Q WHAT exactly is a county? Is it simply a local government administrative area or is it something more?

Here in Redcar and Cleveland there is a dispute between those I would designate 'Eboracophiles' who wish to promote Redcar as part of Yorkshire and 'Eboracophobes' who eschew any association with Yorkshire and emphasise its Cleveland/Teesside identity.

In the Gadfly column recently there was a mention of Sedgefield folk objecting to a Stockton address as they felt Sedgefield was in County Durham, whereas Stockton, in their opinion, is not. Recent letters to Hear All Sides also suggest there is some confusion as to whether Darlington, having seceded from Durham County Council, is still in County Durham.

Prior to 1974 some towns were county boroughs. In status this was exactly equivalent to today's unitary authorities. Middlesbrough was independent of Northallerton and Hartlepool was independent of Durham City. For some purposes Middlesbrough was still in the North Riding and Hartlepool in County Durham.

Surely the Bishop of Durham still holds sway in Stockton so the Land of the Prince Bishops sign should be erected at Portrack where the A19 crosses the Tees and not further north at Sheraton. Or is the post 1974 County Durham correct in claiming exclusive right to this ancient title? - Vic Wood, Yearby, Redcar.

A MOST of our 'traditional' counties developed many centuries ago in the days when major urban 'city' regions like Tyneside and Teesside did not exist. Many developed from Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (eg Sussex, Kent) or from 'administrative' districts called shires which go back to the days of Alfred the Great. Many of these shires were administered by ealdormen - an Anglo-Saxon word related to the later Viking word earl. The modern spelling alderman is a familiar term still used in local government today.

Ealdormen were important in earlier medieval times but later, sheriffs emerged as the most powerful figures - the name means shire-reeve.

By the 19th Century, the age of urban growth made some of the old shire counties out of date in terms of being representative of local population. New urban areas like Teesside found themselves straddling the boundaries of old shires. In many instances this has led to disagreements over identity, with both practical and emotive arguments.

Teesside Borough of the late 1960s brought the whole of Teesside under one administrative wing while Cleveland, created in 1974, continued this practise over a wider area. Cleveland, incidentally, borrowed its name from a district of Yorkshire which was exclusively south of the Tees.

When Cleveland County was abolished in April 1996 its four district authorities (Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Langbaurgh) became first tier councils in their own right.

Langbaurgh took the new name Redcar and Cleveland. This has caused some confusion because even before 1974 Redcar was actually part of the old district of Cleveland. Redcar in Cleveland might therefore be a better name.

From 1996 it was decided that for cultural purposes south of the Tees would be Yorkshire and north of the Tees Durham. One aspect of this is that the Lord Lieutenant of Durham is the Queen's representative in northern Teesside and the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire represents the south side.

For regional development purposes all Teesside is covered by the Regional Development Agency for the North East (OneNorthEast) and not by YorkshireForward which represent Yorkshire and Humberside.

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