This is an old revision of this page, as edited by David Parker (talk | contribs) at 15:43, 25 February 2002. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 15:43, 25 February 2002 by David Parker (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Yorkshire is a former county of England, divided administratively until 1974 into the West, North and East Ridings (from old Danish treding, "third part", a legacy of the area's ninth-century Scandinavian settlers).
In 1974 most of the area was reorganised as West, South and North Yorkshire (based respectively on the cities of Leeds, Sheffield and York). Most of the former East Riding became the northern part of the new county of Humberside (based on the city of Hull), while Middlesbrough and neighbouring districts became the southern part of Cleveland. A part of the North Riding was incorporated in County Durham while part of the West Riding went to Lancashire and a smaller district to Cumbria.
The metropolitan counties of West and South Yorkshire were abolished as administrative entities in 1986 and broken up into their constituent districts, to be followed a decade later by Humberside and Cleveland. The city of York also became a unitary authority at the latter reorganisation, incorporating parts of neighbouring North Yorkshire districts.
The former undivided Yorkshire covers some 15,000 sq km with a population of some five million.