth briefly in the 20th century (not counted) and one was abolished in 1844 (pre-1844 total 5, legal 3; post-1844 total 3, legal 2): One exclave was abolished in 1844: Riparian semi-exclaves:

Surrey

The county had compact boundaries, and no exclaves. Riparian semi-exclave:

Suffolk

The county mostly had compact boundaries, no exclaves and one large pene-exclave which survives to the present day:

Sussex

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and one was abolished then (pre-1844 total 1, legal 1; post-1844 total 0): The county had only one pene-exclave, the boundaries being otherwise compact:

Warwickshire

The county had one exclave after 1844, and one was abolished then (pre-1844 total 2, legal 2; post-1844 total 1, legal 1): Abolished in 1844:

Wiltshire

The county had no exclaves after 1844, and ten were abolished then (pre-1844 total 10, legal 6; post-1844 total 0):

Worcestershire

The historic county was well provided with exclaves. After 1844, six survived with three small satellite exclaves making a total of nine. Twenty-nine were abolished in 1844, although several were tiny (pre-1844 total 38, legal 8; post-1844 total 9, legal 6): Two larger exclaves were abolished in 1844, and twenty-seven small ones: Pene-exclaves: The 1931 boundary re-ordering abolished two pene-exclaves comprising individual parishes, by annexing neighbouring areas from Gloucestershire: A third was annexed by Gloucestershire:

Yorkshire

The county had two exclaves after 1844 (pre-1844 total 2, legal 0; post-1844 total 2, legal 0):